South Melbourne is launching an ambitious and romantic bid to return to the Pacific fold in the OFC Professional League.
Club president Nicholas Maikousis has revealed the Victorian sleeping giant has formally expressed interest in joining the new FIFA-backed competition.
"We think we can add lots of value," Maikousis told AAP. "We're probably Australia's most successful club before the A-League was created in the old NSL environment and we're looking for a platform to showcase our great club and our great facilities and our great history."
South Melbourne is the first Australian club to unmask itself as an applicant for the new league.
Four Australian clubs are pursuing a license in the league -- alongside teams from New Zealand, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and more. It has been reported that 24 teams have expressed an interest in joining the OFC Professional League, with the game-changing competition set to kick off in January 2026.
South believe the competition, running January to May, will dovetail neatly with the newly launched national second tier, the Australian Championship, running from October to December.
Maikousis said Football Australia chairman Anter Isaac had offered his blessings.
"The only provision that he put on was that we don't walk away from the Australian comps at the same time, which we obviously won't," he said. "We'll treat the Australian comps and the NPL virtually as our reserves, and play our strongest possible team in the [OFC] competition."
South Melbourne's bid is both future-looking and tinted by nostalgia.
Under favourite son Ange Postecoglou, the club represented Oceania at the 2000 FIFA Club World Cup, denying Manchester United -- fresh from a treble won under Sir Alex Ferguson -- a place in the knockoff rounds with a storied showing.
However, South was shunted from Australian football's top table when the A-League era began in the mid-2000s, leaving it searching for a return to major competitions.
South believe the OFC Professional League could be just that.
24 teams have expressed an interest in joining the OFC Professional League, with the game-changing competition set to kick off in January 2026.
— Oceania Football Confederation (@OFCfootball) March 3, 2025
⚽🏆#oceaniafootball #professionalfootball #footballdevelopmenthttps://t.co/euTDxOODqK
"We want to be part of something special. Is this it? We're not exactly sure but we want to give it an opportunity," general manager David Clarkson told AAP.
Maikousis said Tottenham Hotspur manager Postecoglou "was a product of Oceania."
"He cut his teeth playing against Tahiti and Vanuatu and Fiji, with David [Clarkson] in those games as well," he said.
Along with the decorated history playing in Oceania, South also has a history of fielding OFC players, including New Zealand legends Vaughn Coveny and Steve Wooddin, who Maikousis joked "ripped Australia apart".
Other clubs bidding to join the league include PNG's Bougainville FC, Lae City FC, Port Moresby City FC, and Hekari United FC, as reported by The National. Kiwi media outlet Stuff revealed A-League leaders Auckland FC, and minnows Nelson Suburbs were among Kiwi aspirants.
Clarkson said the allure of playing year-round football, and exposure to Pacific environments, would be a compelling case to players.
"They get to play in multiple competitions and also in different regions, which is really wonderful," he said.
The OFC, which has FIFA President Gianni Infantino's personal support for the league, is underwriting the participation of New Zealand and Pacific clubs. Australian clubs, invited along with Hawaiian entrants to boost marketability, must fund it themselves.
South Melbourne will explore all fundraising avenues to make it work, including the federal government, with its enthusiasm for sports diplomacy.
"We think we're going to be able to mount a very, very strong case in terms of getting federal and state government funding," Maikousis said.
"The football all works. The calendar works ... but it still has to stack up in terms of the financial side of it."