Nickname(s) Victory NYL Website Club home page Founded 2008 | Ground Capacity 10,000 2013–14 NYL, 3rd | |
Leagues National Youth League, National Premier Leagues Victoria | ||
Melbourne Victory FC Youth is an Australian semi-professional soccer team based in Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 2008, it is the youth and reserve team of Melbourne Victory. The team currently plays in National Youth League and they will compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, holding home matches at Epping Stadium.
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History
The team was founded in 2008, as a Melbourne Victory representative team for the inaugural season of the National Youth League competition, along with six other youth squads, and finished a disappointing sixth. The development side has had three managers, Mehmet Durakovic, who was promoted to manager of the senior squad in 2011, and current managers Darren Davies and John Aloisi. Davies led the youth side to its first silverware victory in winning the premiership plate, finishing first on the National Youth League ladder in the 2012-13 season. It would be current club chairman Anthony Di Pietro's first silverware victory as well. On 7 November 2014, it was confirmed that the team would compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 competition for 2015 season onwards. Victory managed promotion at their first attempt, placing second in the NPL1 East division, going on to beat Moreland Zebras FC in the qualification playoff and then North Geelong Warriors FC in the promotion playoff. For the club's first season in the top tier of football in Victorian state football, Matt Hennessey and Ryan Lambert were signed from Hume City FC and Richmond SC respectively.
Stadiums
The team will play their home matches for the 2016 NPL Victoria season at Epping Stadium in Melbourne's northern suburb of Epping. The stadium has a total capacity of 10,000, with a single grandstand of approximately 1,000 seats. Past venues used as a home ground by the club have been South Melbourne FC home ground Lakeside Stadium in Albert Park, Bentleigh Greens' Kingston Heath in Cheltenham and Northcote City's John Cain Memorial Reserve in Thornbury; however, with the side now competing the top division of Victorian football, along with all three of these sides, ground-sharing with any of the sides was not a preferred option, with Epping Stadium providing the club with the facilities required. The team has also played competitive matches at Victory's senior team home venues, AAMI Park and Etihad Stadium.
Current squad
As of 28 October 2016Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Former players
This is a list of former Melbourne Victory Youth players, who have played at least 20 A-League competitive matches for the first team.
As of 9 July 2016.