| A-League Youth | |
| Pixels: | 230px |
| Country: |  Australia |
| Confed: | AFC |
| Founded: | 2008 |
| Conferences: | 2 |
| Teams: | 10 |
| Most Champs: | Sydney FC Youth (3) |
| Tv: | Network 10, Paramount+ |
A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League, is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and now run by the Australian Professional Leagues.[1] The current league was established as a successor to the previous competition of the National Youth League (1984–2004) and commenced in August 2008. The league runs in conjunction with the A-League Men as a developmental or reserve league. The league, as well as the A-League Men and A-League Women are administered by the Australian Professional Leagues.[2]
In 2020 it was contested by ten teams, all of which competed in the A-League. From the 2020–21 season, the league was to expand to eleven teams with the introduction of Western United,[3] however the season was cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. It is currently unknown when it will return, as the tournament is currently on hold with the Australian Professional Leagues waiting on the future of soccer in Australia before potentially bringing it back.[4]
A previous league under the same name, 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.[5] [6] 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.[7] 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. In April 2017, the closing of the FFA Centre of Excellence (previously the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program) was announced.[8] Before the 2017–18 season, it was announced that Canberra United were granted a National Youth League licence.[9]
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.
The competition was renamed "A-League Youth" to align with other Australian national competitions in September 2021.[10]
Each club contracts a squad of 16 Youth Development Players. Players must be between the ages of 16 and 23 as of 1 January in the year the season commences. Four over-age players (including goalkeeper) are also allowed to be selected (except when playing the AIS where it is restricted to two), usually these coming from the senior team. Each youth player must receive a minimum of 30 minutes game time. Players under 21 signed for the first team filling foreign player spots are classed as over-age players. These players can be any Australian player within the age group. A-League clubs must draw replacement players for their senior teams from the Youth League squad, except under certain circumstances. Such would include severe injuries to over-age players where an injury replacement player is able to be signed.
Up until and including the 2014–15 season the league had an 18-round format with every team playing all other teams Home and Away. In previous seasons an end-of-season finals series playoff tournament was played between the highest-placed teams from the regular season, culminating in the Grand Final game. The aim of a league is to provide a pathway for young players and state league players to play regular high-level football, and allow reserve players from senior A-League teams to remain match fit.
From the 2015–16 season a new format was introduced. From 2016, all A-League clubs now have youth teams entered into their local conferences of the National Premier Leagues. By having NPL teams, there is now less reliance on the A-League Youth to provide an avenue for youth players to their respective clubs. There was also pressure from A-League clubs to reduce travel budgets.[11] As such the season was shortened from 18 games per team to 8 games plus a Grand Final. The existing ten A-League Youth teams were divided into two conferences of five teams: Conference A consisted of teams from WA, SA, Victoria and Queensland, while teams from ACT and NSW were in Conference B. All teams play all other teams in their conference on a home and away basis. After the home and away series a Grand Final is played between the top teams from each conference.[12]
12 clubs have played in the A-League Youth from its inception in 2008, up to and including the 2019–20 season.
The following 10 clubs competed in the Y-League during the 2019–20 season.
| Defunct Clubs | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Team | Location | Stadium | Joined | Dissolved | |||
| Gold Coast United Youth | Gold Coast, QLD | Owen Park | align=center | 2008–09 | align=center | 2011 | |
| FFA Centre of Excellence | Canberra, ACT | Australian Institute of Sport | align=center | 2009–10 | align=center | 2017 | |
| Season | Champion |
|---|---|
| Sydney FC Youth | |
| Gold Coast United Youth | |
| Sydney FC Youth | |
| Melbourne City Youth | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers Youth | |
| Brisbane Roar Youth | |
| Sydney FC Youth | |
| 2020–21 | Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[13] |
| 2021–22 | |
| 2022–23 | No tournament |
| 2023–24 |
| Club | Championships | Winning years | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sydney FC Youth | 3 | 2008–09, 2015–16, 2019–20 | |
| Gold Coast United Youth | 1 | 2009–10 | |
| Melbourne City Youth | 2 | 2016–17 | |
| Brisbane Roar Youth | 1 | 2018–19 | |
| Western Sydney Wanderers Youth | 1 | 2017–18 |
From 2013 to 2020, the competition had Foxtel as its naming rights sponsor.[14]
