Football NSW

Football NSW is the governing body for

The first soccer association was founded in New South Wales in 1882 as the "South British Football Soccer Association". It was succeeded in 1898 by the "New South Wales British Football Association" and eventually in 1921 by the "Australian Soccer Football Association". The first state league in New South Wales was formed in 1928 and by 1943 a new association was formed to oversee the game in New South Wales specifically, called "New South Wales Soccer Football Association". This was formed into a company in 1945.[3]^[4]

By 1957 many clubs in New South Wales were left disgruntled by the way the game was run by the NSW Soccer Football Association due to numerous factors. Some migrant communities had created their own clubs when they were faced with closed doors by already established suburban clubs.^[5] After a meeting led by Hakoah president, Walter Sternberg in his Bellevue Hill home, a new association was born, called the "NSW Federation of Soccer Clubs". This federation effectively took control over the game from the former NSW Soccer Football Association.^[3][5][4]

The events of 1957 also led to a change in management nationally. With the Australian Soccer Football Association (ASFA) suspended by FIFA over player poaching disputes and the creation of Federations in other states, the Australian Soccer Federation (ASF) was created in 1961 to replace the old association. However, the ASF only gained control of operations from the ASFA after they sent a £5000 bond to FIFA in 1963.^[4]

In 1995, "Soccer Australia" replaced the "Australian Soccer Federation" and so the governing body of New South Wales became "Soccer NSW".^[4]

Soccer NSW remained in control of the game for a decade until another national change took place in 2005 when Soccer Australia changed its name to "Football Federation Australia".^[4] Soccer NSW however, did not officially change its name to "Football NSW" until 1 April 2007.^[1]

Headquarters

The headquarters of Football NSW are located at Valentine Sports Park, Glenwood. Valentine Sports Park is a multipurpose sporting complex which caters for various groups, as well as individuals. The complex consists of twin, triple and quad rooms accommodating up to 180 people, 5 playing fields, lecture rooms, indoor sports hall, 20 metre outdoor pool, sports medicine centre and a dining room open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It also contains the offices of the Football NSW staff.

Football

The majority of Football NSW's time goes into the football competitions they oversee and run. Football NSW oversees the running of numerous representative youth, Men's & Women's association football leagues and cups, a number of which are non-amateur. They also oversee the countless club and amateur competitions run by the affiliated associations around the state. For a detailed rundown of the various leagues and systems run in New South Wales see

Futsal

Football NSW is also the governing body for Futsal is New South Wales. There are two representative leagues named the "Futsal Premier League" (Known as the SELECT Futsal Premier League for sponsorship reasons) and the "Futsal Premier League 2" (Known as the SELECT FPL2). Originally there was only one representative league with 16 teams. In the 06/07 season the competition was cut into 2 separate divisions of 8 teams each. In the 07/08 season the top 8 clubs in the club championship (aggregate points of all teams) from that season were put in the First Division while the last 8 were put in the second division. Now in 18/19 there is 8 premier league teams and 8 premier league 2 teams.

Football NSW Leagues clubs

Below are listed the Men's all member clubs of Football NSW for the National Premier Leagues competitions and Football NSW League One and Two for 2023.

League system

The men's soccer pyramid in New South Wales comprises 4 levels below the A-League Men, with promotion and relegation between the top 3 levels. It also includes the Sydney Amateur League, which is not officially a part of the league system. In total, there are 259 clubs/teams across 28 divisions in South Australia.

The women's soccer pyramid in New South Wales comprises 3 levels below the A-League Men, with promotion and relegation between the top 2 levels.

Men's pyramid

State

Metropolitan

Regional

Women's pyramid

State

Metropolitan

Associations and Branches

As one of two state governing body for football in New South Wales, Football NSW oversees all aspects of the sport within the southern part of the state. At a local level, Football NSW works with 15 regional-based constituent association members which oversee in all aspects of the sport within their respected region. Three Football NSW branches also exist in a similar capacity.^[6]

Branches^[9]

• Southern NSW Football
• Football Riverina
• Western NSW Football

Past League Winners

The sections below list previous league winners. League winners are listed as first place in the standings at the end of the regular section, not winners of the finals series (when held).

1957–1958

The first season of the newly formed Soccer NSW began with two divisions.

Another overhaul of the league structure occurred with the introduction of the nationwide National Premier Leagues. State Federations were required to name their premier leagues as such. For Football NSW, the meant the "Premier League" was to be called "National Premier Leagues NSW" instead. The "Super League" also had to follow suit, becoming the "National Premier Leagues NSW 2". State Leagues remained the same.

2016–2019

Another minor change occurred for the 2016 season, with State League 1 adopting the "NPL NSW 3 moniker", thus State League 2 was reverted to simply State League.

2020–2021

After a further review, there was another restructure which came into effect in the 2020 season, with the branding of an NPL4 competition.^[10]

2022

The 2022 season saw more changes as the NPL 2, NPL 3 and NPL 4 competitions were renamed to League One, League Two and League Three respectively.^[12]

2023–present

The 2023 season saw another change as the NSW League Three competition was disbanded in favour of three larger leagues.

References

External links

• Football NSW - Official website