The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a men's national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based federation within Australia. In total the NPL is contested by clubs from eight divisions; these are ACT, NSW, Northern NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia. The NPL is overseen by Football Australia, in partnership with participating state-based member federations.
Up to the 2019 season, one representative from each regional participated in the NPL Championship, a knock-out competition to determine a national champion.
History
In October 2010, Football Federation Australia (FFA) commenced a National Competition Review, its main objective being to review the current structure of soccer competitions in Australia, and to monitor and improve elite player development.[1] By May 2012 the results of the National Competition Review were released. In it, a proposal to re-brand and revitalise state-based competitions in Australia.[2]
On 13 February 2013, the establishment of the National Premier Leagues was announced. As a direct outcome of the National Competition Review, the league would rebrand the premier league in each state under a single banner.[3] Originally named Australian Premier League but due to a violation of naming rights held by Lawn Bowls Australia the original name was scrapped and replaced with National Premier Leagues.[4]
The inaugural season of the NPL began in March 2013. It included teams from five of the nine state-based federations:
Those federations who joined in the 2014 season, were expected to adopt a partial model at some time in the future.[5][6] Although Victoria initially announced their teams would enter in 2014, a deferral was later announced in November 2013, after several clubs objected to the process for selecting teams. However, by December 2013, a resolution was reached whereby Victorian teams participated in the 2014 season.[7][8]
FFA announced their intentions of a promotion and relegation structure between the first tier A-League and second tier working title Australian Championship from late 2022 but move to 2025.[9]
The finals series for the 2020 competition was cancelled on 3 July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia,[10] and has not been held since.
Competition format
A diagram showing the state member federations of FFA.
Map showing the location of teams in the National Premier Leagues.
The NPL competitions in each state and territory are run by the member federation, with a national playoff tournament at the end of each season.[3] Each member federation, or 'conference' contains various numbers of teams, and they play a full season with no inter-conference matches (an identical format to the individual State Leagues that preceded the NPL). The winner of each division is determined by the club in first position of each conference table at the end of the regular season, rather than the winner of the various state-based finals series.
Former NPL finals series
Up to the 2019 season, the winners of each respective Federation league (the regular home and away season) competed in a finals playoff tournament. These were all single match knock out matches. Between 2013 and 2015 the match ups were based on predetermined geographically adjacent Federations, with hosting rights for the quarter-finals alternating each year. From 2016 to 2019 the match ups were determined by an open draw.[11] The hosts for the semi-finals and Grand Final were determined by a formula based on the time of winning of the previous NPL Finals matches (normal time, extra time or penalties), goals scored and allowed, and yellow/red cards.
The finals series culminated in a Grand Final, where the winner was crowned National Premier Leagues Champions.[12] From 2014 to 2019, the NPL Champion also qualified for the following years' FFA Cup round of 32.
Promotion and relegation
Depending on the State Federation in charge, teams may be relegated from the NPL to a third-tier league in the same state (and vice versa), but there is currently no mechanism for a team to be promoted to the first tier of Australian soccer, the A-League. The number of teams promoted and relegated from third-tier leagues per state has varied over the existence of the NPL. The table below details the number of teams relegated automatically from the NPL at the end of the season and the number of NPL teams which go into a relegation playoff against a lower league team (subject to those lower league teams meeting additional eligibility criteria to be able to be promoted to the NPL).
Below are listed the National Premier Leagues clubs in each respective state member federation from the 2023 season.
In total, there are 94 clubs that compete in the top tier of the National Premier Leagues each season. Most NPL divisions involve promotion and relegation to leagues below the NPL and so participating clubs change annually.
^The 2020 Finals Series and the 2020 FFA Cup were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. Wollongong Wolves had already qualified for the 2020 FFA Cup prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, so were given an automatic entry into the 2021 FFA Cup.[13]
^ abcNorthern NSW, Victoria and Western Australia were not part of the inaugural NPL finals series.
^North Eastern MetroStars won its league season, but did not proceed to the NPL Finals series (that year's Champion qualified instead).
^Newcastle Jets Youth team won its league season, but were ineligible for the NPL Finals series (the runner-up qualified instead).
^2021 for Victoria initially cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[19] However, as a result of a court challenge involving Avondale FC and Football Victoria, it was agreed that eight rounds of games from the 2022 NPL Season would also count towards the 2021 NPL league table, enabling sufficient matches to be played to "complete" the season, and be able to declare a Premier for 2021.[20]
^"Second Division 'By 2022'?". Australian FourFourTwo. Sportal Australia. 3 October 2012. Archived from the original on 24 December 2013. Retrieved 23 December 2013.
