Victoria Premier League 2

The Victoria Premier League 2 (formerly National Premier Leagues Victoria 3, 2020-2024), commonly referred to as VPL 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the third-highest in the Victorian league system, behind NPL Victoria and Victoria Premier League 1, and forms part of the fourth tier of the overall Australian pyramid.

Victoria Premier League 2
Founded2020 as National Premier Leagues Victoria 3
CountryAustralia
State Victoria
Number of teams12
Level on pyramid4
Promotion toVictoria Premier League 1
Relegation toState League 1
Domestic cup(s)Australia Cup
Dockerty Cup
Current championsCaroline Springs George Cross (2023)
Most championshipsPreston Lions
Caroline Springs George Cross
(1 title each)

The league was created from the bottom halves of NPL Victoria 2 East and West, when the league was reorganised from two geographic conferences to two separate vertical NPL divisions.[1]

The competition is administered by Football Victoria, the governing body of the sport in the state. Due to start 2020 season NPL Victoria 3 has been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Beginning in the 2024 season, the third-tier competition has been renamed the Victoria Premier Leagues 2[2], the name of the state-tier competition prior to the formation of NPL Victoria.

Format

The NPL Victoria 3 is contested by 12 teams. Each team plays home and away against teams against all other teams in the league for a total of 22 fixtures per team each season. The winner of each conference gains automatic promotion to the NPL Victoria 2 while 2nd in both conferences will play off in a final; the winner to play the third last team in the NPL Victoria for entry into the top flight.

Due to the entry of Western United into the A-League, NPL Victoria competition rules contain a provision allowing the new professional side to place a development team directly into NPL Victoria 3. This will occur in 2021, so the league would compete for that season with 13 teams, with promotion/relegation rules for State League 1 temporarily modified to revert the structure back to twelve clubs per league.[3]

Current clubs (2024)

The following clubs will take part in the 2024 VPL 2 season:

Locations of 2024 NPL 3 Victoria clubs within metropolitan Melbourne.
Club Location Grounds Capacity Club Heritage
Altona City Altona HC Kim Reserve 500 Maltese and British
Beaumaris Beaumaris Beaumaris Reserve 250 Australian
Boroondara-Carey Eagles Bulleen Carey Bulleen Sports Complex 100 Italian
Box Hill United Box Hill South Wembley Park 1,000 Greek
Brunswick Juventus Fawkner CB Smith Reserve 2,000 Italian
Doveton Eumemmerring Waratah Reserve 400 English
Essendon Royals Essendon Cross Keys Reserve 500 Italian
Goulburn Valley Suns Shepparton John McEwan Reserve 3,200 N/A
Melbourne Srbija Burnley Kevin Bartlett Reserve 2,500 Serbian
North Sunshine Eagles St Albans Larissa Reserve 500 Albanian
Nunawading City Forest Hill Mahoney's Reserve 1,000 Australian
Pascoe Vale Fawkner CB Smith Reserve 2,000 Aromanian

History

In 2018, pressures from member clubs and a desire to re-evaluate league structure and organisation lead Football Victoria to commission a report into how the NPL Victoria leagues could be re-worked. Among a series of recommendations on improvements to the youth structure, the report recommended that NPL Victoria 2 - then a two-conference division with ten teams each in an east-west split, contesting 28 fixtures each per season - should be reformed with NPL Victoria 2 turned into a single division of 12 teams and a new 12-team division - NPL Victoria 3 - created.[1]

The proposed changes were agreed, and to enact the split the top six teams of each NPL Victoria 2 conference in the 2019 season were given places in the 2020 Victoria 2 competition, with the bottom four of the two conferences all relegated to Victoria 3. Four additional teams were promoted from Victorian State League 1 to make up the numbers. Among the sides moved to NPL Victoria 3 were the NPL development sides of A-League duo Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory.[4]

Past winners
Year Champions
2020Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[5]
2021Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.[6]
2022
Preston Lions
2023
Caroline Springs George Cross


References
  1. "Victoria restructures its NPL competition". footballtoday.news. 31 October 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  2. "NPLM/W 2024 Update | Football Victoria". www.footballvictoria.com.au. 4 October 2023. Retrieved 23 October 2023.
  3. "FFV Men's and Boy's[sic] Football Competition Review" (PDF). Football Victoria. 2018. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  4. "Football Victoria Announces New 2020 NPL Structures". Football Victoria. 11 October 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
  5. "2021 Start Up". Football Victoria. 16 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  6. "Metro Melbourne 2021 season status". Football Victoria. 3 September 2021. Retrieved 3 September 2021.

Notes
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