Australian soccer league system

A diagram showing the nine member federations of FFA, which each control their respective state-based competitions.

The Australian soccer league system is a structure of leagues for football (soccer) clubs in Australia. The league system in Australia since 1977 has involved one top divisional league controlled by the national body and many leagues run within each state below. The National Soccer League stood from 1977–2004 as the top nationwide tier above the current state-based league systems, in 2005, the A-League was established as successor. The introduction of the National Premier Leagues in 2013 introduced a direct second tier of football in Australia, underpinning the A-League. The National Premier Leagues incorporated the existing state leagues as divisions with a nationwide end of season finals series. In 2013, the National Premier Leagues rebranded 5 of the 9 top state leagues, and the remainder – with the exception of the Northern Territory – joined in 2014. There is no promotion and relegation to and from the top-tier A-League, and promotion and relegation at other levels varies between different state systems.

The National Youth League, which runs in conjunction with the A-League as a national youth developmental and reserve league, is not included in the table. The women's soccer league system in Australia is similar to that of the men's, with the W-League the top nationwide league and below that state-based leagues run by the FFA Member Federations.

Level	Leagues
1	A-League 10 clubs (1 from New Zealand) no relegation
2	National Premier Leagues 89 clubs (from 8 divisions)										Northern Territory Regional 3 divisions
	NPL ACT 9 clubs no relegation	NPL NSW 12 clubs ↓ relegate 1	NPL Northern NSW 10 clubs ↓ relegate 1	NPL Queensland 12 clubs no relegation	NPL South Australia 12 clubs ↓ relegate 1.5	NPL Tasmania 8 clubs no relegation	NPL Victoria 14 clubs ↓ relegate 2.5	NPL Western Australia 12 clubs ↓ relegate 1
	Capital League 10 clubs no promotion ↓ relegate 1	NPL NSW 2 14 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1	State League 1 11 clubs ↑ promote 1 no relegation	Regional 10 districts no promotion	NPL State League 1 12 clubs ↑ promote 1.5 ↓ relegate 1.5	Northern Championship 9 clubs no promotion ↓ relegate 1	Southern Championship 9 clubs no promotion ↓ relegate 1	NPL Victoria 2 West 10 clubs ↑ promote 1.25 ↓ relegate 1	NPL Victoria 2 East 10 clubs ↑ promote 1.25 ↓ relegate 1	State League 1 12 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1.5
	Capital League Division 1 10 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1	NPL NSW 3 12 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1	Regional 7 districts no promotion		NPL State League 2 12 clubs ↑ promote 1.5	Northern League One 6 clubs ↑ promote 1 potential relegation	Southern League One 6 clubs ↑ promote 1 potential relegation	State League 1 North-West 12 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 2	State League 1 South-East 12 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 2	State League 2 12 clubs ↑ promote 1.5 potential relegation
	Capital League Division 2 10 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1	NSW State League 12 clubs ↑ promote 1 no relegation				Northern League Two 6 clubs potential promotion no relegation	Southern League Two 6 clubs potential promotion no relegation	State League 2 North-West 12 clubs ↑ promote 2 ↓ relegate 2	State League 2 South-East 12 clubs ↑ promote 2 ↓ relegate 2	Amateur League Premier Division 12 clubs potential promotion ↓ relegate 2
	Capital League Division 3 10 clubs ↑ promote 1 ↓ relegate 1	Regional 19 districts ↑ promote 1				Regional 3 divisions no promotion		State League 3 North-West 12 clubs ↑ promote 2 ↓ relegate 2.25	State League 3 South-East 12 clubs ↑ promote 2 ↓ relegate 2.25	Amateur League Division 1 12 clubs ↑ promote 2 ↓ relegate 2
								State League 4 48 clubs (from 4 divisions) ↑ promote 4.5 ↓ relegate 8
								State League 5 48 clubs (from 4 divisions) ↑ promote 8 no relegation
								Regional 12 districts no promotion

See also

• League system, for a list of similar systems in other countries

References

General

• Australian Capital Territory Competitions
• New South Wales Competitions
• Northern New South Wales Competitions
• Northern Territtory Competitions
• Queensland Competitions

• South Australia Competitions
• Tasmania Competitions
• Victoria Competitions
• Western Australia Competitions