Soccer in Australia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Although football is a marginal sport in Australia, it has grown in popularity in recent years. With Australia's move to the Asian Football Confederation , which took place on January 1, 2006, the players of the Australian national team and its football clubs now have to compete with their opponents from Asia. Above all, it was hoped that this change would lead to an increase in the level of play and better prospects for successful World Cup qualifications.

history

The Football Federation Australia was founded in 1961 and joined FIFA in 1963 .

National team

The team played their first game in 1922 against New Zealand, which with 62 internationals is also the most frequent international opponent of the Australians. The Socceroos were able to qualify for a soccer World Cup for the first time in 1974 . On November 16, 2005, the team reached the 2nd World Cup participation with the won qualification for the soccer world championship 2006 in Germany, in which Australia in the round of 16 quite unhappily was eliminated by a controversial penalty in stoppage time against Italy. In 2014 it was enough for the 3rd World Cup participation, but where they failed in the group stage.

Club operation

In 1977 the National Soccer League (NSL) was introduced as the top division of Australian football under the supervision of the then national association Soccer Australia. After 28 seasons, the league was discontinued and replaced by the A-League , which still exists today as a professional league in the franchise format . Thus, neither promotion nor relegation from this league is possible. Only financial problems can lead to the dissolution of a club, a new club can only be founded by submitting an application and after being accepted by the A-League.

The second Australian league does not exist on a national level, but is organized through the associations of the states, which organize their own regional leagues and their game operations. The competitions of the regional associations of the Australian Capital Territory (ACT Premier League) and the states of New South Wales (NSW Premier League) with the exception of the northern part, Queensland (Queensland Premier League), South Australia (FFSA Premier League) and Tasmania (T-League) ) are part of the National Premier Leagues (NPL). The winners of the regional leagues play off the champions of the NPL in a playoff system.

In 2014, the leagues of the Northern New South Wales region (NNSW State Football League) and the states of Victoria (Victorian Premier League) and Western Australia (West State Premier League) will be incorporated into the NPL as separate sub-competitions. The federal territory of the Northern Territory (NT Premier League) will follow. The leagues mentioned currently play the respective regional champions separately from each other and are not yet under the supervision of the NPL. After the expansion in 2014, the NPL will consist of eight competitions and 118 clubs at the regional level, whose masters will play out the NPL champions.

Below the second level of the Australian league system, there are various regional leagues that have different regulations and classifications depending on the state or regional association.

League system until 2014

level Leagues
1 A-League
10 clubs (1 from New Zealand )
no relegation possible
2 National Premier Leagues
56 clubs (in 5 divisions) 		NNSW State League
10 clubs
↓ 1 relegated 		NT Premier League
3 divisions 		Victorian Premier League
12 clubs
↓ 1 relegated 		West State Premier League
12 clubs
↓ 1 relegated
ACT Premier League
10 clubs
↓ 1 relegated 		NSW Premier League
12 clubs
↓ 1 relegated 		Queensland Premier League
12 clubs
not relegated 		FFSA Premier League
14 clubs
↓ 2 relegated 		T-League
8 clubs
not relegated
State League
7 clubs
↑ 1 promoted team 		NSW Super League
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		Regional leagues
10 districts
no promoters 		FFSA State League
16 clubs
↑ 2 promoted teams 		Northern Premier League
9 clubs
no promoted
no relegated 		Southern Premier League
12 clubs
no promoted
no relegated 		NNSW State League 2
8 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		State League 1
12 clubs
↑ 2 promoted
↓ 2 relegated 		State League 1
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated
State League 1
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		Regional leagues
2 divisions
not promoted 		Regional
4 divisions
not promoted 		Interdistrict 1
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		State League 2
24 clubs (in 2 divisions)
↑ 2 promoted
↓ 4 relegated 		State League 2
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted team
State League 2
14 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		Interdistrict 2
12 clubs
↑ 1 promoted
↓ 1 relegated 		State League 3
24 clubs (in 2 divisions)
↑ 4 promoted
↓ 4 relegated
Regional leagues
26 districts
↑ 1 promoted 		Interdistrict 3
7 clubs
↑ 1 promoted 		State League 4
48 clubs (in 4 divisions)
↑ 4 promoted
↓ 8 relegated
State League 5
60 clubs (in 4 divisions)
↑ 8 promoted teams
no relegated teams
Regional leagues
12 districts
no promoters

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