Victoria’s top National Premier League (NPL) teams will get their chance to play in a finals series next year, as Football Federation Victoria (FFV) returns to the popular model.
Moving towards the structure of the previous Victorian Premier League and mimicking the A-League, the top six teams of the season will be able to fight for a premiership and host more matches at home.
The FFV admits that removing the finals series this season was only due to a clash in scheduling.
“They were only removed in 2014 due to the increased competition size, coupled with the short window in which to complete the season due to the national NPL finals series,” FFV head of NPL Liam Bentley told the Herald Sun.
While the FFV will be releasing more information on the finals series in the coming weeks, it did lock in the NPL and NPL1 teams for next year.
Joining eight Greek sponsored clubs and premiers South Melbourne will be Avondale Heights and North Geelong Warriors, who will be replacing Ballarat Red Devils and Goulburn Valley Suns.
Big changes will be felt at the lower league, with NPL1 getting split into East and West groupings.
Ten teams will compete in each group, giving Greek sponsored teams like Brunswick City, Kingston City and Box Hill United some new competition.
New to the competition will be Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City’s youth sides, which will play in the East group.
The 2015 NPL and NPL1 season will kick-off on February 21-22, with the full fixture to be released by the end of November.
PS4 NPL:
Avondale Heights (promoted)
Bentleigh Greens
Dandenong Thunder
Green Gully
Heidelberg United
Hume City
Melbourne Knights
North Geelong Warriors (promoted)
Northcote City
Oakleigh Cannons
Pascoe Vale
Port Melbourne Sharks
South Melbourne
Werribee City
PS4 NPL 1 East
Box Hill United
Dandenong City
Eastern Lions (new)
Goulburn Valley Suns (relegated from NPL)
Kingston City
Melbourne Victory Youth (new)
Murray United (new)
Nunawading City (new)
Richmond
Springvale White Eagles
PS4 NPL 1 West
Ballarat Red Devils (relegated from NPL)
Brunswick City
FC Bendigo
FC Bulleen Lions
Melbourne City Youth (new)
Moreland City (new)
Moreland Zebras
St Albans Saints
Sunshine George Cross
Whittlesea Ranges