Football Federation Australia is confident that a second Melbourne A-League team will be ready by next year. Despite not having a chief executive, coach, name or colours, the proposed franchise is expected to come to fruition prior to season 2010/2011 according to FFA chief Ben Buckley.

"I don't think that they haven't got anything in place," Buckley said at the A-League's season launch in Sydney yesterday.

"They might not have a team, but we know they're close to appointing a CEO, there's discussions with coaches and they're working very hard on a playing list.

"There's a lot of work going on behind the scenes.

"We're pretty confident and comfortable they'll be ready when the time is right. It's a tight time frame, but that's the nature of rapid expansion.

"Gold Coast United and North Queensland proved they could do it in 12 months.

"You look at the quality of staff and players and you take your hat off to them for showing it can be done."

The second Melbourne team, which is backed by businessman Peter Sidwell, was not given entry until April this year which seems like little time but Buckley is confident it can be done.

"You've got to ensure all the building blocks are in place, otherwise we could meet problems down the track," he added.

"We were very rigorous and we asked Peter and his team to jump through some pretty big hoops. We've got faith in them and we're confident they will be successful."