The 2021/22 competition is scheduled to kick off in late November and Wellington on Wednesday confirmed they would play all games on Australian soil until at least January 2022 due to the COVID situation.

The club - which is also fielding their inaugural W-League side this season - will set up a temporary base in NSW for the second year in a row, taking on the state's teams in the early rounds.

The Phoenix arrived in Wollongong last November for pre-season training. They stayed in the region for the competition, remaining based at the University of Wollongong and playing the majority of their home games at WIN Stadium.

As they prepare to move back to NSW next month, a Phoenix spokesman said the club hadn't ruled out a Wollongong return.

"There's been no decision yet on the team's location. We've been looking at several places in NSW, including Wollongong, and WIN Stadium is also one of the stadiums under consideration for playing our 'home' matches at," the spokesman said.

"It's also a possibility that the team bases itself in one part of NSW and then plays its matches in another part of NSW. All of the options are being considered."

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The Phoenix have arguably been the A-League club most affected by COVID over the past 18 months. They relocated to Australia for the final nine weeks of the 2019/20 campaign, before heading to Wollongong last season.

Speaking to the media on Friday, head coach Ufuk Talay didn't rule out an Illawarra return in 2021.

"We're looking at the right time to go over there where we can firstly set up a good environment for our players and staff to do our jobs properly," he said.

"We know we'll be based in NSW and we're currently looking at a few spots. But, for me, the biggest point is our training facility needs to be up to scratch for us to be able to do our work. At this stage, if there's something else that we can find in Wollongong that's up to the standard that we need for us to be successful, I'm not going to say no (to a Wollongong return)."

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