Soccer in New South Wales

Four of the eleven teams in the A-League are based in New South Wales: Western Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC, Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners, while Macarthur FC are scheduled to join in 2020.

NSW is represented in the national women's W-League by Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers associated women's teams. Central Coast Mariners also had a team in the W-League between 2008–2010.

New South Wales sends teams to the annual national youth competitions in the form of New South Wales Metropolitan and New South Wales Country (run by Football NSW) and Northern New South Wales (run by Northern NSW Football).

New South Wales had many different teams in the NSL over the years. NSW usually had at least the first or second most clubs in the league and also got many premierships over the years. There is a list below of clubs from NSW that participated in the NSL and are still running today in NSW competitions.

• A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers
• Blacktown City Demons
• Canterbury-Marrickville
• Marconi Stallions
• Newcastle Rosebud United
• Parramatta Eagles
• St George Saints
• Sydney Olympic
• Sydney United
• Wollongong Wolves

These are the branches and associations that make up all of Football NSW's youth and senior, women and men Amateur competitions around the state. Each of the associations run their own competitions for various age groups.

16 of the associations also have teams in the Metropolitan League (11s & 12s boys). Some also act as feeder associations or give their backing to certain semi-pro or Representative clubs.

• Bankstown District Amateur Football Association
• Blacktown & District Soccer Football Inc.
• Canterbury District Soccer Football Association
• Central Coast Football
• Eastern Suburbs Football Association
• Gladesville-Hornsby Football Association
• Granville & Districts Soccer Football Association
• Hills Football Association
• Northern Suburbs Football Association (formerly Ku-Ring-Gai & District Soccer Association)
• Macarthur Districts Soccer Football Association
• Manly Warringah Football Association
• Nepean Football Association
• North West Sydney Women's Football
• Football South Coast
• Southern Districts Soccer Football Association
• St George Football Association Inc
• Sutherland Shire Junior SFA Inc.
• Sydney Amateur Football League Inc.

• Albury Wodonga Football Association
• Wagga Wagga Football Association
• Griffith & District Amateur Football Association
• South West Slopes Football Association

Controlling Body - Football NSW Southern Branch [2]

• Eurobodalla Football Association
• Far South Coast Football Association
• Highlands Soccer Association Inc.
• Shoalhaven District Football Association Inc.
• Southern Tablelands Football Association

• Bathurst District Football Association
• Dubbo & District Football Association
• Lachlan Amateur Soccer Association
• Lithgow District Football Association
• Orange Football Association
• Western Plains Soccer Association

The Youth Men's Representative system which is run by Football NSW caters for the ages between 11 and 18. It is divided into 2 main stages, the Metropolitan League and the Youth Leagues. After that they are catered by the Senior Men's competitions. Here is a description of the system:

• Metropolitan League - 11s and 12s. The Metropolitan League is an Association-based competition for 11s & 12s boys. The 16 Associations in the competition are divided equally into 2 conferences based on location.
  • Northern Conference
  • Southern Conference
• Youth Leagues - 13s, 14s, 15s, 16s and 18s.The Youth leagues which cater for the ages 13–18 are seen as the best soccer a youth player can get in New South Wales. The PYL (Premier Youth League) is the most prestigious, then the SYL (Super Youth League) and finally the YL1 (Youth League Division 1). There is a relegation system between the leagues for the clubs based on the Club Championship.

In order for a SYL club to be promoted to PYL, that club's 1st grade team has to win the NSW Super League. Relegation from PYL to SYL depends on a combination of the club championship between 1st grade, U/20, and U/18. Promotion and relegation between SYL and YL1 is based purely on the Club Championship where the bottom placed club is relegated and the top placed club is promoted. After the 18s players usually progress into senior men's soccer, with their clubs 20s or First Grade team.

• • Premier Youth League
  • Super Youth League
  • Youth League Division One

The Youth Women competitions caters for the ages of 12 to 16. Here is a description of the system:

• "Arrive Alive" Girls Youth League - 12s, 14s, 16s
  • Premier Girls Youth League
  • Super Girls Youth League.

All Senior Men's teams are linked with their counterparts of Under 20s, Under 18s and all Open Age competitors.

Top New South Wales competitions:

• National Premier Leagues NSW (12 Teams)
  Premier League
• National Premier Leagues NSW 2 (12 Teams)
  Super League
• National Premier Leagues NSW 3 (12 Teams)
  Division One
• NSW State League (14 teams)
  Division Two

Both Women's leagues comprise 1st Grade, Reserve Grade, U17, U15 and U14. Football NSW Senior Women's Competitions (in descending order in terms of significance)

• National Premier Leagues NSW Women’s (12 Teams)
• National Premier Leagues NSW 2 Women’s (12 Teams)

The National Premier Leagues Northern NSW which is made of 8 teams from the Newcastle and Hunter Valley areas is the premier Northern NSW League.

North Coast Football is a league extending from Iluka to Macksville with over 5000 registered players. It contains the two largest clubs on the north coast of NSW, Woolgoolga F.C. and Northern Storm F.C. (each with over 400 registered players).

Northern Inland Football is a soccer association based in the Northern Inland region of New South Wales extending from Quirindi in the South to Tenterfield in the North

Other leagues which are supervised by Northern New South Wales Football include Hunter Valley Football, Macquarie Football, Newcastle Football, Football Mid North Coast and Football Far North Coast.

The Waratah Cup is a statewide knockout competition open to men's teams from the NSW Premier, Super, Division 1 and Conference Leagues as well as local Association men's teams. Since 2014 preliminary rounds have been used to determine the NSW entrants to the national FFA Cup knockout competition.[3]

The Johnny Warren Cup is the pre-season tournament for the NSW Premier League. The teams are divided into two pools with the winner of each pool contesting the final

The SRC Cups competition is open to Association club teams. The following age categories have cup competitions:

• Male 12-14-16-18-21-All Age & O35
• Female 12-14-16-18 & All Age.

Baulkham Hills Kookaburra's are defending champions after taking the title in a close affair in 2007. An extra time winner sealing the victory. Although Baulkham Hills were lucky to finish the match with 11 men after their right back was lucky to escape a second yellow.

Named after Harry Williams, the former Socceroo and only indigenous man to represent Australia at the World Cup, The Harry Williams Cup aims to unearth Australia’s next crop of indigenous soccer stars with a four-day tournament open to Boys in the Under 12, 14 and 16 age categories. The Indigenous teams play against school and association based club sides with all indigenous sides accommodated during the tournament on-site.

The Frank Broughton Cup is open to Grade 11 Association Representative teams and Invitees

The Centenary Cup is open to Grade 12 Association Representative teams and Invitees

The Champion of Champions tournament is an annual tournament run throughout late September and October. The champion side from each association's division 1 in each age group is entered in a cup competition to determine an overall amateur champion for the year within the state.