Football Australia, the Australian Professional Leagues (APL), and the Professional Footballers Australia (PFA) have committed to reviewing the A-Leagues' salary cap and exploring the introduction of transfer fees between its clubs as part of a phased abandoning of the 'Caceres Clause' that barred loans between multi-club groups.
Introduced in 2016 after Anthony Caceres was sold to Manchester City by the Central Coast Mariners only to be then loaned to Melbourne City four days later - seemingly circumventing league regulations that prevented clubs from paying transfer fees to each other - the 'Caceres Clause' was introduced to bar the loan of players within the same ownership group until the player's preceding contract in the A-League had been completed or two transfer windows passed.
However, after Bournemouth's attempt to loan newly-signed goalkeeper Alex Paulsen to an A-League Men expansion franchise Auckland FC ran afoul of this regulation - both clubs are part of the Black Knight Football Club group of American billionaire Bill Foley and the Cherries having just signed the goalkeeper from Wellington Phoenix - a review was undertaken by the independent run league and Football Australia, who serve as the A-Leagues' regulator.
Declaring that the directive was "outdated and is no longer fit for purpose given the evolution of the Australian football landscape and the broader globalisation of the football economy," it was announced on Friday that the rule was to be scrapped, with multi-club networks in Australia now permitted to loan up to two players from within their groups to their A-League properties at any one time.
"Since the introduction of the clause, the A-League has seen increased investment in A-League Clubs by international football club ownership groups," the federation said in a statement. "A-League Clubs have become more sophisticated; the value of A-League players on the global market has increased, increasing interest in players moving between A-League Clubs; and longer A-League player contract terms."
Melbourne City and Auckland are the two preeminent sides that are part of multi-club networks within the A-Leagues, while crisis-stricken 777 Partners nominally hold a minority stake in Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory owned by Melbourne businessman Ross Pelligra, who also counts Serie C side Catania amongst his assets.
In addition to the change in loan rules, however, FA, APL, and PFA have also committed to examining the future of the league's salary cap and the existing barring of transfer fees, with the federation declaring on Friday that the intention was to "focus on enhancing the broader A-Leagues' economic model."
As well as barring transfer fees between its clubs, the A-League has operated with a salary cap since its 2005 birth, with the two regulations having become the subject of increasingly heated and frequent debate in recent years.
The federation will join the existing professional football committees set up by the APL and PFA's collective bargaining agreement - both the A-League Men and A-League Women each retain their specific committee - in its role as regulator as part of this move.
Its chief executive James Johnson has long made the pursuit of a domestic transfer system's introduction one of his signature policies - a 2020 reform introducing transfer fees at an NPL level and below - but has previously faced resistance by the PFA, who refused to countenance such a system being introduced in the top tier as long as a cap remains in place.
While Friday's announcement of the new agreement doesn't represent a definitive step one way or another on any regulatory changes being made, one figure spoken to by ESPN did say that it would make said step a much easier one to take in the future. It was also noted that this new level of collaboration would help avoid a repeat of Auckland's announcement of Paulsen's arrival only for Football Australia to confirm the 'Caceres Clause' was at that point still in place.
The move comes against the backdrop of a new, economically-driven 'Football Focused' strategic shift by the A-Leagues, who have slashed distributions to clubs by close to 75% for the coming season and who are still yet to announce an owner of a mooted Canberran expansion side that had been targeted for the coming campaign but has now been delayed until the 2025-26 season.