Socceroos land major sponsor at last

After going nearly three years without, the Socceroos have finally landed a major sponsor.

AAP understands that Football Federation Australia (FFA) have locked down a commercial partner for the national team, and hope to make an announcement as early as next week.

Reports late last year suggested oil giant Caltex was close to signing.

To have a deal done will be a big relief for FFA, given the Socceroos have been without a key sponsor since Qantas broke off their decade-long association in June 2013.

It left Ange Postecoglou's men with no naming-rights partner for the build-up to and throughout the 2014 World Cup.

Attracting brand interest has been a massive headache for the governing body, and something chief executive David Gallop described last year as one of their biggest challenges.

Part of the reluctance to buy the naming rights was put own to the limited commercial opportunities with players, who are based at clubs all over the world.

And while the Socceroos are currently in the middle of their 2018 World Cup qualifiers, the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) who run them enforce rigid restrictions on the use of branding, as they did for the 2015 Asian Cup.

The situation drew criticism from Australia's all-time leading goal-scorer Tim Cahill last week.

"We've played in three World Cups and we don't really have anything to show for it," Cahill told News Corp Australia.

"We have a problem with the grassroots and the biggest thing we need to ask ourselves is, with the national team, why we've gone three years without a key sponsor."

The Socceroos themselves will also benefit under terms of the new collective bargaining agreement.