A Sydney Morning Herald report has revealed O'Rourke is the preferred candidate to lead the body which will run Australia's professional football leagues.
O'Rourke has been the FFA's head of the A-League and W-League since 2016 and has previously been on the Football NSW board.
Difficult and long winded negations between the clubs and FFA meant, until last Monday, the potential for an independent A-League had been mired in fruitless discussions.
However, this week's breakthrough has been celebrated across the Australian Football community as a watershed moment for the game in this country.
The Herald report claimed O'Rourke is viewed as a safe pair of hands by both the FFA and clubs to lead the A-League, W-League and Y-League into this new era for the sport.
His appointment is far from official with the new organisational body yet to be formed and not likely to be until all the odds and ends of league separation from FFA control is ironed out.
A-League club bosses are believed to have already discussed O'Rourke's suitability and all feel he would be a strong candidate for the role.
The clubs will take majority control of the new leagues body with representatives from all 12 A-League clubs to feature on a board which will also have two delegates from FFA as well as an independent chairperson.
It is believed O'Rourke will initially take on the position in an interim role to give the clubs enough time to consider if he is the man to lead them long term.
