Melbourne City FC Youth


Melbourne City Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne City Football Club based in Cranbourne East, Melbourne. The youth teams consist of an under-23s team that competes in senior levels of soccer in Victoria; currently the Victorian Premier League 1, and a development squad of an under-21s team that competes in the under-23 levels of soccer in Victoria.
Melbourne City Academy was introduced in 2016 and are composed of four academy teams, ranking from under-14s to under-17s teams that compete in the youth National Premier Leagues Victoria leagues.
WWW melbournecityfc.com.au

History

Early years (2011–2014)

The team was founded in 2011 as Melbourne Heart Youth, the season after their senior side Melbourne City, made their A-League debut. The inaugural manager was John Aloisi before he accepted the role as head manager at the end of the 2011–12 season. From 2012 onwards, Joe Palatsides had been the manager. The youth team's first match was played in the 2011–12 against local rivals Melbourne Victory in a 2–0 win at John Cain Memorial Park.

Entry into National Premier Leagues (2014–2018)

On 7 November 2014, it was confirmed that Melbourne City would compete in the NPL Victoria 1 competition from the 2015 season onwards. The team consists mainly of Melbourne City's youth team, which also competes in the A-League Youth. On top of this, Melbourne City opted to send a U-20 team to enter the concurrently-run development-level U-20 NPL league competition.
The team finished on top of the table of the 2014–15 National Youth League, tied with Brisbane Roar FC Youth on both points and goal difference but were awarded the title having scored a greater number of goals.
After several seasons competing in the NPL, Melbourne City announced they were expanding their participation to also enter teams into the U-18 and U-15 competitions. In February 2018, youth teams joined the National Premier Leagues for the under-20s and under-18s sides, with the U-18 side being managed by Davey van 't Schip.

Players

Youth

''These players can also play with the senior squad and compete in the A-League Youth and the VPL 1.''

Current staff

Head Coaches:
Stuart McDonaldYouth Head Coach
Lewis PotterU21 Head Coach
Daniel ToppingU17 Head Coach
Leroy AlmenaraU16 Head Coach
Luke JohnsonU15 Head Coach
Frankie BarillaU14 Head Coach

Staff:
Stuart McDonaldYouth Assistant Coach
Daniel ToppingU21 Assistant Coach
Daniel CappellaroU17–U16 Assistant Coach
Josh SasicU15–U14 Assistant Coach

Honours

; Youth A-League Youth Premiership
; Under-21sVictoria Premier League 1 U-23 Premiership

Stadium

The team hosts its home matches at CB Smith Reserve and Casey Fields. In previous years, home games have also been played at Epping Stadium, John Cain Memorial Park, John Ilhan Memorial Reserve and La Trobe University.