Y-League

The Y-League, formerly known as the National Youth League is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-23s reserve league, run by Football Federation Australia. The National Youth League was established as a successor to the competition of the same name and commenced in August 2008. The league runs in conjunction with the A-League as a developmental/reserve league. It is contested by ten teams, nine of which compete in the A-League, the other, the Australian Institute of Sport. Seasons currently run from October to March.

Y-League
Founded2008
Country Australia
ConfederationAFC
Conferences2
Number of teams10
Current championsSydney FC Youth (2019–20)
Most championshipsSydney FC Youth (5)
TV partnersFox Sports
Websitey-league.com.au
2019–20 Y-League

The league is known as the Foxtel Y-League for sponsorship reasons.

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.[1][2] 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.[3] 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.[4] Before the 2017–18 season, it was announced that Canberra United were granted a National Youth League licence.[5]

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.

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.[1] 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.[1] 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.[6] 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.[7]

Clubs

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

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

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

Maps

Y-League Honours

Champions
No. Season Champion
12008–09Sydney FC
22009–10Gold Coast United Youth
32010–11Gold Coast United Youth
42011–12Central Coast Mariners Academy
52012–13Melbourne Victory Youth
62013–14Sydney FC Youth
72014–15Melbourne City Youth
82015–16Sydney FC Youth
92016–17Melbourne City Youth
102017–18Western Sydney Wanderers Youth
No. Season Champion
112018–19Brisbane Roar Youth
122019–20Sydney FC Youth

Wins by club
Club Wins Winning years
Sydney FC Youth 4 2008–09, 2013–14, 2015–16, 2019–20
Gold Coast United Youth 2 2009–10, 2010–11
Melbourne City Youth 2 2014–15, 2016–17
Brisbane Roar Youth 1 2018–19
Central Coast Mariners Academy 1 2011–12
Melbourne Victory Youth 1 2012–13
Western Sydney Wanderers Youth 1 2017–18

Sponsorship

From 2013, the National Youth League had naming rights sold to Foxtel which was the most recent title sponsor.[8]


See also

References
  1. "National Youth League to start in August". A-League. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  2. "Youth 'A-League' to kick off in August". Fox Sports. 5 March 2008. Retrieved 27 May 2008.
  3. "Launch Dates On Track". FourFourTwo (Australia). 1 July 2008. Retrieved 15 August 2008.
  4. Davutovic, David (26 April 2017). "Centre of Excellence to close doors in August". Herald Sun.
  5. "Canberra United granted Foxtel National Youth League licence". Canberra United. 15 September 2017.
  6. David Lewis. "National Youth League in danger of axe as clubs prepare to pull out". SBS.
  7. "FFA announces revamped 2015/16 Foxtel NYL". Retrieved 30 September 2015.
  8. "Foxtel and Football Federation Australia announce new grassroots initiative". Foxtel. 8 April 2013.
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