National Premier Leagues Capital Football

National Premier Leagues Capital Football
Country Australia
Confederation AFC
Number of teams 10
Level on pyramid 2
Relegation to ACT State League
Domestic cup(s) FFA Cup
Website Official ACT NPL Home
2016 Capital Football season

The National Premier Leagues Capital Football is a soccer competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. It is the highest level competition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues.[1][2]

Format

NPL Teams play a league season, followed by a finals series for the top 4 clubs. Premier League clubs are also required to field teams in age-limited divisions of Premier League U20, Premier League U18 and Premier League U16, and junior NPL teams at U14 and U13 age groups.

A cup competition is contested by Premier League teams and other teams from the region, known as the Westfield FFA Cup Qualifiers, for which the winner is awarded the Federation Cup. The winners of the Federation Cup gain entry into the national FFA Cup competition.

History

The competition was restructured after the 2006 season, based on criterion requiring a development pathway within clubs where each club must field a team in a reserves and Under-18 divisions. Nine teams contested in the Premier League in 2007, cutting Gungahlin Juventus, White Eagles and reigning premier Cooma Tigers from the top tier.[3]

The same nine teams remained in the Premier League for 2008 and 2009. The pathway system was expanded to include a Premier U16 competition, with all nine clubs required to field a team from their club or an affiliated club. Capital Football initially revoked the licence of Queanbeyan City for the 2009 season, citing a non-compliance with the developmental and administrative standards expected for the league.[4] However, Queanbeyan were reinstated on appeal and following the presentation of further evidence demonstrating these standards could be met.[5]

At the close of the 2009 season, the licences of all participating clubs were reviewed and expressions of interest sought for new additional entrants to the competition for 2010–2012.

In November 2014 Woden Weston FC was incorporated with the intention to merge the elite levels of Woden Valley FC and Weston Molonglo FC into one club, to compete in the National Premier Leagues in 2015 and beyond. The new merged club was officially launched in 20 February 2015, with colours for their new strip sourced from both clubs (black from Weston Creek and red from Woden Valley).[6]

In 2016 the league was expanded to 10 teams with the addition of the Canberra United Academy (CUA) team.[7] The decision by Capital Football to include the CUA in the top division of ACT football was met with opposition by other clubs in the league, citing concern with the prospect of losing their best young players to the Academy.[8] Along with the addition of the CUA, other clubs were concerned with lack of action taken on making the Presidents of the NPL clubs voting members of the Capital Football board. A possible rebel league was mooted, and it was believed there had already been contact made with the Referees' Association and potential sponsorship lined up by the NPL clubs.[9]

2016 also saw the establishment of the Capital Football Charity Shield to be played between the Federation Cup winners and NPL league champions before the start of the regular NPL season, as a charity fund-raiser.[10] The inaugural Capital Football Charity Shield match was contested on 18 March 2016 between Canberra FC (2015 League premiers) and Gungahlin United (2015 Federation Cup winners) at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval.[11]

Current Clubs (2016)

Club Location Home ground
Belconnen United McKellar McKellar Park
Canberra FC Deakin Deakin Stadium
Canberra Olympic O'Connor O'Connor Enclosed
Canberra United Academy McKellar McKellar Park
Tigers FC Cooma Nijong Oval
FFA Centre of Excellence Bruce Australian Institute of Sport
Gungahlin United Gungahlin Gungahlin Enclosed Oval
Monaro Panthers Queanbeyan Riverside Oval
Tuggeranong United Kambah Kambah 2
Woden Weston FC Phillip Woden Park

Former Premier League or NPL clubs

Club Location Home ground
Australian National University Acton ANU Willows Oval
Goulburn Strikers Goulburn Strikers Park
Queanbeyan City Queanbeyan Riverside Stadium
HNK O'Connor Knights O'Connor O'Connor Enclosed
Canberra City Hackett Hackett 2
Canberra White Eagles Phillip Woden Park
Weston Creek Waramanga Waramanga Playing Fields
Narrabundah Narrabundah Narrabundah 2
Burns Kambah Kambah 3-10

Honours

Year League Winner Champions Charity Shield
2000 Gungahlin JuventusBelconnen United -
2001 Canberra DeakinGungahlin Juventus -
2002 Canberra DeakinBelconnen United -
2003 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin -
2004 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin -
2005 Canberra DeakinCanberra Deakin -
2006 Canberra OlympicCooma -
2007 Canberra FCCanberra FC -
2008 Canberra FCBelconnen United -
2009 Canberra FCCanberra FC -
2010 Canberra FCCanberra FC -
2011 Canberra FCCanberra FC -
2012 Belconnen UnitedCooma -
2013 Canberra FCCanberra Olympic -
2014 Cooma TigersBelconnen United -
2015 Canberra FCCanberra Olympic -
2016 Canberra OlympicCanberra OlympicCanberra FC

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NPL Home". National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  2. ↑ Gibbs, Russ. "PS4 NPL Capital Football 2015 Preview". PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  3. ↑ "Clubs on notice to lift game or be cut loose". Canberra Times. 9 December 2006. Retrieved 15 June 2007.
  4. ↑ "Queanbeyan City's PL Licence Reviewed". Capital Football. October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  5. ↑ "Queanbeyan City Reinstated in Premier League". Capital Football. December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.
  6. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (08 March 2015) "Woden-Weston FC hoping to channel Western Sydney Wanderers in National Premier League debut". Sydney Morning herald. Retrieved 2015-03-16.
  7. ↑ "Academy". Capital Football. Retrieved 9 Feb 2016.
  8. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (2015-11-25). "Soccer: Canberra National Premier League clubs voice concerns at representative team". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  9. ↑ Polkinghorne, David (2016-02-11). "Rebel league an option in Canberra NPL disagreement with Capital Football". Sydney Morning herald. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  10. ↑ "Champions and Cup Winners to Meet in Inaugural Charity Shield". Capital Football. Retrieved 2016-03-19.
  11. ↑ Gaskin, Lee (2016-03-17). "ACT National Premier League: Charity Shield gives new-look Gungahlin United perfect test". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 2016-03-19.

Current Clubs (2015)

Former Clubs


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