Melbourne Victory FC Youth


Melbourne Victory Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne Victory based in Melbourne, Victoria. The team plays in the National Premier Leagues, the second level of the Australian soccer league system.
WWW Official Site

History

Beginnings of the Youth Team (2008-2014)

The youth 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.

Victorian League Systems (2015-2019)

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. unfortunately Victory would finnish last place in their first time in the NPL Victoria. this would lead to its relegation back down to NPL Victoria 2, now in the western division of NPL Victoria division 2. Victory would stay in NPL Victoria 2 for the next two years avoiding relegation before placing ninth place in 2019 relegating them to Victoria [Premier League 2|NPL Victoria 3].

Post COVID Years (2020-Present)

Victory wouldn't get to play NPL Victoria 3 football in 2020 or 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Melbourne Victory would finally compete in NPL Victoria 3 in 2022 [National Premier Leagues Victoria 3|2022], where Victory would finnish fourth place and qualifying them a promotional play-off. Victory would play Kingston City on 28 August 2022 where they would fall short after Faisal Sakhizada scored a lone goal for Kingston meaning Victory would compete in the NPL Victoria 3 for another year. In National Premier Leagues Victoria 3|2023] Victory would place second in NPL Victoria 3 leading to the promotion of the club into the re-branded Victoria Premier League 1. In 2024 [Victoria Premier League 1|2024] Victory would be promoted in back-to-back years as well as becoming Champions of the Victoria Premier League 1. Victory would be promoted into NPL Victoria. the top tier of Victorian Football. This was the first time Victory competed in the top tier of Victorian Football since 2016. Victory would enter the 2025 NPL Victoria season hoping to stay up. Victory would fight strong throughout the season with many instances where Victory would concede goals in the final minutes of the game, leading to Victory losing points throughout the season. One particular example of this was in February in a match against South [Melbourne FC|South Melbourne], when Victory had a goal lead in the 90+4th minute with only a minute left. In the 90+5th minute Victory would concede a goal to make the score 3-3 in a match that could've been major importance in Victory's Survival fight. Unfortunately Victory would finish 12th place leading to the club's relegation back down to the Victoria Premier League 1.

Current staff

Head Coaches:
Joe Palatsides1st Grade Head Coach
Rodrigo VargasU21 Head Coach
Andreas PapanicolaouU18 Head Coach
Joaquín MorenoU16 Head Coach
Matthew SultanaU15 Head Coach
Rob WielaertU14 Head Coach
Tom PatonPre Academy Head Coach
Mark TopicPre Academy Head Coach
Isabella SantilliPre Academy Head Coach
Matt FletcherPre Academy Head Coach
Brad RobertsPre Academy Head Coach
Reide MulhollandPre Academy Head Coach

Staff:
Joe PalatsidesHead of Academy Coaching
Andrew KentepozidisAcademy Operations Manager
Jayden AndersonAcademy Sports Science Lead
Amelia ThomasAcademy Medical Lead
Sebastian BechaudHead of Academy Goalkeeping
Agim SherifovskiAcademy Assistant Coach
Piotr RutkowskiAcademy Assistant Coach
Mark SpiteriPre Academy Head Goalkeeping Coach
Ashley WisneskePre Academy Goalkeeping Coach
Archie ThompsonAcademy Development Coach
Fahid Ben KhalfallahAcademy Development Coach
Gaby GartonAcademy Development Coach
Joey DidulicaAcademy Development Coach
Sasa OgnenovskiAcademy Development Coach

Honours

;Youth
National Premier Leagues Victoria 2/ Victoria Premier Leagues 1 Premiership
National Premier Leagues Victoria 3 Premiership
;Under-23s
;Academy
National Premier Leagues Victoria U-18 Premiership

Stadiums

The team play their home matches at The Home of the Matildas in Melbourne's northern suburb of Bundoora. The stadium has a total capacity of 3,000, with a single grandstand of approximately 800 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, Northcote City's John Cain Memorial Park in Thornbury and Whittlesea Ranges' Epping Stadium in Epping. The team has also played competitive matches at Victory's senior team home venues, AAMI Park and Etihad Stadium.

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.


NameNationalityPositionMelbourne careerAppearancesGoals
Nick AnsellDefender2011–17, 2018–19, 2020–21
Thomas DengDefender2015–2020
Mate DugandzicForward2009–11
Diogo FerreiraMidfielder2010–13
Matthew FoschiniDefender2009–13
Petar FranjicDefender2010–13
Scott GallowayDefender2013–16
Jason GeriaDefender2012–18, 2021–20251894
James JeggoMidfielder2011–14
Mitchell LangerakGoalkeeper2007–10
Dylan MurnaneDefender2013–16
Andrew NabboutForward2012–15
Sebastian RyallDefender2007–09
Connor PainForward2013–16
Stefan NigroMidfielder2015–18, 2021–202469
Lleyton BrooksMidfielder2020–2023313
Nishan VelupillayForward2021–10615
Kasey BosDefender2023–284

  • Bold denotes players still playing in Melbourne Victory
  • Appearances only consist of competitive domestic league appearances