Football Federation Australia has released the fixtures for the revamped Foxtel National Youth League with reigning premiers Melbourne City being placed in Conference A of the competition.
City will come up against Perth Glory, Melbourne Victory, Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar in Conference A and will play their first match on Saturday 14 November at CB Smith Reserve against Perth Glory, before our W-League match against Adelaide United in the first of our FNYL and W-League double headers.
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The new Foxtel National Youth League competition format balances the footballing objectives of the competition whilst supporting each Hyundai A-League Club’s PS4 NPL calendar and providing youth players competitive matches up to 40 weeks each year (excluding participation in other fixtures such as the Hyundai A-League, Westfield FFA Cup, Foxtel National Youth League Grand Final and Friendly matches).
The first of the major changes sees the ten clubs divided into two conferences; Conference A (Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar FC, Melbourne City FC, Melbourne Victory and Perth Glory) and Conference B (Central Coast Mariners, FFA Centre of Excellence, Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers FC). Within each conference, the teams will play each other twice over 10 rounds (4 home / 4 away – 8 matches and 2 byes per team).
The Foxtel National Youth League will commence on the weekend of 7/8 November 2015, with the top team from each conference to meet in the Foxtel National Youth League 2016 Grand Final on the weekend of the 23/24 January 2016.
FFA’s Head of Hyundai A-League, Damien de Bohun, was excited to release the new competition format and draw for the Foxtel National Youth League after years of development.
“The move to change the format of the Foxtel National Youth League competition began in 2013 when FFA reviewed the competition structure which was finalised in July 2014. As part of this review, FFA obtained feedback from various stakeholders including Hyundai A-League Clubs, Member Federations and FFA’s National Performance and Technical Department,” said de Bohun.
“Throughout this consultation process a number of issues were identified regarding the current structure of the competition and its important role of player development. The participation of Foxtel National Youth League teams in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues (NPL) was seen as providing Hyundai A-League Clubs with a more effective youth development framework, without the extensive travel requirements that were deemed to be counterproductive to youth development. Taking all this into consideration, it was timely to consider changes to the Foxtel National Youth League competition for the 2015/16 Season onwards.
“During the Hyundai A-League Club Chairmen’s Meeting in April (2015), the new Foxtel National Youth League competition format was endorsed by Hyundai A-League Clubs and then later approved by FFA’s Football Development Committee for implementation for the upcoming Foxtel National Youth League 2015/16 Season onwards.
“This initiative falls perfectly in line with the goals of the National Football Curriculum and also of our recently released Whole of Football Strategy Plan,” concluded de Bohun.
FFA Technical Director, Eric Abrams, also believes that the new Foxtel National Youth League format will be of great benefit to the players and clubs for years to come.
“The Foxtel National Youth League has been adapted for the upcoming season in line with the elite player development pathway as we all work together to produce quality footballers for the Hyundai A-League and the National teams.
“From next season all nine Australian Hyundai A-League clubs will have their youth teams will play in the relevant National Premier League competitions over the winter months against men and then come together for an abbreviated National Youth League season.
“It is an exciting step forward for football in Australia as our talented youth players will be able to take part in a coordinated “year-long” program in a consistent environment that will help develop better players,” concluded Abrams
Melbourne City FC FNYL Fixture
- Round 2 v Perth Glory – Saturday 14 November, CB Smith Reserve, 1pm
- Round 3 v Adelaide United – Sunday 22 November, CB Smith Reserve, 11am
- Round 4 v Melbourne Victory – Sunday 29 November, Lakeside Stadium, 4pm
- Round 5 v Brisbane Roar – Saturday 5 December, CB Smith Reserve, 4pm
- Round 6 v Adelaide United – Saturday 12 December, Elite Systems Football Centre, 10:30am
- Round 7 v Melbourne Victory – Sunday 20 December, CB Smith Reserve, 1pm
- Round 9 v Brisbane Roar – Saturday 9 January, Cleveland Showgrounds, 4pm
- Round 10 v Perth Glory – Sunday 17 January, Ashfield Reserve, 10:30am
