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A-League chief executive Danny Townsend has dismissed claims German giants Bayern Munich pulled out of a game with the A-League All Stars due to a lack of money.
After announcing Parramatta's CommBank Stadium as the venue for the grand final on Saturday 3 June, Townsend conceded it was "unlikely" the All Stars fixture would return in 2023.
Last year's All Stars game was a highlight of the domestic calendar, with Garang Kuol catapulting himself into the public consciousness with a starring role against Barcelona in front of more than 70,000 fans in Sydney.
There was hope the All Stars game would become a staple of the 'festival of football' in the build-up to this year's grand final, for which the hosting rights were controversially sold to Destination NSW late last year for $20 million.
Bayern were earmarked as a potential opponent but German newspaper Bild reported the Bavarian outfit withdrew because the A-League was unable to stump up the cash in a deal said to be worth more than $8 million.
Townsend told AAP those reports were "totally incorrect", saying: "The money wasn't in question.
"The issue was dates and timing and them wanting to get their players off leave.
"There's always financial negotiations, but I don't think that was something we couldn't overcome."
Townsend said his organisation was hopeful that next year, without a mid-season World Cup delaying the end of domestic and continental competitions in Europe, the All Stars would return.
"We had never made any public announcement about All Stars because we know it's a funny thing with football negotiations, it's complex," he said.
"Probably more so this year than any other with the World Cup.
"Our window to get a team was very small and any team that we think would be worthy of playing the A-League All Stars couldn't commit until they were knocked out of the Champions League."
