National Premier Leagues Capital Football

National Premier Leagues
Capital Football 1

Founded	2013(11 years ago) (2013) 1992–2012 (as Premier League) 1952–1991 (as Division One)
Country	Australia
State	ACT NSW
Confederation	AFC
Number of teams	8
Level on pyramid	2
Relegation to	Capital Premier League
Domestic cup(s)	Australia Cup Federation Cup
Current champions	Canberra Croatia (2023)
Current premiers	HNK O'Connor Knights (2023)
Most championships	Canberra Olympic Canberra Croatia (3 titles)
Website	NPL Capital Football 1
Current: 2023 Season

The National Premier Leagues Capital Football 1 (also known as NPL ACT 1 or simply NPL1) is a soccer competition contested by clubs affiliated to Capital Football. The league is the highest level (level 1) competition in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues and sits in Level 2 in the overall Australian league system. ^{[1] [2]}

History

After the 2006 season, the tournament was reorganised based on criteria mandating a development pathway within clubs, where each club is required to field a squad in the reserves and Under-18 divisions. Nine teams contested in the Premier League in 2007, cutting Gungahlin Juventus, White Eagles and reigning premier Cooma Tigers from the top tier. ^[3]

The same nine teams remained in the Premier League for 2008 and 2009. The pathway system was expanded to include a Premier U16 competition, with all nine clubs required to field a team from their club or an affiliated club. Capital Football initially revoked the licence of Queanbeyan City for the 2009 season, citing a non-compliance with the developmental and administrative standards expected for the league. ^[4] However, Queanbeyan were reinstated on appeal and following the presentation of further evidence demonstrating these standards could be met. ^[5]

At the close of the 2009 season, the licences of all participating clubs were reviewed and expressions of interest sought for new additional entrants to the competition for 2010–2012.

In November 2014 Woden Weston FC was incorporated with the intention to merge the elite levels of Woden Valley FC and Weston Molonglo FC into one club, to compete in the National Premier Leagues in 2015 and beyond. The new merged club was officially launched on 20 February 2015, with colours for their new strip sourced from both clubs (black from Weston Creek and red from Woden Valley). ^[6]

In 2016 the league was expanded to 10 teams with the addition of the Canberra United Academy (CUA) team. ^[7] The decision by Capital Football to include the CUA in the top division of ACT soccer was met with opposition by other clubs in the league, citing concern with the prospect of losing their best young players to the Academy. ^[8] Along with the addition of the CUA, other clubs were concerned with lack of action taken on making the Presidents of the NPL clubs voting members of the Capital Football board. A possible rebel league was mooted, and it was believed there had already been contact made with the Referees' Association and potential sponsorship lined up by the NPL clubs. ^[9]

2016 also saw the establishment of the Capital Football Charity Shield to be played between the Federation Cup winners and NPL league champions before the start of the regular NPL season, as a charity fund-raiser. ^[10] The inaugural Capital Football Charity Shield match was contested on 18 March 2016 between Canberra FC (2015 League premiers) and Gungahlin United (2015 Federation Cup winners) at Gungahlin Enclosed Oval. ^[11]

7 November 2016, Capital Football announced the introduction of Riverina Rhinos for the men's and boy's National Premier Leagues Capital Football for 2017. Riverina has replaced the controversial Canberra United Academy, who have been amalgamated with the FFA Centre of Excellence, maintaining a ten team league. ^[12]

18 March 2017, Canberra Olympic won the first piece of ACT soccer silverware for the 2017 season with an emphatic 5–2 victory over Tigers FC at Gungahlin Enclosed oval to claim the second edition of the ACT Charity Shield. The match raised $1500 for charity CanTeen Australia with both clubs and Capital Football each contributing $500. Joshua Gulevski and Stephen Domenici both scored braces for Olympic while a long range goal from Robbie Cattanach clinched the high scoring victory for last season's league and final double winners. ^[13]

Competition format

NPL1 Teams play a league season, followed by a finals series for the top 4 clubs. Clubs are required to field teams in all age groups (1st Grade and Under-20s).

A cup competition is contested by Premier League teams and other teams from the region, known as the Westfield FFA Cup Qualifiers, for which the winner is awarded the Federation Cup. The winners of the Federation Cup gain entry into the national FFA Cup competition.

Promotion and relegation

In 2019, the NPL ACT 2 competition was formed. The bottom team from NPL 1 competition was relegated for the 2020 season. ^{[14] [15]}

Clubs

2024 season

The following clubs are competing in the 2024 season.

Canberra Croatia FC

Canberra Olympic

Gungahlin United

O'Connor Knights

Tuggeranong United

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2024 NPL1 ACT based clubs

Monaro Panthers

Tigers FC

Yoogali SC

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2024 NPL1 NSW based clubs

2024 NPL 1
Club	Location	State	Home grounds	Founded	Joined league	2022 Position
Canberra Croatia	Deakin	ACT	Deakin Stadium	1958	2013	1st
Canberra Olympic	O'Connor	ACT	O'Connor Enclosed	1955	2013	5th
Tigers FC	Bruce/Ainslie	ACT	AIS	1952	2013	6th
Gungahlin United	Gungahlin	ACT	Gungahlin Enclosed Oval	1963	2015	2nd
HNK O'Connor Knights	O'Connor	ACT	O'Connor Enclosed	1997	2022	4th
Monaro Panthers	Queanbeyan	NSW	Riverside Stadium	1967	2013	3rd
Tuggeranong United	Greenway	ACT	Greenway Enclosed	1976	2013	1st *Promoted from CPL 2022
Yoogali SC	Griffith	NSW	SolarMad Stadium	2014	2024	1st *Promoted from CPL 2023

Former Premier League or NPL clubs

Club	Location	State	Home ground	Founded	Last season
ANU FC	Acton	ACT	ANU Willows Oval	1962	2010
Belconnen United	McKellar	ACT	McKellar Park	1970	2022
Burns FC	Kambah	ACT	Kambah	1925	1967
Canberra City	Hackett	ACT	Hackett 2	1977	2014
Canberra United Academy	McKellar	ACT	McKellar Park	2015	2016
Canberra White Eagles	Phillip	ACT	Woden Park	1992	2006
FFA Centre of Excellence	Bruce	ACT	Australian Institute of Sport	1981	2017
Goulburn Strikers	Goulburn	NSW	Strikers Park	2001	2011
Narrabundah FC	Narrabundah	ACT	Narrabundah 2	1976	1987
Queanbeyan City	Queanbeyan	NSW	Riverside Stadium	1966	1989
Riverina Rhinos	Griffith	NSW	SolarMad Stadium	2014	2019
West Canberra Wanderers	Pearce	ACT	Melrose High School (Canberra)	2014	2023
Weston Creek	Waramanga	ACT	Waramanga Playing Fields	1971	2002

Honours

NPL seasons (2013–present)

A snapshot of each NPL Capital Football 1 season since the formation of the NPL in 2013.

Season	Competition	Regular season		ACT Finals			NPL Finals
		League Premiers	League Runners-Up	Champions	Score	Finalists	Representative	Position
2013	NPL CF	Canberra FC	Belconnen United	Canberra Olympic	2–0	Canberra FC	Canberra FC	QF
2014	NPL CF	Cooma Tigers	Belconnen United	Belconnen United	3–3 (3–2 ( p ))	Canberra FC	Cooma Tigers	QF
2015	NPL CF	Canberra FC	Tigers FC	Canberra Olympic	3–1	Canberra FC	Canberra FC	QF
2016	NPL CF	Canberra Olympic	Tigers FC	Canberra Olympic	3–1	Canberra FC	Canberra Olympic	QF
2017	NPL CF	Canberra Olympic	FFA COE	Belconnen United	2–1	Canberra Olympic	Canberra Olympic	QF
2018	NPL CF	Canberra FC	Canberra Olympic	Canberra FC	2–1	Canberra Olympic	Canberra FC	QF
2019	NPL CF 1	Canberra Olympic	Tigers FC	Gungahlin United	5–0	Tigers FC	Canberra Olympic	QF
2020	NPL CF 1	No Premier declared.1		Canberra Croatia	3–1	Gungahlin United	— [lower-alpha 1]
2021	NPL CF 1	Tigers FC	Canberra Croatia	not held. [lower-alpha 2]			— [lower-alpha 1]
2022	NPL CF 1	Canberra Croatia	Gungahlin United	Monaro Panthers	2–1	Canberra Croatia	— [lower-alpha 3]
2023	NPL CF 1	HNK O'Connor Knights	Gungahlin United	Canberra Croatia	1–1 (6-5 pens)	HNK O'Connor Knights	— [lower-alpha 4]

NPL/Pre-NPL (1952–2012) all-time record

National Premier Leagues Capital Football honours since introduction in 2013.

Honours
Club	Premierships Wins	Premiership Years	Championships Wins	Championship Years	Shields Wins	Shield Years	Total
Canberra Croatia	4	2013, 2015, 2018, 2022	3	2018, 2020, 2023	4	2016, 2019, 2021, 2023	11
Canberra Olympic	3	2016, 2017, 2019	3	2013, 2015, 2016	2	2017, 2018	8
Belconnen United			2	2014, 2017			2
Tigers FC	2	2014, 2021					2
Gungahlin United			1	2019			1
Monaro Panthers			1	2022	1	2022	2
HNK O'Connor Knights	1	2023					1

A snapshot of each ACT top division season between 1952 and 2012 before the NPL started in 2013. ^{[18] [19]}

Season	Competition	Regular season		Finals
		League Premiers	League Runners-Up	Champions	Score	Finalists
1952	Division One	Season standings & results unknown
1953	Division One	Season standings & results unknown
1954	Division One	Napad		Napad	6–2	Hollandia
1955	Division One	Napad	Roma	Hollandia	2–1	Canberra United [lower-alpha 5]
1956	Division One	Balkan	Canberra United	No Finals Series held
1957	Division One	Bohemians	Canberra United Burns	No Finals Series held
1958	Division One	Bohemians	Wistula	Olympic	3–1	Bohemians
1959	Division One	Bohemians	FTC Hungaria	No Finals Series held
1960	Division One	FTC Hungaria	Olympic	No Finals Series held
1961	Division One	FTC Hungaria	Olympic	FTC Hungaria	2–1	Olympic
1962	Division One	SC Hope	Kosciusko [20]	SC Hope	7–3	Kosciusko
1963	Division One	SC Hope	Queanbeyan	No Finals Series held
1964	Division One	Juventus	Cooma United	Juventus	2-2, 4-3	Cooma United
1965	Division One	Juventus	Cooma United	Juventus	4–3	SC Hope
1966	Division One	SC Hope	Juventus	SC Hope	1–1 (5–4 ( p ))	Juventus
1967	Division One	Juventus	Croatia Deakin	Croatia Deakin	2–1	Cooma United
1968	Division One	Juventus	Inter Monaro	Juventus	1–1 3–1 [lower-alpha 6]	Croatia Deakin
1969	Division One	Croatia Deakin	Queanbeyan Macedonia	Final abandoned
1970	Division One	Juventus	Queanbeyan Macedonia	Juventus	3–1	Turner Eagles
1971	Division One	Griffith United	Inter Monaro	No Finals Series held
1972	Division One	Juventus	Croatia Deakin	No Finals Series held
1973	Division One	Croatia Deakin	Juventus	No Finals Series held
1974	Division One	West Woden Juventus	Croatia Deakin	No Finals Series held
1975	Division One	Downer Olympic	Croatia Deakin	West Woden Juventus	2–0	Croatia Deakin
1976	Division One	West Woden Juventus	Inter Monaro	West Woden Juventus	2–1	Croatia Deakin
1977	Division One	Inter Monaro	West Woden Juventus	Inter Monaro	3–2	West Woden Juventus
1978	Division One	West Woden Juventus	Croatia Deakin	Croatia Deakin	3–2	West Woden Juventus
1979	Division One	Croatia Deakin	West Woden Juventus	Croatia Deakin	3–2	Canberra City Roos
1980	Division One	Downer Olympic	Croatia Deakin	West Woden Juventus	3–2	Downer Olympic
1981	Division One	Luso [lower-alpha 7]	Narrabundah	Luso	1–0	Narrabundah
1982	Division One	Belconnen United	JM United [lower-alpha 8]	Belconnen United	7–0	Downer Olympic
1983	Division One	Kambah United (City) West Woden Juventus (Country)	Narrabundah (City) Downer Olympic (Country)	West Woden Juventus	5-4	Canberra Croatia
1984	Division One	Canberra United (City) West Woden Juventus (Country)	Concordia Phillip (City) Croatia Deakin (Country)	West Woden Juventus	3–2	Croatia Deakin
1985	Division One	West Woden Juventus	Croatia Deakin	Belconnen United	3–2	Canberra City Olympians
1986	Division One	Croatia Deakin	Juventus	Juventus	2–1	Belconnen United
1987	Division One	Croatia Deakin	Belconnen United	Croatia Deakin	4–1	Belconnen United
1988	Division One	Croatia Deakin	CCAE	Croatia Deakin	5–3	CCAE
1989	Division One	CCAE	Canberra Croatia	Canberra City Concordia	3–2	Canberra Croatia
1990	Division One	Belconnen United	Canberra City	Belconnen United	1–1 (3–1 ( p ))	Canberra City
1991	Division One	Tuggeranong United	Olympic	Tuggeranong United	1–0	Olympic
1992	Premier League	AIS	Tuggeranong United	Tuggeranong United	2–0	Belconnen United
1993	Premier League	Olympic	Southern Cross	Olympic	3–3 (5–4 ( p ))	Southern Cross
1994	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Tuggeranong United	Olympic	3–1	Tuggeranong United
1995	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Shamrock Rovers	Canberra Deakin	3–2	Juventus
1996	Premier League	Belconnen United	Canberra Deakin	Belconnen United	1–0	Canberra Deakin
1997	Premier League	Belconnen United	Canberra Olympic	Canberra Olympic	4–0	Canberra Deakin
1998	Premier League	Belconnen United	Monaro Panthers	Belconnen United	2–0	Canberra Olympic
1999	Premier League	Capital City Suns	Weston Creek Royals [lower-alpha 9]	Monaro Panthers	1–0	Capital City Suns
2000	Premier League	Gungahlin Juventus	Belconnen United	Belconnen United	1–0	Gungahlin Juventus
2001	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Gungahlin Juventus	Gungahlin Juventus	2–1	Canberra Deakin
2002	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Gungahlin Juventus	Belconnen United	2–1	Canberra Olympic
2003	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Canberra Olympic	Canberra Deakin	1–0	Canberra Olympic
2004	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	Gungahlin Juventus	Canberra Deakin	4–1	Gungahlin Juventus
2005	Premier League	Canberra Deakin	O'Connor Knights	Canberra Deakin	1–0	O'Connor Knights
2006	Premier League	Canberra Olympic	Belconnen United	Cooma Tigers	2–1	Canberra Olympic
2007	Premier League	Canberra FC	Belconnen United	Canberra FC	5–4	Belconnen United
2008	Premier League	Canberra FC	Canberra Olympic	Belconnen United	4–1	Canberra FC
2009	Premier League	Canberra FC	Belconnen United	Canberra FC	2–1	Belconnen United
2010	Premier League	Canberra FC	Belconnen United	Canberra FC	6–0	Belconnen United
2011	Premier League	Canberra FC	Canberra Olympic	Canberra FC	8–5	Canberra Olympic
2012	Premier League	Belconnen United	Cooma Tigers	Cooma Tigers	2–1	Belconnen United

Pre-NPL all-time record

Pre-NPL era Division 1 honours since 1952.

Premierships Club Premierships Years Canberra FC 20 1962, 1963, 1966, 1969, 1973, 1979, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1995 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 West Woden Juventus 12 1964, 1965, 1967, 1968, 1970, 1972, 1974, 1976, 1978, 1983 1984, 1985 Belconnen United 6 1982, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2012 Canberra Olympic 5 1975, 1980, 1993, 1994, 2006 Bohemians 3 1957, 1958, 1959 FTC Hungaria 2 1960, 1961 Napad 2 1954, 1955 Tuggeranong United 2 1983, 1991 AIS 1 1992 Balkan 1 1956 Burns FC 1 1984 Capital City Suns 1 1999 Griffith United 1 1971 Gungahlin United 1 2000 Luso 1 1981 Monaro Panthers 1 1977 UCU Pumas 1 1989

Championships Club Championships Years Canberra FC 15 1962, 1966, 1967, 1978, 1979, 1987, 1988, 1995, 2003, 2004 2005, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011 West Woden Juventus 10 1964, 1965, 1968, 1970, 1975, 1976, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1986 Belconnen United 8 1982, 1985, 1990, 1996, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2008 Canberra Olympic 4 1958, 1993, 1994, 1997 Monaro Panthers 2 1977, 1999 Tigers FC 2 2006, 2012 Tuggeranong United 2 1991, 1992 Canberra City 1 1989 Gungahlin United 1 2001 Hollandia 1 1955 Luso 1 1981 Napad 1 1954

See also

• Soccer in the Australian Capital Territory
• Sport in the Australian Capital Territory
• National Premier Leagues

Notes

1. NPL finals series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. ^[16]
2. ACT finals series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. ^[17]
3. Not held
4. Not held
5. Burns Football Club – the oldest surviving soccer club in Canberra, established in 1925
6. won on replay
7. Became Majura-Luso before folding in 1985
8. A joint partnership between Juventus and Inter Monaro that was dissolved after 7 matches; West Woden Juventus completed the season
9. Now known as Weston Molonglo FC and associated with Woden-Weston FC

References

1. "NPL Home". National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
2. Gibbs, Russ (9 February 2015). "PS4 NPL Capital Football 2015 Preview". PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues. Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
3. "Clubs on notice to lift game or be cut loose". Canberra Times. 9 December 2006. Retrieved 15 June 2007.^{[ dead link ]}
4. "Queanbeyan City's PL Licence Reviewed". Capital Football. October 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.^{[ dead link ]}
5. "Queanbeyan City Reinstated in Premier League". Capital Football. December 2008. Retrieved 9 January 2009.^{[ dead link ]}
6. Gaskin, Lee (08 March 2015) "Woden-Weston FC hoping to channel Western Sydney Wanderers in National Premier League debut". Sydney Morning Herald. 8 March 2015. Retrieved 16 March 2015.
7. "Academy". Capital Football. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
8. Gaskin, Lee (25 November 2015). "Soccer: Canberra National Premier League clubs voice concerns at representative team". The Canberra Times . Retrieved 19 March 2016.
9. Polkinghorne, David (11 February 2016). "Rebel league an option in Canberra NPL disagreement with Capital Football". Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 19 March 2016.
10. "Champions and Cup Winners to Meet in Inaugural Charity Shield". Capital Football. Archived from the original on 28 March 2016. Retrieved 19 March 2016.
11. Gaskin, Lee (17 March 2016). "ACT National Premier League: Charity Shield gives new-look Gungahlin United perfect test". The Canberra Times . Retrieved 19 March 2016.
12. "PS4 NPL Structure & Teams". Capital Football. 7 November 2016. Archived from the original on 13 February 2017. Retrieved 13 February 2017.
13. Helmers, Caden (19 March 2017). "Canberra Olympic pick up where they left off with win over Cooma Tigers in Capital Football Charity Shield". The Canberra Times . Retrieved 30 March 2017.
14. Tiernan, Eamonn (3 August 2018). "NPL clubs slam Capital Football for introducing NPL2". The Sydney Morning Herald.
15. "2019 National Premier Leagues Declaration of Leagues". Capital Football. 27 September 2018.
16. "Coronavirus forces FFA Cup to be cancelled". The World Game . SBS. 7 July 2020. Retrieved 7 July 2020.
17. "CAPITAL FOOTBALL WINTER COMPETITION UPDATE". Capital Football. 7 September 2021. Retrieved 7 September 2021.
18. "ACT Division One Premiers list". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
19. "ACT Division One Champions list". www.socceraust.co.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2019.
20. "History of Canberra Croatia FC". Canberra Croatia FC . Retrieved 1 August 2020.

External links

• Capital Football home
• NPL Capital Football Page
• NPL Australia home
• NPL Capital Football Archive website