National Premier Leagues South Australia
Organising bodyFootball South Australia
First season2013 (2013)
Country Australia
State South Australia
ConfederationAFC
Number of teams12 (since 2016)
Level on pyramid2
Relegation toSA State League 1
Domestic cup(s)Australia Cup
Federation Cup
Current championsAdelaide United Youth (2023)
Current premiersNorth Eastern MetroStars (2023)
TV partnersnpl.tv
Channel 44 (1 game per week)
Sponsor(s)RAA
Websitefootballsa.com.au
Current: 2023 NPLSA

The National Premier Leagues South Australia (often abbreviated to NPL South Australia or NPL SA) is a semi-professional football competition in the Australian state of South Australia. The league is a subdivision of the second tier National Premier Leagues, which sits below the A-League on the national pyramid. The competition is controlled by Football South Australia, the governing body for the sport in the state.

History

In 2012 it was announced that the FFSA Premier League was to become the top tier of South Australian football (below the national A-League) after the disbandment of the now defunct FFSA Super League. It was announced that the competition would consist of 14 teams. These teams would be made up of the 10 teams from the defunct Super League with the remaining 4 spots being filled by the top 4 teams from the 2012 Premier League season.

In 2013 the league joined the National Premier Leagues and was named correspondingly to NPL SA. The top placed team after the completion of the season will enter into the National Premier Leagues finals and will play-off against other top placed teams from interstate conferences to determine a nationwide champion.

National Premier Leagues South Australia (abbreviated as NPL SA), a subdivision of National Premier Leagues (NPL), is a semi-professional football competition in the state of South Australia. National Premier Leagues is the second-tier football competition in Australia, which sits below the Hyundai A-League and Westfield W-League on the country's football national pyramid. Football Federation Australia (FFA) embarked on a National Competition Review in October 2010, which aimed to review the football competition structure in Australia.[1] The process of conducting the National Competition Review lasted for 20 months, and the review results were released in May 2012, in which FFA proposed to revitalise the country's state-based competitions to promote the development of elite players.[1] As a result of this review, National Premier Leagues was established in February 2013. At the time of establishment, NPL has five subdivisions, including football teams from five corresponding state-based federations, which are Football Federation South Australia, Football Federation Tasmania, Football Queensland, Football NSW, and Capital Football.[1] The inaugural season of NPL SA began in March 2013. Currently, this competition is run and managed by Football South Australia (formerly known as Football Federation South Australia), which is a governing body of football issues in South Australia and a competition administrator for different levels of football games in the state.

Competition format

The regular season consists of a double round robin of 22 rounds, followed by a finals series for the top 6 teams. The team who finishes first is crowned Premier and qualifies for the National Premier Leagues finals series. The teams placed 11th and 12th are relegated to the State League 1 in the following season.

In the finals, the 1st and 2nd placed teams playoff in a two-legged game to qualify for the grand final, with the loser moving to a preliminary final against the winner of playoffs by the 3rd to 6th placed teams. A grand finl is held at ServiceFM Stadium, where the winner is crowned Champion.

NPL SA Player Point System (PPS)

Player Points System, abbreviated as PPS, refers to a system that calculates and records the points of players in NPL clubs. It was after the issue of the National Competitions Review (NCR) in 2012 that the Player Points System (PPS) was introduced for the National Premier Leagues, as a complement to the Club Licensing framework.[2] The introduction of PPS aimed to:

1) Provide Australia football players with more opportunities;

Promoting players’ development through the youth development structures whilst delivering the NCR objectives and outcomes;

2) Promote the long-term sustainability of NPL clubs by adjusting Players’ salaries;

3) Ensure the parity and competitive balance amongst NPL clubs;

4) Improve the stability of NPL Club Player Rosters;

5) Encourage players to progress through to a National Elite Pathway Team.[2]

  • Note: A National Elite Pathway Team refers to a team, determined by the FFA Technical Department and the Member Federations, to take part in the National Elite Pathway. If a player moves through the National Elite Pathway, certain points are credited for that.

There are two different types of NPL Club teams: NPL Club Age-Eligible Team and the First Team. NPL Club Age Eligible Team refers to those facing an age restriction, such as U16s, U18s, and U20s, whilst the First Team means the senior team of NPL Club. Only in limited circumstances can players from the NPL Club's Age-Eligible Teams be promoted to the First Team Player Roster, As outlined under First Team Player Roster Requirements, if a NPL club does not promote a player from its NPL Age-Eligible Teams onto the First Team Player Roster, the club is only allowed to promote the player to the First Team up to a maximum of 40% of matches throughout a NPL season. If the percentage exceeds 40%, the club must include the player on the NPL Club's First Team Player Roster.[2]

The First Team should remain within the PPS Points Cap, which applies to NPL Club's First Team Player Roster. In NPL 2019 season, the Member Federation, in consultation with FFA, set the PPS Points Cap, which was up to a maximum of 200 points. According to this, each NPL player is attributed of 10 points as the beginning. During the season, a player's value of points is added or deducted depending on certain characteristics (see table below). It is further required that a player's points value should not be less than 0 points.[2]

Category Definition Points Adjustment Explanation
Youth Player A Youth Player is 22-year-old or below at the current NPL season. 1 point is deducted for each year the player is below 23-year-old Under this category, the maximum value of adjustment is 5 points.
Visa Player A Visa Player is a non-Australian player. 10 points are added to a player's points value for each Visa Player. A NPL club can simultaneously have up to 2 Visa Players on their First Team Player Roster.
Homegrown Player A Homegrown Player is a player who has been registered with a NPL Club's Age-Eligible Teams. 1 point is deducted for each season Under this category, the maximum value of adjustment is 5 points. 
Loyalty Player A Loyalty Player is a player who has registered for at least 5 continuous seasons with the NPL Club's First Team 1 point is deducted for each season starting from the fifth continuous season None
Pathway Player A Pathway Player is a player who joins a National Elite Pathway Team. 0 No points are added to or deducted from the points value of a Pathway Player.
Australian Marquee Player An Australian Marquee Player is a player that used to be registered as a professional Player for a Hyundai A-League Club or an overseas Club immediately before the player registers with the NPL Club. 0 A NPL club can have only one Australian Marquee Player on their First Team Player Roster.

NPL SA digital presence

Increasing the digital presence of NPL SA has been a strategic focus of Football South Australia in recent years. Since the 2019 season, all NPL SA fixtures have been digitally recorded. Media releases of home and away games are delivered on the official website of Football South Australia.[3] As Football South Australia continued to expand their digital offerings, they also celebrated the history of NPL SA clubs by creating a history makers series, showing the clubs’ development stories and their cultural heritage to the football family. This series has attracted more than 250,000 individual viewers.[4] In the 2020 season, the audience could watch all NPL game broadcasts.[5]

The Celebration Of Football

The Celebration of Football is an annually held event that allows all members of the South Australian football family to join and celebrate the achievements that have been achieved during the past season. In 2022, the Celebration of Football was held at the Adelaide Convention Centre, attracting more than 950 members to attend. The following players were a part of the Team of the Year.

Team of the Year
Position Name Club
Goalkeeper Dakota Ochsenham Adelaide City
Defenders Jake Halliday Campbelltown City
Matthew Halliday Adelaide City
Scott Nagel Adelaide Comets
Jackson Walls North Eastern MetroStars
Midfielders Alexander Mullen Campbelltown City
Allan Welsh Adelaide Comets
Charlie Devereux Adelaide City
Forwards Aladin Irabona Adelaide City
Kur Kur Adelaide City
Joshua Mori FK Beograd

Players' Development Pathways

Regional Football Programme

NPL SA, under the management of Football South Australia, has established development pathways to allow talented young footballers to enter NPL competitions and used motion analysis to monitor the progress of elite soccer (Christopher et al., 2008). In 2013, the Regional Football Programme was introduced by FSA to provide services and support to regional players.[4] In 2019, more than 160 regional players from all over the state joined the programme held in Adelaide, receiving education and coaching from a selected group of experienced football coaches.[4] The number of regional squads has also increased, for:

  • Under 16 Girls
  • Under 14 Girls
  • Under 16 Boys
  • Under 14 Boys
  • Under 12 Boys
  • SINGA CUP

In the Regional Football Programme, there is a selection process for teams that would visit Singapore to compete for the SINGA CUP. A total of 80 players traveled to Singapore and were tested in humid and tough conditions.[4] This was a development opportunity for regional players to compete with opponents from the member countries and regions of the Asian Football Confederation, such as Japan, Indonesia, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, and Taiwan. This is a 20-team competition, and Under 16 Boys from South Australia finished the competition in the 3rd place.[4]

Clubs for 2023 season

Club Location Home Ground
Adelaide City Oakden Adelaide City Park
Adelaide Comets Gepps Cross ServiceFM Stadium
Adelaide Olympic Angle Park APEX Football Centre
Adelaide United Youth Gepps Cross ServiceFM Stadium
Campbelltown City Newton Steve Woodcock Sports Centre
Croydon FC Regency Park Regency Oval
FK Beograd Woodville West Frank Mitchell Park
Modbury Jets Ridgehaven Smith Partners Stadium
North Eastern MetroStars Klemzig T.K. Shutter Reserve
South Adelaide Panthers O'Sullivan Beach O'Sullivan Beach Sports Complex
Sturt Lions Eden Hills Karinya Reserve
West Adelaide West Beach West Beach Parks Football Centre

Honours

YearPremiersChampionsNPL Finals Representation
2013North Eastern MetroStarsCampbelltown CityCampbelltown City – Semi-finals
2014North Eastern MetroStarsCroydon KingsNorth Eastern MetroStars – Champions
2015West AdelaideWest AdelaideWest Adelaide – Quarter-finals
2016Adelaide CityCampbelltown CityAdelaide City – Quarter-finals
2017Adelaide CityCroydon KingsAdelaide City – Quarter-finals
2018Campbelltown CityCampbelltown CityCampbelltown City – Champions
2019Campbelltown CityCampbelltown CityCampbelltown City – Quarter-finals
2020Adelaide CometsCampbelltown City—[lower-alpha 1]
2021Adelaide CometsAdelaide City—[lower-alpha 1]
2022Adelaide CityAdelaide City—[lower-alpha 2]
2023North Eastern MetroStarsAdelaide United Youth—[lower-alpha 2]

For details of winners pre-NPL (2006–2012):

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 NPL finals series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[6]
  2. 1 2 Not Held

References

  1. 1 2 3 "FFA launches National Premier Leagues (2013)". Football Federation Australia.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Football SA Competition Operating Regulations" (PDF). Football South Australia. February 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  3. ↑ Sherwood M, Nicholson M, Marjoribanks T (2017). "Controlling the message and the medium?". Digital Journalism. 5 (5): 513–531.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 "Football South Australia Annual Report 2019" (PDF). Football South Australia. June 2020. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  5. ↑ Vale L, Fernandes T (2018). "Social media and sports: Driving fan engagement with football clubs on Facebook". Journal of Strategic Marketing. 26 (1): 37–55.
  6. ↑ "Coronavirus forces FFA Cup to be cancelled". The World Game. SBS. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
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