North Queensland's team in any expanded A-League will be called the Northern Thunder and bid organisers say they could have the team up and running by next season.

Those behind the north Queensland bid say they have already secured around $2 million in financial backing for the Thunder.

All they need is the green light from Football Federation Australia (FFA), which is yet to decide when or if it will expand the A-League beyond its current eight teams.

The FFA has commissioned a consultant to advise on the competition's expansion, with a report expected early next year on the best timeframe and locations for new franchises to be added.

As well as the Thunder, Gold Coast and Wollongong bids are already well advanced, while Canberra have also expressed interest in housing an A-League team.

But the Townsville bid has been up and running for more than 12 months, with the region considered as a possibility to take up the New Zealand Knights franchise when it fell over late last season.

It took a huge step forward on Wednesday with officials confirming a name, a T-shaped thunderbolt club logo and a sizeable chunk of the start-up capital it would need for its first season.

"Geographically, we feel we fit the picture perfectly. We're going to be submitting a proposal to the FFA at the end of February and we'll see what they do from there," Thunder head of operations James Gage told AAP.

Former Kiwi soccer great Wynton Rufer has been involved with the bid since the start of this year and is almost certain to be named the Thunder's inaugural head coach should they get the nod to join the league.

The Thunder are confident their bid will gather further momentum next week when a north Queensland delegation, including Rufer, visits the Soccerex international soccer expo in South Africa.

The bid has made no secret of its desire to target Asia in its quest for sponsorship and financial backing and will attend another soccer expo in China in June next year to further lift the would-be A-League club's profile.

"We've had significant interest from corporates - we've got about 14 or 15 meetings in South Africa next week," Gage said.

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