FIFA's planned intervention into the governance of Australian football has been delayed, leaving little time for FFA to sort out its affairs before the November 30 deadline.
A joint delegation of FIFA and Asian Football Confederation representatives was set to arrive in Australia in late July to mend the rift between bitterly divided stakeholders and end their impasse on a new, more democratic congress demanded by FIFA.
However that date has been pushed back due to the unavailability of some stakeholder representatives, including a few member federations.
"We're still looking to finalise the date but it's likely to be in early August," FFA chief executive David Gallop told AAP on Monday.
Even if the delegation arrives by then, it leaves little more than three months before FIFA's deadline of November 30, at which point it will follow through on its threat to implement a normalisation committee to temporarily take over FFA's affairs.
"We're working to get a resolution that means we don't get to that stage," Gallop said.
"We support FIFA coming and hearing the views of the various stakeholders first hand.
"We've seen some changes in the FIFA administration and the people managing the issue in recent times, so it will be good for the people who are actually dealing with the matter to come to Australia and hear the debate."
FIFA's decision earlier this month to intercede is an embarrassing blow to chairman Steven Lowy and his beleaguered board, and followed FIFA's outright rejection of its proposed new congress model as unrepresentative.
After a protracted stalemate lasting months, FFA informed FIFA it had reached consensus from more than 75 per cent of members for the first stage of an expanded congress.
That 9-3-1 model is made up of the nine state member federations, two seats for the A-league clubs and one for the W-League, and one for the players' union Professional Footballer's Australia (PFA).
FFA still sits poles apart from the A-League clubs, PFA and the largest state member federation, Football New South Wales, which is standing firm on a 9-5-1 model.
Trust has all but dissolved in the increasingly bitter stand-off, especially as the 10 A-League clubs continue to seek what they believe is their share of revenue entitlements and a greater say in the game's future.
"It would certainly be good to get things resolved," Gallop said.
"There's a level of frustration from most stakeholders."
