FAR North Queensland soccer officials have been impressed by a visit to Townsville as the region's bid for an A-League licence hots up.

A Football Federation Australia envoy visited Townsville this week as the Northern Thunder looked to join Gold Coast Galaxy in an expanded 10-team
competition next season.

Far North Queensland Football president John Casale and operations manager Chris Collins were also in Townsville to coincide with the FFA visit.

They came back confident the Far North would have a strong presence within the club.

Thunder officials have announced that Darwin would host back-to-back regular season A-League matches if the bid is successful.

Collins was confident Cairns would then be able to secure pre-season matches at Barlow Park.

"We spoke with Ben Buckley (FFA chief executive) and told him what Barlow Park could actually put on and that we’d had a pre-season fixture before between the Queensland Roar and Sydney FC," Collins said.

"They were very supportive of junior development and creating a pathway for the best kids in conjunction with Far North Queensland Football and that’s very re-assuring for us."

Northern Thunder football director James Gage described the FFA meeting as very positive.

"They’re very happy that we're including the Northern Territory and places like Cairns, and that’s a very big selling point from their point of view," Gage said.

Gage said he hoped an announcement on Northern Thunder’s bid would be made by the middle of next month.