Northern NSW Football has announced successful applicants to its premier competitions for the 2026 season.
NNSWF announced in March a plan to evolve its NPL Women’s NNSW and Premier Youth League Girls competitions as part of the broader progression of its premier competitions across northern NSW.
OVERVIEW
NNSWF received 10 expressions of interest submissions from clubs seeking entry into 2026 premier competitions. These included:
- Four Junior Development League EOIs
- Five Premier Youth League EOIs
- One NPL Women’s NNSW EOI
No clubs from the Newcastle or Hunter regions submitted EOIs for the NPL Women’s NNSW competition in this cycle. Clubs aiming to step into NPL Women’s NNSW are likely to require more time to build the required structures and capacity. With that in mind, targeted engagement will commence with prospective clubs in 2026 to support possible entry in the 2027 or 2028 seasons.
APPROVALS
The following clubs have been approved for entry into 2026 competitions.
- Kahibah FC (PYL Girls)
- Dudley Redhead United FC (PYL Boys)
Both clubs met the minimum threshold across the key criteria and have been provisionally accepted, with continued engagement between the clubs and NNSWF to help them transition into the competitions.
APPLICATIONS NOT PROGRESSED
Clubs required support from their respective member zone. As such, a number of applications for entry into JDL and PYL did not proceed past the initial review stage.
Feedback will be provided to each of these clubs, along with an offer of development support toward a potential submission for the 2027 season. Discussions with the relevant member zones will also be prioritised to clarify assessment positions and explore opportunities to better align club development pathways.
DECOUPLING
NNSWF will decouple its NPL Women’s NNSW and PYL Girls competitions from 2026 as planned.
This will enable increased accessibility to the highest level of football for aspirational clubs as well as targeted improvements at each level.
NNSWF General Manager Football Operations Liam Bentley thanked clubs for taking part in the process.
“This was the first year that formal expressions of interest were required from clubs seeking entry into the 2026 NPL Women’s NNSW, Premier Youth League Boys and Girls and Junior Development League Boys and Girls competitions. The introduction of this process was designed to ensure that aspiring clubs could look to the next level of competition and that all participating clubs met defined minimum standards across governance, technical operations and infrastructure,” Bentley said.
“We assessed EOIs based on submissions approved by member zones, who were asked to formally endorse or reject each submission based on their assessment of local context and capacity. “The important thing to note here is that this was never about being a quick fix. Phase one was always about laying the foundations. The idea here is that we want to promote long-term, sustainable growth, particularly in women’s football.
“We’re committed to working with those clubs who were unsuccessful this year and engaging the member zones in that process as well.
“While we won’t see any new teams in NPL Women’s NNSW in 2026, we will progress with decoupling of youth and senior football for women and girls, as we did with men’s and boys’ football previously. “And our long-term phase two plan of competition evolution remains.”
