29 june 2018, the governing body announced its shortlist of bids for the two a-league licences. ten bids progressed to the next phase with five bids cut from the process. canberra's bid was selected as one of the ten successful bids to progress. the ffa then revealed final applications from the ten bids would be due in two months (september 2018). on the same day as canberra's shortlisting announcement, canberra bid leader, michael caggiano, advised the canberra bid would swiftly move to establish the first stage of its community model as well as enter into talks with both the act and federal governments.