Melbourne Victory FC Youth

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Melbourne Victory Youth
Melbourne Victory.svg
Full nameMelbourne Victory Football Club Youth
NicknamesVictory, Victory NYL
Short nameMVC
Founded2008
Ground The Home of the Matildas
Capacity3,000
ChairmanJohn Dovaston
ManagerBoris Seroshtan
League NPL Victoria
A-League Youth
2025 12th of 14 (relegated)
Website http://www.melbournevictory.com.au
Active departments of Melbourne Victory FC
Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg Football pictogram.svg
Football
(Men's) 		Football
(Men's Youth) 		Football
(Women's) 		Football
(Women's Youth) 		Football
(Women's AWT)

Melbourne Victory Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne Victory based in Melbourne, Victoria. The team plays in the National Premier Leagues (NPL), the second level of the Australian soccer league system.

Contents

History

Beginnings of the Youth Team (2008-2014)

The youth team was founded in 2008, as a Melbourne Victory representative team for the inaugural season of the National Youth League competition, along with six other youth squads, and finished a disappointing sixth. The development side has had three managers, Mehmet Durakovic, who was promoted to manager of the senior squad in 2011, and current managers Darren Davies and John Aloisi. Davies led the youth side to its first silverware victory in winning the premiership plate, finishing first on the National Youth League ladder in the 2012-13 season. It would be current club chairman Anthony Di Pietro's first silverware victory as well. On 7 November 2014, it was confirmed that the team would compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 competition for 2015 season onwards. [1]

Victorian League Systems (2015-2019)

Victory managed promotion at their first attempt, placing second in the NPL1 East division, going on to beat Moreland Zebras FC in the qualification playoff and then North Geelong Warriors FC in the promotion playoff. For the club's first season in the top tier of football in Victorian state football, Matt Hennessey and Ryan Lambert were signed from Hume City FC and Richmond SC respectively. [2] unfortunately Victory would finnish last place in their first time in the NPL Victoria. [3] this would lead to its relegation back down to NPL Victoria 2, now in the western division of NPL Victoria division 2. Victory would stay in NPL Victoria 2 for the next two years avoiding relegation before placing ninth place in 2019 relegating them to NPL Victoria 3. [4]

Post COVID Years (2020-Present)

Victory wouldn't get to play NPL Victoria 3 football in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [5] [6] Melbourne Victory would finally compete in NPL Victoria 3 in 2022, where Victory would finnish fourth place and qualifying them a promotional play-off. Victory would play Kingston City on 28 August 2022 where they would fall short after Faisal Sakhizada scored a lone goal for Kingston meaning Victory would compete in the NPL Victoria 3 for another year. [7] In 2023 Victory would place second in NPL Victoria 3 leading to the promotion of the club into the re-branded Victoria Premier League 1. [8] In 2024 Victory would be promoted in back-to-back years as well as becoming Champions of the Victoria Premier League 1. [9] Victory would be promoted into NPL Victoria. the top tier of Victorian Football. This was the first time Victory competed in the top tier of Victorian Football since 2016. Victory would enter the 2025 NPL Victoria season hoping to stay up. Victory would fight strong throughout the season with many instances where Victory would concede goals in the final minutes of the game, leading to Victory losing points throughout the season. One particular example of this was in February in a match against South Melbourne, when Victory had a goal lead in the 90+4th minute with only a minute left. In the 90+5th minute Victory would concede a goal to make the score 3-3 in a match that could've been major importance in Victory's Survival fight. [10] Unfortunately Victory would finish 12th place leading to the club's relegation back down to the Victoria Premier League 1. [11]

Youth/NPL current squad

As of 11 February 2025 [12]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No.Pos.NationPlayer
1 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Yonathan Sultan
2 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Linus Bourke
3 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Joshua Inserra
4 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Damien Bozinovski
5 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS William Mcintosh
6 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kayne Razmovski
7 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Austin Ganino
8 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Alex Menelaou
9 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Tommaso Minutoli
10 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jack Mihailidis
11 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Daniel Lazarevski
12 DF Flag of Papua New Guinea.svg  PNG Raymond Diho
13 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS John Paikopoulos
14 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jordan Hoey
15 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Nikolas Cevizovic
16 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Stasi Georgakopoulos
18 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Lucas Alessi
19 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jing Reec
20 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Parker Williams
20 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Patrick Wall
23 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Jesse Hoey
24 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS James Lackay
No.Pos.NationPlayer
25 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Mason O’Neil
26 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Luka Kolic
27 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Alex Lee
28 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Charlie Gorevski
29 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Tobenna Obani
30 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Daniel Graskoski
31 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS James Houridis
32 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Aaron Bazenski
33 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Phin Harbinson
35 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Fin Crompton
35 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Marcus Peretin
36 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS John Radimisis
37 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Malik Olukhale
38 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Alexi Houridis
39 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Edon Ajrovski
40 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Christian Siciliano
41 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kasper Fonsboel
42 GK Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Oskar Von Schrenk
43 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Mush Sawiz
44 MF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Noah Tanfara
46 DF Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Luka Didulica
47 FW Flag of Australia (converted).svg  AUS Kaelan Galea

Current staff

Head Coaches:

Joe Palatsides 1st Grade Head Coach
Rodrigo Vargas U21 Head Coach
Andreas PapanicolaouU18 Head Coach
Joaquín MorenoU16 Head Coach
Matthew SultanaU15 Head Coach
Rob Wielaert U14 Head Coach
Tom PatonPre Academy Head Coach
Mark TopicPre Academy Head Coach
Isabella SantilliPre Academy Head Coach
Matt FletcherPre Academy Head Coach
Brad RobertsPre Academy Head Coach
Reide MulhollandPre Academy Head Coach

Staff:

Joe PalatsidesHead of Academy Coaching
Andrew KentepozidisAcademy Operations Manager
Jayden AndersonAcademy Sports Science Lead
Amelia ThomasAcademy Medical Lead
Sebastian BechaudHead of Academy Goalkeeping
Agim SherifovskiAcademy Assistant Coach
Piotr RutkowskiAcademy Assistant Coach
Mark SpiteriPre Academy Head Goalkeeping Coach
Ashley WisneskePre Academy Goalkeeping Coach
Archie Thompson Academy Development Coach
Fahid Ben Khalfallah Academy Development Coach
Gaby Garton Academy Development Coach
Joey Didulica Academy Development Coach
Sasa Ognenovski Academy Development Coach

Honours

Youth
Winners (1): 2015

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2/ Victoria Premier Leagues 1 Premiership

National Premier Leagues Victoria 3 Premiership

Under-23s
Academy

National Premier Leagues Victoria U-18 Premiership

Stadiums

The team play their home matches at The Home of the Matildas in Melbourne's northern suburb of Bundoora. The stadium has a total capacity of 3,000, with a single grandstand of approximately 800 seats. Past venues used as a home ground by the club have been South Melbourne FC home ground Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park, Bentleigh Greens' Kingston Heath in Cheltenham, Northcote City's John Cain Memorial Park in Thornbury and Whittlesea Ranges' Epping Stadium in Epping. The team has also played competitive matches at Victory's senior team home venues, AAMI Park and Etihad Stadium.

Former players

This is a list of former Melbourne Victory Youth players, who have played at least 20 A-League competitive matches for the first team.

As of 3 June 2025
NameNationalityPositionMelbourne careerAppearancesGoals
Nick Ansell Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2011–17, 2018–19, 2020–21921
Thomas Deng Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2015–2020712
Mate Dugandzic Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Forward 2009–11367
Diogo Ferreira Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Midfielder 2010–13522
Matthew Foschini Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2009–13530
Petar Franjic Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2010–13310
Scott Galloway Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2013–16541
Jason Geria Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2012–18, 2021–20251894
James Jeggo Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Midfielder 2011–14302
Mitchell Langerak Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Goalkeeper 2007–10210
Dylan Murnane Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2013–16240
Andrew Nabbout Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Forward 2012–15375
Sebastian Ryall Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2007–09240
Connor Pain Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Forward 2013–16533
Stefan Nigro Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Midfielder 2015–18, 2021–2024690
Lleyton Brooks Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Midfielder 2020–2023313
Nishan Velupillay Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Forward 2021–10615
Kasey Bos Flag of Australia (converted).svg  Australia Defender 2023–284

Season by season history

Y League

SeasonLeagueTms.conf. sizePWDLGFGAGDPtsPosFinalsref
2008-09 National Youth League 7N/A1861112036-16206thDNQ [13]
2009-10 National Youth League 9N/A247893637-1296thDNQ [14]
2010-11 National Youth League 9N/A1970122942-13218thN/A [notes 1] [15]
2011-12 National Youth League 10N/A1843111534-191510thN/A [notes 1] [16]
2012-13 National Youth League 10N/A1812155720+37371stN/A [notes 1] [17]
2013-14 National Youth League 10N/A189455036+14313rdN/A [notes 1] [18]
2014-15 National Youth League 10N/A188373433+1275thN/A [notes 1] [19]
2015-16 National Youth League 10583051722-594thDNQ [20]
2016-17 National Youth League 10581251323-1055thDNQ [21]
2017-18 National Youth League 10584131725-8132ndDNQ [22]
2018-19 Y-League 1058116822-1445thDNQ [23]
2019-20 Y-League 10585121716+1161stRunner up [24]
2020-21 Y-League Tournament cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic [25]
2021-22 A League Youth
2022-23 A League Youth No tournament [26]
2023-24 A League Youth
2024-25 A League Youth
2025-26 A League Youth

National Premier Leagues

SeasonLeagueTierTms.PWDLGFGAGDPtsPosPro/RelNPL Finalsref
2015 NPL VIC 1 East 2102817478744+43552ndPro (play off)DNQ [27]
2016 NPL Victoria 1142631222468-444 [notes 2] 14threlegatedDNQ [3]
2017 NPL VIC 2 West 2102885155556-1299thn/aDNQ [28]
2018 NPL VIC 2 West 21028114134854-634 [notes 3] 7thn/aDNQ [29]
2019 NPL VIC 2 West 2102867153648-12259threlegatedDNQ [4]
2020 NPL Victoria 3 3Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. [5]
2021 NPL Victoria 3 3Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. [6]
2022 NPL Victoria 3 3122211563827+11384thn/aDNQ [30]
2023 NPL Victoria 3 3122213364722+25422ndPromoted [8] DNQ [31]
2024 VPL 1 2142615746639+27521stPromoted [9] DNQ [32]
2025 NPL Victoria 1142653183660-241812threlegated [11] DNQ [33]


Managerial history

DatesNameNotesHonours
2008 – 12 March 2011 Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of Montenegro.svg Mehmet Durakovic Inaugural manager
First dual-nationality manager
First manager to be directly promoted to manager of the senior squad
20 March 2011 – 30 May 2016 Flag of Wales (1959-present).svg Darren Davies [34] First official foreign manager
First manager to earn honours		 2012–13 NYL Premiership [35]
30 May 2016 – 22 February 2020 [36] Flag of Australia (converted).svg Flag of England.svg Gareth Naven [37]

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 No National Youth League Finals
  2. ↑ 6 point deduction
  3. ↑ 3 point deduction

References

  1. ↑ "Four More Clubs Granted NPL Licences". foxsportspulse.com. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Kounelis, Jordan. "Kokolakis signs for Richmond, Tom Cahill yet to re-sign". MFootball. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 "Ladder for PS4 NPL VIC Men 2016". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  4. 1 2 "Ladder for NPL2 West VIC Men 2019". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  5. 1 2 "2021 Start Up | Football Victoria". www.footballvictoria.com.au. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  6. 1 2 "Metro Melbourne 2021 season status | Football Victoria". www.footballvictoria.com.au. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  7. ↑ "FV NPL Archived Match Centre". GameDay. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  8. 1 2 oscar (29 July 2023). "NPL Report: Victory secure promotion". Melbourne Victory. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  9. 1 2 oscar (30 July 2024). "VPL Report: Spoils shared in ten-goal thriller". Melbourne Victory. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  10. ↑ kyogasingham (24 February 2025). "NPL Match Report | Victory secure second point in thrilling six-goal draw against South Melbourne". Melbourne Victory. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
  11. 1 2 jholub (23 August 2025). "NPL Match Report | Victory defeated by Dandy City". Melbourne Victory. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  12. ↑
  13. ↑ "2008-2009 Season National Youth League Table". ozfootball.net. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  14. ↑ "2009-2010 Season National Youth League Table". www.ozfootball.net. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  15. ↑ "Y-League Ladder 2010/11 - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  16. ↑ "Y-League Ladder 2011/12 - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  17. ↑ "Y-League Ladder 2012/13 - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  18. ↑ "Summary - 2013/14 A-League Youth - Australia - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  19. ↑ "Summary 2014/15 - A-League Youth - Australia - Soccerway". int.soccerway.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  20. ↑ "2015-16 Y-League Ladder - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  21. ↑ "2016-17 Y-League Ladder - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  22. ↑ "2017-18 Y-League Ladder - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  23. ↑ "2018-19 Y-League Ladder - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  24. ↑ "2019-20 Y-League Ladder - Football/Australia". www.flashscore.com.au. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  25. ↑ Lynch, Joey (24 January 2021). "Y-League cancelled for 2021 as APL flags reform for Australia's talent pipeline". ESPN.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  26. ↑ Lynch, Joey (31 August 2022). "A-League ices youth comp amid NSD discussion". ESPN.com. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  27. ↑ "Ladder for PS4 NPL1 East VIC 2015". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  28. ↑ "Ladder for PS4 NPL2 West VIC Men 2017". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  29. ↑ "Ladder for NPL2 West VIC 2018". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  30. ↑ "Ladder for NPL 3 VIC Men 2022". GameDay. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  31. ↑ "Ladder for NPL 3 VIC Men 2023". GameDay. Retrieved 30 June 2024.
  32. ↑ "Ladder for VPL 1 Men". GameDay. Retrieved 5 August 2024.
  33. ↑ "Ladder for NPL VIC Men". GameDay. Retrieved 25 August 2025.
  34. ↑ "Home Page | Football Victoria". 3 October 2018.
  35. ↑ "Darren Davies Delighted With NYL Championship Especially For His Boys That Have Been Through The Ups And Downs". Breathing Football.com. 5 March 2013. Archived from the original on 10 April 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  36. ↑ "Gareth Naven returns to Perth". Melbourne Victory FC. 21 February 2020. Retrieved 30 May 2020.
  37. ↑ "Victory appoints Gareth Naven as NPL/NYL Head Coach". Melbourne Victory. 30 May 2016.
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