A-League Youth
Founded2008
Country Australia
ConfederationAFC
Conferences2
Number of teams10
Current championsSydney FC Youth (2019–20)
Most championshipsSydney FC Youth (3)
TV partnersNetwork 10, Paramount+
Websitey-league.com.au

A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League, is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and now run by the Australian Professional Leagues.[1] The current league was established as a successor to the previous competition of the National Youth League (1984–2004) and commenced in August 2008. The league runs in conjunction with the A-League Men as a developmental or reserve league. The league, as well as the A-League Men and A-League Women are administered by the Australian Professional Leagues.[2]

In 2020 it was contested by ten teams, all of which competed in the A-League. From the 2020–21 season, the league was to expand to eleven teams with the introduction of Western United,[3] however the season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. It is currently unknown when it will return, as the tournament is currently on hold with the Australian Professional Leagues waiting on the future of soccer in Australia before potentially bringing it back.[4]

History

Foundation

A previous league under the same name, the National Youth League was an Australian national soccer league run in parallel to the National Soccer League (NSL) between 1984 and 2004.

The current league was announced by Football Federation Australia at the start of March 2008.[5][6] It was set up in conjunction with the A-League in order to continue to develop young Australian talent into the league as well as into the Australian national team and its affiliates such as the under 17, under 20 and under 23 teams.[7] The league's inaugural season was made up of seven teams, each linked to the corresponding Australian club in the A-League (excluding Wellington Phoenix) and had strong links to players training at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS). The 2009–10 season saw the addition of Gold Coast United and a team from the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program.

Expansion

In the 2012–13 season, Gold Coast United were replaced by Western Sydney Wanderers. In April 2017, the closing of the FFA Centre of Excellence (previously the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program) was announced.[8] Before the 2017–18 season, it was announced that Canberra United were granted a National Youth League licence.[9]

All players in the youth teams are between the ages of 16 and 21 as of the start of the calendar year for each new season, while four over-age players from each of the senior teams are also allowed to be selected.

The competition was renamed "A-League Youth" to align with other Australian national competitions in September 2021.[10]

Competition format

Each club contracts a squad of 16 Youth Development Players. Players must be between the ages of 16 and 23 as of 1 January in the year the season commences. Four over-age players (including goalkeeper) are also allowed to be selected (except when playing the AIS where it is restricted to two), usually these coming from the senior team. Each youth player must receive a minimum of 30 minutes game time. Players under 21 signed for the first team filling foreign player spots are classed as over-age players.[5] These players can be any Australian player within the age group. A-League clubs must draw replacement players for their senior teams from the Youth League squad, except under certain circumstances.[5] Such would include severe injuries to over-age players where an injury replacement player is able to be signed.

Original format

Up until and including the 2014–15 season the league had an 18-round format with every team playing all other teams Home and Away. In previous seasons an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament was played between the highest-placed teams from the regular season, culminating in the Grand Final game. The aim of a league is to provide a pathway for young players and state league players to play regular high-level football, and allow reserve players from senior A-League teams to remain match fit.

Introduction of conferences

From the 2015–16 season a new format was introduced. From 2016, all A-League clubs now have youth teams entered into their local conferences of the National Premier Leagues. By having NPL teams, there is now less reliance on the NYL to provide an avenue for youth players to their respective clubs. There was also pressure from A-League clubs to reduce travel budgets.[11] As such the season was shortened from 18 games per team to 8 games plus a Grand Final. The existing ten NYL teams were divided into two conferences of five teams: Conference A consisted of teams from WA, SA, Victoria and Queensland, while teams from ACT and NSW were in Conference B. All teams play all other teams in their conference on a home and away basis. After the home and away series a Grand Final is played between the top teams from each conference.[12]

Clubs

12 clubs have played in the A-League Youth from its inception in 2008, up to and including the 2019–20 season.

The following 10 clubs competed in the Y-League during the 2019–20 season.

Current Clubs
Conference A
Team Location Stadium Joined Head coach
Adelaide United Youth South Australia Adelaide, SA Marden Sports Complex 2008–09 Australia Paul Pezos
Brisbane Roar Youth Queensland Brisbane, QLD Lanham Park 2008–09 Australia Warren Moon
Melbourne City Youth Victoria (state) Melbourne, VIC CB Smith Reserve 2011–12 Czech Republic Petr Kratky
Melbourne Victory Youth Victoria (state) Melbourne, VIC Epping Stadium 2008–09 Australia Gareth Naven
Perth Glory Youth Western Australia Perth, WA Dorrien Gardens 2008–09 Australia Richard Garcia
Conference B
Team Location Stadium Joined Head coach
Central Coast Mariners Academy New South Wales Gosford, NSW Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence 2008–09 Scotland Nick Montgomery
Canberra United Youth Australian Capital Territory Canberra, ACT Australian Institute of Sport 2017–18 Australia Ray Junna
Newcastle Jets Youth New South Wales Newcastle, NSW Newcastle No.2 Sportsground 2008–09 Australia Daniel McBreen
Sydney FC Youth New South Wales Sydney, NSW Leichhardt Oval / Netstrata Jubilee Stadium 2008–09 Australia Jim Van Weeren
Western Sydney Wanderers Youth New South Wales Sydney, NSW Marconi Stadium / Popondetta Park 2012–13 Australia Arthur Diles
Defunct Clubs
Team Location Stadium Joined Dissolved
Gold Coast United Youth Queensland Gold Coast, QLD Owen Park 2008–09 2011
FFA Centre of Excellence Australian Capital Territory Canberra, ACT Australian Institute of Sport 2009–10 2017

Honours

Champions

Season Champion
2008–09Sydney FC
2009–10Gold Coast United FC
2015–16Sydney FC
2016–17Melbourne City
2017–18Western Sydney Wanderers
2018–19Brisbane Roar
2019–20Sydney FC
2020–21Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[13]
2021–22
2022–23 No tournament[4]

Wins by club

Club Championships Winning years
Sydney FC Youth 3 2008–09, 2015–16, 2019–20
Gold Coast United Youth 1 2009–10
Melbourne City Youth 2 2016–17
Brisbane Roar Youth 1 2018–19
Western Sydney Wanderers Youth 1 2017–18

Sponsorship

From 2013 to 2020, the competition had Foxtel as its naming rights sponsor.[14]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "About the A-Leagues - KEEPUP". keepup.com.au. Australian Professional Leagues. Retrieved 18 February 2022.
  2. ↑ Official site on 30 September 2021. Retrieved 3 October 2021.
  3. ↑ Matthew Comino (9 December 2020). "Around the grounds: Stefan Nigro joins Mariners, Western United announce NPL venture". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  4. 1 2 Lynch, Joey (31 August 2022). "A-Leagues put youth competition on hold, Townsend eyes national second division progress". ESPN. Retrieved 31 August 2022.
  5. 1 2 3 "National Youth League to start in August". A-League. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  6. ↑ "Youth 'A-League' to kick off in August". Fox Sports. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  7. ↑ "Launch Dates On Track". FourFourTwo (Australia). 1 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  8. ↑ Davutovic, David (26 April 2017). "Centre of Excellence to close doors in August". Herald Sun.
  9. ↑ "Canberra United granted Foxtel National Youth League licence". Canberra United. 15 September 2017. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 15 September 2017.
  10. ↑ "Australia's football leagues rebranded as A-League Men and A-League Women". ABC News. 29 September 2021. Retrieved 29 September 2021.
  11. ↑ David Lewis. "National Youth League in danger of axe as clubs prepare to pull out". SBS.
  12. ↑ "FFA announces revamped 2015/16 Foxtel NYL". Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  13. ↑ Lynch, Joey (24 January 2021). "Y-League cancelled for 2021 as APL flags reform for Australia's talent pipeline". ESPN. Retrieved 24 January 2021.
  14. ↑ "Foxtel and Football Federation Australia announce new grassroots initiative". Foxtel. 8 April 2013.
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