As lobbying intensifies in the run up to an Emergency General Meeting called by the FFA for Thursday, there have been a number of extraordinary claims - including one that the Victorian government has lobbied Football Federation Victoria to support embattled chairman Steven Lowy in his bitter power struggle to retain his position in the sport.

It has also been alleged that Federal Sports Minister Greg Hunt told a Women in Football forum staged in Melbourne last week that if FIFA was in control of the Australian game then Australia will not be successful in mounting a bid to stage the 2023 Women's World Cup.

In September the Federal government had earlier warned that it might withhold $4 million in funding for the Women's World Cup bid if the row between the factions was not settled.

FIFA has been monitoring the long-running war between the Lowy-led board and dissident factions within the game for several months now as fissures between the FFA leadership, the A-League clubs and the players union, the PFA have widened.

It has threatened to take control of football in this country if it is not satisfied that initiatives to make the game's governance more representative of all the sport's stakeholders have been put in place and, with just days before the November 30 deadline, it looks increasingly unlikely that they will be.

One insider close to the power struggle yesterday said that if there was evidence of government pressure on any of the stakeholders then FIFA would take a dim view of things.

Already the Zurich-based body is investigating allegations of government interference with the Peruvian FA, and has held up the possibility that the South American nation could be excluded from the World Cup. That is unlikely to happen to Australia, but some in the game fear that it is a threat of last resort if FIFA feels its authority is being challenged.

FFA chairman Lowy and his supporters amongst the State Member Federations are trying to push through their vision for reform of the game's governance with some changes to the voting structure at congress, the body that helps control the sport in this country.

The A-League clubs, the PFA and several other interest groups say those changes do not go far enough and are agitating for a broader expansion of the franchise so that the congress is more widely representative of the sport's stakeholders.

At present the congress is made up of 10 voting bodies - nine state federations and the A-League clubs, which have one vote each. Traditionally the nine state federations have voted in support of the FFA leadership.

But this time NSW, the biggest and most powerful state, has joined the A-League clubs in opposing the leadership's proposals. Lowy needs a 75 per cent majority on Thursday to gain the day.

The "swing state" is Victoria, which has so far declared that it will back NSW and the A-League clubs, denying Lowy the majority he needs.

That is why the lobbying has been most intense in Melbourne, with FFV chairman Kimon Taliadoros under pressure from various powerbrokers not to support NSW. So far the indications are that the FFV board will hold their line.

A last-ditch bid to hold a meeting later this week to try to hammer out a compromise foundered when the A-League clubs refused to attend unless the FFA withdrew its proposals for Thursday's EGM.

The clubs say they are happy to meet with the FFA - but not while it continues to support motions that "suit no party but themselves."

If the FFA leadership does not get the result it wants FIFA could argue that it lacks the consensus required from its stakeholders to stay in control of the local game.

If that occurs, FIFA could then put in place a normalisation committee to take control of the sport while a new chairman and FFA board is sought.

Those who oppose the current administration are adamant that it would be business as usual in such circumstances.

They argue that a FIFA intervention is almost inevitable, because even if Lowy gained the day on Thursday with the support of the state federations, FIFA would argue that he lacked the support of all other key stakeholders and therefore legitimacy.