National Premier Leagues Women's

National Premier Leagues Women's
Founded	2014
Country	Australia
Divisions	ACT; NSW; Northern NSW; Queensland; South Australia; Victoria; WA
Number of clubs	63 clubs (from 7 federations)
Level on pyramid	2

The National Premier Leagues Women's (NPLW), also referred to as Women's National Premier Leagues (WNPL) in some states, are regional association football competitions in some states and territories in Australia, which act as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League Women. The WNPL consists of the highest level state league in a subset of the state-based federations within Australia, and is overseen by Football Australia (FA) in partnership with participating member federations.

With the addition of Northern NSW in 2022,^[1] the WNPL is now contested by clubs from seven member federations: Capital Football (ACT), NSW, Northern NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

History

In October 2010, (FFA) commenced a National Competition Review, its main objective being to review the current structure of soccer competitions in Australia, and to monitor and improve elite player development.^[2] NSW were the first federation to commence a competition, after a review on women's football in NSW in 2013, which looked at staying aligned with the FFA's pathway for women's football program.^[3]

Queensland switched to the NPL format in 2015, followed by South Australia and Victoria in 2016, the ACT (Capital Football) in 2017, Western Australia in 2020,^[4] and Northern NSW in 2022.

Competition format and teams

The WNPL competitions in each state and territory are run independently by the member federations, with a similar format to the equivalent men's competition - the National Premier Leagues. Teams may be relegated from the WNPL to a third-tier league in the same state (and vice versa), but there is currently no mechanism for a team to be promoted to the first tier of Australian Football, the A-League Women. The number of teams promoted and relegated from third-tier leagues per state has varied over time. The table below details the number of teams relegated automatically from the WNPL at the end of the season and the number of NPL teams which go into a relegation playoff against a lower league team.

Federation	Number of Clubs		Current Season
Federation	Automatic Relegation	Relegation Playoffs	Current Season
ACT	none		2023 NPL ACT Women's
NSW	none		2023 NPL NSW Women's
NNSW	not known		2023 NPL Women's Northern NSW
Queensland	1	0	2023 Women's NPL Queensland
SA	1	0	2023 Women's NPL SA
Victoria	2	0	2024 NPL VIC Women
WA	none		2023 Women's NPL WA

Current Clubs

Below are listed the National Premier Leagues clubs in each competing member federation announced for the 2023 season.

NSW
APIA Leichhardt Tigers
Bankstown City
Blacktown Spartans
Bulls FC Academy
Emerging Jets
Football NSW Institute
Gladesville Ravens
Illawarra Stingrays
Macarthur Rams
Manly United
Northern Tigers
NWS Spirit
Sydney Olympic
Sydney University

South Australia
Adelaide City
Adelaide Comets
Adelaide University
Fulham United
Flinders United
Metro United
Football SA NTC
Salisbury Inter
West Adelaide
West Torrens Birkalla

Victoria
Alamein
Bayside United
Boroondara-Carey Eagles
Box Hill United
Bulleen Lions
Calder United
FV Emerging
Heidelberg United
Preston Lions FC
South Melbourne
Southern United

Western Australia
Balcatta
Curtin University
Football West NTC U-19
Fremantle City
Murdoch University Melville FC
Perth SC
Perth RedStar
Subiaco AFC

Honours

Premiers by season

Federations commenced under the WNPL Structure in different years.

Season	ACT	New South Wales	Northern NSW	Queensland	South Australia	Victoria	Western Australia
2014	—	Macarthur Rams	—	—	—	—	—
2015	—	Macarthur Rams	—	The Gap	—	—	—
2016	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	Calder United	—
2017	Belconnen United	Macarthur Rams	—	Peninsula Power	West Adelaide	South Melbourne	—
2018	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	South Melbourne	—
2019	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	Lions FC	Adelaide City	Calder United	—
2020	Canberra Croatia	Sydney University	—	Gold Coast United	Adelaide City	—^[a]	—^[b]
2021	Canberra Croatia	—^[c]	—	Lions FC	Salisbury Inter	—^[d]	Murdoch University Melville
2022		Sydney University			West Adelaide		Perth RedStar

Champions by season

Federations commenced under the WNPL Structure in different years.

Season	ACT	New South Wales	Northern NSW	Queensland	South Australia	Victoria	Western Australia
2014	—	Football NSW Institute	—	—	—	—	—
2015	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	—	—	—
2016	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	Calder United	—
2017	Canberra FC	Manly United	—	Peninsula Power	Adelaide City	South Melbourne	—
2018	Belconnen United	Macarthur Rams	—	Brisbane Roar NTC	Adelaide City	Bulleen Lions	—
2019	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	Lions FC	Adelaide City	Calder United	—
2020	Canberra Croatia	Manly United	—	Lions FC	Metro United	— ^[a]	Murdoch University Melville
2021	—^[e]	—^[c]	—		Salisbury Inter	—^[d]	Murdoch University Melville
2022		Macarthur Rams			West Adelaide		Perth RedStar