| Founded | 1984 |
|---|---|
| Folded | 2004 |
| Country | Australia |
| Most championships | Melbourne Knights, South Melbourne, Australian Institute of Sport, (3 titles each) |
The National Youth League (NYL), was an Australian national soccer league run in parallel to the National Soccer League (NSL) between 1984 and 2004. The aim of the league was to provide a pathway for young players to play regular high-level football, and allow reserve players from senior NSL teams to remain match fit. The league was founded in 1984, alongside the simultaneous expansion of the senior competition. [1] The league later followed the NSL's move to summer competition during the switch to summer play in 1989.
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the largest country in Oceania and the world's sixth-largest country by total area. The neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north; the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east; and New Zealand to the south-east. The population of 25 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard. Australia's capital is Canberra, and its largest city is Sydney. The country's other major metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide.
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played with a spherical ball between two teams of eleven players. It is played by 250 million players in over 200 countries and dependencies, making it the world's most popular sport. The game is played on a rectangular field called a pitch with a goal at each end. The object of the game is to score by moving the ball beyond the goal line into the opposing goal.
The National Soccer League (NSL) was the top-level soccer league in Australia, run by Soccer Australia and later the Australian Soccer Association. The NSL, the A-League's predecessor, spanned 28 seasons from its inception in 1977 until its demise in 2004, when it was succeeded by the A-League competition run by Football Federation Australia, the successor to the Australian Soccer Association.
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The competition was split into Northern and Southern divisions, with the winners of each division playing off in a grand final to decide the national champion. The Southern division included teams mostly from Victoria, but also sides from South Australia. The Northern division contained teams from the Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales and Queensland. Teams were drawn from NSL clubs, state league clubs, regional representative sides as well as the programs of the various state-run sports institutes, such as the Australian Institute of Sport's Football Program. The competition ceased operation in 2004, at the same time the NSL ended. While the A-League replaced the NSL in 2005, after a season's recess, the NYL was not succeeded by the A-League National Youth League until 2008.
The A-League is a professional men's soccer league run by Football Federation Australia (FFA). At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's primary competition for the sport. The A-League was established in 2004 as a successor to the National Soccer League (NSL) and competition commenced in August 2005. The league is currently contested by ten teams; nine based in Australia and one based in New Zealand. It is known as the Hyundai A-League (HAL) through a sponsorship arrangement with the Hyundai Motor Company.
