Adelaide United FC Youth

Adelaide United Youth
Full name	Adelaide United Football Club Youth
Nickname(s)	Young Reds, Baby Reds
Founded	2008
Ground	VALO Football Centre
Capacity	3,000
Chairman	Piet Van Der Pol
Youth Manager	Paul Pezos
League	National Premier Leagues; Y-League
Website	Club website
Home colours	Away colours

Adelaide United Football Club Youth is the youth system of Adelaide United Football Club based in Adelaide, South Australia. The team players in the National Premier Leagues, the second level of Australia's soccer pyramid in Australia. The club also competes in the under-23s Y-League competition. Paul Pezos is the current youth manager.

Adelaide United Under-20s, also referred to as Reserves are the two other teams within the setup. They play the majority of their home games at the VALO Football Centre.

History

Early Years (2009–2014)

The team was founded in 2008, as an Adelaide United representative team for the inaugural season of the National Youth League competition. Former Adelaide City player, Joe Mullen was appointed as head coach for Adelaide's inaugural youth squad.[1] They finished 2nd to the qualification of the 2009 Grand Final against Sydney FC. The final result was a 2–0 loss at Hindmarsh Stadium with Adelaide finishing runners-up into both the premiership and championship.[2]

Adelaide's top-scorer for their first two seasons was Francesco Monterosso with the first season scoring 13 goals and with the second season scoring 17 goals.[3] This was the only back-to-back Golden Boot winner in the National Youth League.

Within the change of the NYL table format in the second National Youth League season, Adelaide United were still able to qualify for the NYL finals finishing 3rd. Adelaide United lost 1–0 to Perth Glory in the semi-final.[4]

In the 2010–11 season, in the race for the premiership, they finished 3rd again, followed by Central Coast Mariners Youth in 2nd with Gold Coast United Youth being the premiers for the season.

National Premier Leagues entry (2014–present)

In October 2014, it was confirmed that the team would compete in the National Premier Leagues South Australia and National Premier Leagues South Australia Reserves (U20) competitions for the PS4 2015 FFSA season entering in the State League 1, the second division of South Australian football.[5][6]

They gained automatic promotion in their first season to the National Premier Leagues after finishing top of the table as well as the Reserves (U20s).

In October 2015, it was announced that AUFC Youth team were to compete in the 2015 Mediterranean International Cup in Barcelona, Spain. Their first match in Group A was against Los Angeles with the result as a 4–0 victory.[7] Then they lost 1–0 against Barcelona.[8] This was the first game for an Adelaide United side to face Barcelona. The final game was against Palamos CF in a 3–0 victory for Adelaide.

With the final game victory, Adelaide moved on to the Round of 16 against CF Lloret. Both teams could not be split, as the full-time score was 0–0. The game was decided in a penalty shoot-out, which Adelaide United won 5–4.[9]. The Reds ended their 2015 Mediterranean International Cup, with a 4–0 loss against Malaga CF.[10]

On 11 January 2016, Adelaide United claimed their premiership in Conference A,[11] with Sydney FC Youth crowned Premiers for Conference B. The Grand Final was played at Central Coast Stadium with Sydney winning the grand final against Adelaide for the second season in a row between these two sides. The final result was 5–2 to Sydney FC Youth with them being 2016 National Youth League Champions.[12].

After their successful premiership in the State League 1, they moved on to the National Premier Leagues South Australia and finished 10th which was one spot away from relegating back to the State League. In 2017, they finished the same position as 2016, finishing 10th, and still avoiding relegation. As the two unsuccessful seasons were finished, Adelaide United Youth qualified for the NPL SA Finals Series for the first time and was defeated by North Eastern MetroStars by a 1–0 scoreline in the qualifying-finals.[13]

Players

As of 4 July 2020[14]

NPL/Y-League

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	AUS	Dakota Ochsenham
4	MF	AUS	Louis D'Arrigo
14	FW	AUS	Al Hassan Toure
18	MF	AUS	Lachlan Brook
24	FW	AUS	Pacifique Niyongabire
29	DF	AUS	Kusini Yengi
33	DF	AUS	Cooper Nunn
34	DF	AUS	Yared Abetew
36	DF	AUS	Noah Smith
37	MF	AUS	Joel King-Byrne
41	DF	AUS	Jackson Walls
42	MF	AUS	Taras Gomulka


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
43	MF	AUS	Daniel Bressan
44	DF	AUS	Alexandar Popovic
45	FW	AUS	Michael Cittadini
46	FW	AUS	Binyam Kebede
47	DF	AUS	Adam Leombruno
49	FW	AUS	Mohamed Toure
51	FW	AUS	Panashe Madanha
52	FW	AUS	Massimo Falco
53	MF	AUS	Jaiden Diamantis
54	MF	AUS	Keshav Shrestha
58	MF	AUS	Jonny Yull
70	GK	AUS	Ethan Cox

Under-20s

As of 4 July 2020[15]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Nation	Player
2	AUS	Giuseppe Bovalina
56	AUS	Ethan Alagich
57	AUS	Terence Lynch
59	AUS	Luka Jovanovic
62	AUS	Jaxson Bullen


No.	Nation	Player
63	AUS	Arbi Mollas
66	AUS	Calum Campbell
68	AUS	Kane Vidmar
90	AUS	Steven Hall

Current staff

As of 30 June 2019[16]

Head Coaches

Paul Pezos	U23 Head Coach
Adrian Stenta	U20 Head Coach

Staff

Mario Karlovic	Assistant U23 Manager
Maurice Natale	Assistant U23 Manager
Roberto Muscio	Team Manager
Django Gentilcore	Physiotherapist & Sports Scientist

Honours

NPL/Under-23s

Y-League Premiership

Winners (1): 2015–16

Runners-up (1): 2008–09

Y-League Championship

Runners-up (1): 2009, 2016

South Australian State League 1

Winners (1): 2015

Under-20s

National Premier Leagues South Australia U-20 Premiership

Winners (2): 2017, 2018

South Australian State League 1 U-20 Premiership