National Premier Leagues NSW

The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW organised by Northern NSW Football). The league is a subdivision of the second tier National Premier Leagues (NPL), which sits below the national A-League. Prior to becoming a subdivision of the NPL in 2013, the league was previously known as the NSW Premier League.

History

Origins

Since 1956, a top divisional New South Wales based league has been contested annually in various forms, with its early days remembered as Division One. The league, jointly with other state-based leagues, formed the highest tier of soccer in Australia until the creation of a national league, the National Soccer League (NSL), in 1977. Before NSL, the Ampol Cup also ran concurrently as a state-based cup competition. In 1979 Division One officially changed its name to NSW State League, however, reverted to NSW Division One by 1983. The league continued to be contested throughout the winter months and included another name change in 1992 to the NSW Super League. During the 1980s and 1990s, Melita Eagles and Blacktown City FC were dominant in the league winning nine championships between them.

Foundations

At the end of the 2000 season, the top soccer divisions were revamped with the highest level of soccer being named the Premier League and being played over the summer to align with the then top tier of soccer in Australia (NSL). The second highest NSW league was named the Winter Super League and played throughout 2001. The 2004–05 season saw the return of the New South Wales NSL giants in Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58, Wollongong Wolves and Marconi Stallions. This was the result of another overhaul of the entire national league structure. The NSL was abolished and the A-League took its place at the top of the soccer hierarchy in Australia. As this competition significantly reduced the teams from New South Wales to just three (Sydney FC, Central Coast Mariners and Newcastle Jets) these clubs were forced to return to the state leagues. The NSW Premier League continued to be run over summer throughout this period but after the 2004–05 season reverted to a winter competition from 2006.

In 2008 the whole New South Wales men's, women's and youth competitions were reconstructed to align youth teams with their respective senior clubs along with women's teams.

Development

In 2013 the FFA announced another re-structure, this time to the tier 2 level of soccer in Australia. This saw the top league in each state united under a single banner called the National Premier Leagues, with the NSW Premier League rebranded as the National Premier Leagues NSW. Bonnyrigg White Eagles became the inaugural champions of this competition after defeating Rockdale City Suns 1–0 in the final. Sydney United 58 FC were crowned premiers after placing first in the standing at the end of the regular season, earning the right to compete in the inaugural National Premier Leagues Finals. Sydney United went on to win this tournament defeating Tasmanian side South Hobart FC 2–0 in the final. In 2014, premiers Bonnyrigg White Eagles failed to reach the grand final and Blacktown City FC were crowned champions. They defeated Sydney Olympic 2–1 after extra time.

Name changes

Seasons	Title
1956–1977	Division 1
1978–1982	State League
1983–1991	NSW Division One
1992–2000	NSW Super League
2000–2012	NSW Premier League
2013–present	National Premier Leagues NSW
Source: OzFootball

Competition format

League

In the regular season there are 30 Rounds in total with each team playing each other twice; home and away. The winner is declared as Premier. The Premier also qualifies for a separate, nationwide competition, the Australian Championship, which also includes five NSW NPL sides defined as "Foundation Clubs" (APIA Leichhardt, Marconi Stallions, Sydney Olympic, Sydney United 58,Wollongong Wolves).

Finals series

The top six teams from the regular season qualify for a three-week finals series, the winner of which is declared as Champion.

Clubs

National Premier Leagues NSW is located in Sydney — Locations of 2026 NPL NSW clubs within metropolitan Sydney

Club	Seasons	Location	Grounds	Capacity
APIA Leichhardt	13	Leichhardt	Lambert Park	7,000
Blacktown City	13	Blacktown	Lily Homes Stadium	7,500
Manly United	13	Dee Why	Cromer Park	5,000
Marconi Stallions	11	Bossley Park	Marconi Stadium	9,000
Mt Druitt Town Rangers	6	Mount Druitt	Popondetta Park	1,000
NWS Spirit	4	Macquarie Park	Christie Park	2,000
Rockdale Ilinden	13	Rockdale	Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre	5,000
St George City	4	Penshurst	Penshurst Park	1,000
St George FC	4	Banksia	Barton Park Sports Complex	450
SD Raiders FC	1	Moorebank	Ernie Smith Reserve
Sutherland Sharks FC	12	Miranda	Seymour Shaw Park	5,000
Sydney FC Youth	9	Rockdale	Rockdale Ilinden Sports Centre	5,000
Sydney Olympic	13	Belmore	Belmore Sports Ground	20,000
Sydney United 58	13	Edensor Park	Sydney United Sports Centre	12,000
UNSW FC	1	Kensington	UNSW Village Green
Western Sydney Wanderers Youth	4	Rooty Hill	Wanderers Football Park	3,000
Wollongong Wolves	13	Wollongong Berkeley	WIN Stadium Macedonia Park	23,750 3,000
Source: Football NSW