Melbourne Victory Football Club is very pleased to confirm that it will be entering two teams in the PlayStation 4 Victoria National Premier League (NPL) competitions in 2015, after securing a two-year licence from Football Federation Victoria.
The Club will field one senior team, comprising many of its players from the current Foxtel National Youth League team, as well as an Under 20 team.
The Club has undertaken extensive planning in building the best model for its youth development program (Academy) and resolved that applying for involvement into the PlayStation 4 NPL competitions would be our focus for Phase One.
Melbourne Victory’s charter for its Academy will be first and foremost to produce future first team footballers. By having two teams in the PlayStation 4 NPL competitions, as well as a Foxtel National Youth League team, the club will be able to have up to 46 talented young players involved in its training and playing programs for up to 12 months of the year. The club has identified that continuity of football coaching, training, preparation and general football education is critical to achieve its development targets.
The training base for the new PlayStation 4 NPL teams will be at the AAMI Park precinct, which will provide the players with state of the art training and conditioning facilities, to best nurture their development.
Melbourne Victory Chairman Anthony Di Pietro said that Football Federation Victoria’s decision to accept Melbourne Victory’s submission for entry into the PlayStation 4 NPL, under a two-year licence, is a great fillip for youth development at the Club.
“Entry into the NPL enhances the Club’s commitment to providing the best high performance environment we can for the development of some of the most talented young players in Victoria, and the country, for that matter. It also provides a defined pathway through an A-League club environment for the advancement of their careers.
“The benefit to young players is they will be coached and educated through the Melbourne Victory system and have the opportunity to work with elite coaches, mentors and conditioning and medical experts throughout their time with us, to be the best they can be,” Mr Di Pietro said.
Club Football Operations Manager Paul Trimboli said entry into the NPL provides a platform for the Club to work with a large number of young players and create consistency in their coaching and teaching during their time at Melbourne Victory.
“Players progressing through our football system will have the benefit of being coached by extremely well-credentialed football staff, while enjoying consistent methods and teachings right through to hopefully representing our club at A-League level.
“While progressing into our first team will be the objective, if this does not come to fruition, the youngsters will exit our development program and feed back into the National Premier League with other clubs, who will ultimately benefit by securing talent from our high performance system,” Trimboli said.
