Country Australia Number of teams 12 Founded 2012 Domestic cup FFA Cup | Level on pyramid 2 Current champion Redlands United FC (2016) First season 2013 | |
Current champions Redlands United FC (2016) Current premiers Brisbane Strikers (2016) Confederation Asian Football Confederation (Asia) Teams Olympic FC, Brisbane Strikers FC, Western Pride FC, Gold Coast City FC, Brisbane City FC | ||
The National Premier League Queensland, run by Football Queensland, is the top tier state-level football (soccer) competition in Queensland. The conference is a sub division of the National Premier Leagues. The inaugural season kicked off in March 2013 and consisted of 12 teams. Each team will be expected to field a senior team, five junior men's teams from under-12 to under-20 starting in 2013 and women's junior teams in under-13, under-14, under-15 and under-18 starting in 2014.
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Each club has been granted a 5-year licence and there is no promotion or relegation from the league during this period. It was announced on December 16, 2016 that there would be promotion and relegation to the NPLQ as of the 2018 season. This announcement came with the addition of the Queensland Premier League, a tier underpinning the National Premier League.
History
The league directly replaced the existing Queensland State League, as part of the wider introduction of the National Premier Leagues into several states in 2013.
The league commenced with 12 teams in its inaugural 2013 season. This was increased to 14 teams in the 2014 season with the inclusion of Harimau Muda A, Southwestern Queensland and the replacement of the QAS team with the Brisbane Roar National Youth League side. However, the teams were controversially reduced to 13 mid-season, due to CQFC Energy's failure to meet licensing conditions.
Format
The season consists of a regular season in which all clubs play each other twice, home and away. At the conclusion of the regular season the top of the table club progresses onto the NPL National Finals Series to play against the champions from other NPL subdivisions. Also at the conclusion of the regular season the top four clubs play a local finals series. The local finals series consists of two semi-finals and a final. In the local finals series the top of the ladder club plays the fourth place and second place plays third. The winner of these local semi finals play each other in the NPL Qld Grand Final.