Country | Australia |
---|---|
Confederation | AFC |
Founded | 2008 |
Number of teams | 10 |
Current champions | Melbourne City Youth |
Most championships | Sydney FC Youth (3) |
TV partners | Fox Sports (Grand Final only) |
Website | Home page |
2016–17 National Youth League |
The National Youth League (NYL) is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and 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.
The league is sponsored by Foxtel and thus officially known as the Foxtel National Youth League.
Originally, 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. 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. 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. In the 2012–13 season, Gold Coast United were replaced by Western Sydney Wanderers. 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.