National Premier Leagues Northern NSW

National Premier Leagues Northern NSW
Founded	2014 ; 1992–2013 (as Northern NSW State League)
Country	Australia
State	NSW
Confederation	AFC
Number of clubs	12
Level on pyramid	2
Relegation to	NNSW Northern League One
Domestic cup(s)	National; Australia Cup; State; Northern NSW Football State Cup
Current champions	Broadmeadow Magic (2024)
Current premiers	Broadmeadow Magic (2024)
Website	Northern NSW Football NPL
	Current: 2024 NPL season

The National Premier Leagues Northern NSW is a regional Australian Professional association football league comprising teams from Northern New South Wales. As a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues, the league sits at Level 1 on the Northern New South Wales league system (Level 2 of the overall Australian league system). The competition is administered by Northern NSW Football, the governing body of the sport in the northern region of the state (the southern region is mostly governed by Football NSW). Prior to 2014, the league was formerly known as the Northern NSW State Football League.

History

The league originally started with 12 teams, all with a first grade, reserve grade and youth grade team. The league was then downsized to 10 teams still with all three grades. For the 2009 season it was decided by Northern New South Wales Football (the governing body) to downsize the league once again to 8 teams in order to improve the quality and give local players a chance to enter the A-league through the competition. The teams competing in the 2009 season were decided on the second of September 2008, with Highfields Azzurri FC and Lake Macquarie City Roosters FC being relegated to the Northern NSW State League Division 1.

Teams were judged on criteria which included facilities/ground (30%), financial status (25%), management (20%), playing strength/coaching staff (15%) and development program (10%). An independent body, chaired by former NSW gaming minister Richard Face, was assigned to make the decision.^[1]

From the 2017 season onward the competition once again expanded to 11 teams with Lake Macquarie being promoted from the Northern NSW State League Division 1.^[2]

From the 2020 season onward the competition contracted back to 10 teams after Newcastle Jets Youth transferred into the NPL New South Wales structure, now playing in the NPL NSW 4 competition. The reason was because the Newcastle Jets and Northern NSW Football believed that transferring the Youth Jets to the Sydney-centred competition would help develop their youth players.

From the 2022 season onward the competition once again expanded to 11 teams with the inclusion of Cooks Hill United being promoted from the HIT Northern League One.^[3]

From the 2023 season onward the competition once again expanded to 12 teams with the inclusion of New Lambton being promoted from the HIT Northern League One.^[4]

Format

The competition consists of 12 teams from around the Newcastle, Hunter and Lake Macquarie area who each have a First Grade, and a reserves competing in the competition. All clubs also have a suite of youth teams (under 13, 14, 15, 16 and 18) competing in the Premier Youth League as part of the NPL NNSWF participation. A season takes place over 22 rounds, with each team playing each other at home and away. The team that finishes 1st at the end of 22 rounds is declared the minor premier. The top 5 teams at the end of 22 rounds contest in a finals series conducted under the following format, with the winner of the grand final being crowned as the NPL NNSW Champions:

Week 1
Qualifying Final (QF)	2nd Placed Team	v	3rd Placed Team
Elimination Final (EF)Loser Eliminated	4th Placed Team	v	5th Placed Team
	1st Placed Team		BYE

Week 2
Major Semi-Final (MSF1)	1st Placed Team	v	Winner QF
Minor Semi-Final (MSF2)Loser Eliminated	Loser QF	v	Winner EF

Week 3
Preliminary Final (PF)Loser Eliminated	Loser MSF1	v	Winner MSF2
	Winner MSF1		BYE

Week 4
Grand Final (GF)	Winner MSF1	v	Winner PF

Promotion & Relegation

From the 2024 season, there has been an re-introduction of promotion and relegation within NPL NNSWF and Northern League One.

The team finishing bottom (12th) of NPL NNSW will be automatically relegated to HIT Northern League One.
The team finishing 11th will enter the promotion and relegation playoffs which will follow the following format:
- Playoff Semi-final 1 (played over 2 home and away legs): NPL NNSWF 11th v 4th Northern League One
- Playoff Semi-final 2 (played over 2 home and away legs): Northern League One 2nd v 3rd Northern League One
- Playoff Final (played as one off match): Winner of Playoff Semi-Final 1 v Winner of Playoff Semi-Final 2
The winner of the Playoff Final will be included in the NPL NNSW for the following season, with the losing team competing in HIT Northern League One the following season.

Clubs

The following 12 clubs will compete in the National Premier Leagues Northern NSW for the 2024 season.

Club	Location	Ground	Capacity
Adamstown Rosebud	Adamstown	Adamstown Oval	2,500
Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow	Magic Park	3,500
Charlestown Azzurri	Whitebridge	Lisle Carr Oval	3,000
Cooks Hill Utd	Newcastle West	Fearnley Dawes Athletic Centre	750
Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth	Jack McLaughlan Oval	5,000
Lake Macquarie City	Speers Point	Macquarie Field	5,000
Lambton Jaffas	Lambton	Arthur Edden Oval	2,000
Maitland FC	East Maitland	Cooks Square Park	1,500
New Lambton	New Lambton	Alder Park	1,000
Newcastle Olympic	Hamilton	Darling St Oval	1,000
Valentine FC	Valentine	CB Complex Cahill Oval (Belmont)	1,000 3,500
Weston Workers Bears	Weston	Rockwell Automation Park	4,000

Honours NNSW NPL

Year	Premiers	Champions – GF Winners		GF Runners up	NPL Finals Representation
2014	Newcastle Jets Youth	Lambton Jaffas	2–0	Weston Workers	Weston Workers – Quarter Finalist
2015	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles	2–0	Hamilton Olympic	Edgeworth Eagles – Quarter Finalist
2016	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles	2–1	Broadmeadow Magic	Edgeworth Eagles – Runners up
2017	Edgeworth Eagles	Lambton Jaffas	2–0	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles – Semi Finalist
2018	Edgeworth Eagles	Broadmeadow Magic	3–0	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles – Quarter Finalist
2019	Maitland FC	Edgeworth Eagles	2–0	Maitland FC	Maitland FC – Semi Finalist
2020	Edgeworth Eagles	Edgeworth Eagles	1–0	Maitland FC	—^[a]
2021	Lambton Jaffas	Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia			—^[b]
2022	Maitland FC	Lambton Jaffas	1–0	Maitland FC	—^[c]
2023	Lambton Jaffas	Lambton Jaffas	2–1	Broadmeadow Magic
2024	Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow Magic	2–2 (4–3 (p))	Edgeworth Eagles

Honours pre-NPL (1999–2013)

Year	Premiership	Champions
1999	Edgeworth Eagles	Hamilton Olympic Warriors
2000	Edgeworth Eagles	Hamilton Olympic Warriors
2001	Broadmeadow Magic	Hamilton Olympic Warriors
2002	Edgeworth Eagles	Highfields Azzurri
2003	Broadmeadow Magic	Edgeworth Eagles
2004	Weston Workers Bears	Broadmeadow Magic
2005	Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow Magic
2006	Edgeworth Eagles	Lake Macquarie City
2007	Lake Macquarie City	Hamilton Olympic Warriors
2008	Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow Magic
2009	Edgeworth Eagles FC	Hamilton Olympic Warriors
2010	Weston Workers Bears	Edgeworth Eagles
2011	Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow Magic
2012	Hamilton Olympic Warriors	Broadmeadow Magic
2013	Broadmeadow Magic	Broadmeadow Magic

Notes

^ NPL finals series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[5]
^ The season was cancelled in September, from government-imposed lockdowns, due to the impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[6]
^ Not held