Football Victoria reveal new women’s division for 2020

Philip Panas16/10/2019 7:00 am04/08/2021

Football Victoria (FV) yesterday announced the creation of a new women’s league, starting in 2020.

The new division will be placed in the tier between the NPLW and the State League 1 competitions.

FV recently released a list of recommendations after a comprehensive review into the Women and Girls’ competition structures in Victoria.

A key recommendation in that list was to establish a new division in Victoria for Senior Women between the NPLW and State League 1, with a start date of either 2020 or 2021.

Other recommendations stated:

The new league should be made up of the top State League 1 clubs in the South East and North West divisions, with the expectation being that these teams rise to meet both on and off field standards.
Promotion and relegation between the new league and State League 1 starts after the completion of the first season.

A survey was sent out by the state federation to all women’s State League clubs across the state, with almost 84% in favour of the new division beginning in 2020.

The new division will be made up of the following clubs:

Boroondara Eagles FC
Casey Comets FC
Eltham Redbacks FC
Galaxy United FC
Melbourne Knights FC
Melbourne Uni SC
Preston Lions FC
South Yarra FC
Southern United FC
Whitehorse United FC

The new division clubs will be required to fill a senior team, as well as a reserve team.

There will be no promotion into the NPLW until the completion of the first two seasons of the competition.

FV Board Director and Chair of Football Committee, Sezar Jakupi, claimed he was excited to see the new division in 2020.

“The clubs overwhelmingly voted for the new division to be introduced from next season. This is an exciting change for women’s football in Victoria. The proposal has been recommended to allow for promotion and relegation to occur into the top tier of competition and create a more defined second state-based women’s tier,” Mr Jakupi said.

FV expects more details, such as the naming of the new division, to be announced in the near future.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

Patrick Irving16/04/2026 8:55 am16/04/2026

Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Football NSW supports Female Coaches CPD as Women’s Football Surges

Declan Chan15/04/2026 6:15 am14/04/2026

Image Credit: Shutterstock

Football NSW has used the platform of the AFC Women’s Asian Cup to deliver a targeted professional development workshop for female coaches, bringing together scholarship recipients for an evening of structured learning and direct engagement with elite women’s football.

Held at ACPE last month, the session was open to female coaches who received C or B Diploma scholarships through Football NSW in 2025. Coaching accreditation carries a financial cost that disproportionately affects women, who are less likely to have their development subsidised by clubs or associations operating in underfunded community football environments. Scholarship access changes that equation at the point where many women exit the pathway.

Facilitated by Football NSW Coach Development Coordinator Bronwyn Kiceec, the workshop focused on goal scoring trends from the tournament’s group stage, with coaches analysing attacking patterns and exploring how those insights could translate into their own environments. The group then attended the quarter-final between South Korea and Uzbekistan at Stadium Australia.

The structure of the evening mattered as much as its content. Female coaches in community football rarely have access to elite competition environments as a professional resource. The gap between the level at which most women coach and the level at which the game is analysed and discussed tends to reinforce itself. Placing scholarship recipients inside a major tournament, as participants rather than spectators, closes that gap in a way that a classroom session cannot.

Female coaches remain significantly underrepresented across all levels of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that depends not only on accreditation access but on the professional networks, peer relationships and exposure to elite environments that male coaches have historically taken for granted.

The workshop forms part of Football NSW’s ongoing commitment to developing female coaches through scholarships and structured learning opportunities.