National Premier Leagues Western Australia


The National Premier Leagues Western Australia is a regional Australian semi-professional soccer league comprising teams from Western Australia. As a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues, the league is the highest level of the Western Australian league system. The competition is administered by Football West, the governing body of the sport in the state. In 2014, the league – formerly known as the Football West State League Premier Division – was rebranded into what exists today.

History

NPL WA traces its origin to the formation of a league by the Perth British Football Association in 1896. By the 1950s, the association was known as the Western Australian Soccer Football Association. In, 1960 eight teams formed their own association, the Soccer Federation of Western Australia. The WASFA and SFWA ran rival leagues between 1960 and 1962 before the SFWA prevailed. Ahead of the 1991 season, 11 SFWA clubs broke away, forming the Soccer Administration of Western Australia. The SAWA ran the rebel Professional Soccer League in parallel with the SFWA first division until merging before the 1993 season to form the Professional Soccer Federation of Western Australia.
Several of the clubs currently playing in the league were formed as the soccer arm of cultural associations of recently migrated Australians, with certain teams having associations with particularly nationalities e.g. Swan Italian Club, Bayswater Inter and Perth Italia with Italian Australians, Morley Windmills with Dutch Australians, Floreat Athena with Greek Australians, Benfica United with Portuguese Australians, Inglewood Kiev with Ukrainian Australians, North Perth Croatia with Croatian Australians, Spearwood Dalmatinac with Yugoslav Australians, Carramar Shamrock Rovers and East Perth FC with Irish Australians, Dianella White Eagles with Serbian Australians, Stirling Macedonia with Macedonian Australians and Olympic Kingsway with Greeks Macedonians Australians. In 1994 clubs were forced by the sport's governing body to remove all references to ethnicities from their names, which resulted in several forced name changes. Some clubs reverted back to their former names after 2019, when the National Club Identity Policy was revoked. More recently, new clubs have begun to be based geographically, such as with Armadale SC and Cockburn City.
The West Australian National Training Centre included a team for the 2011–2013 seasons. They did not play for competition points, and were mostly used for development of the upcoming youth players.

Format

In 2013 Football Federation of Australia introduced the new second tier competition for football in Australia, the National Premier Leagues. In 2014 Football West then reorganised the former State Premier League into the National Premier Leagues Western Australia conference and the State League. The NPL WA competition fields a Senior first team, as well as youth teams from U12 to U20 age groups. The Perth Glory FC Youth team competes in the Senior category and has additional age restrictions.
Promotion and relegation between the NPL and the State League Division 1 became possible for the first time at the end of the 2015 season, provided the winner of the State Division 1 met Football West's promotion requirements. Two teams were promoted after the 2016 season to expand the league into a 14 team competition. After a further competition review the 2019 NPLWA season returned to a twelve-team competition. In 2020, promotion and relegation was suspended for the season, due to the impacts on the competition from the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

Clubs

The following 12 clubs will compete in the 2026 NPL WA season.
ClubLocationGroundCapacity
Armadale SCArmadaleAlfred Skeet Oval500
BalcattaBalcattaGrindleford Reserve1,000
Bayswater CityBayswaterFrank Drago Reserve5,000
Dianella White EaglesDianellaDianella Reserve1,500
Fremantle CityFremantleHilton Park1,000
Olympic KingswayMadeleyKingsway Sporting Complex2,500
Perth Glory YouthQueens ParkSam Kerr Football Centre2,000
Perth RedStarJoondalupRedStar Arena2,500
Perth SCWest PerthDorrien Gardens4,000
Sorrento FCDuncraigPercy Doyle Reserve5,000
Stirling MacedoniaBalcattaMacedonia Park5,000
Western KnightsMosman ParkNash Field1,000

Honours

Honours pre-NPL (1896–2013)

YearPremiers
1896Fremantle Wanderers
1897Fremantle Wanderers
1898Civil Service
1899Fremantle Wanderers
1900Fremantle Wanderers
1901Fremantle Wanderers
1902Perth
1903Fremantle
1904Fremantle Corinthians
1905Perth
1906Rangers
1907Rangers
1908City United
1909Training College
1910Claremont
1911Rangers
1912Claremont
1913Perth City United
1914Thistle
1915Thistle
1916jointly Claremont and Thistle
1917–1918No competition due to World War 1
1919Claremont
1920Perth City United
1921Thistle
1922Perth City United
1923Claremont
1924Perth City
1925Thistle
1926Fremantle Caledonian
1927Fremantle Caledonian
1928Victoria Park
1929Victoria Park
1930Northern Casuals
1931Victoria Park
1932Northern Casuals
1933Caledonian
1934Victoria Park
1935Victoria Park
1936Victoria Park
1937Victoria Park
1938Victoria Park
1939Victoria Park
1940East Claremont
1941Caledonian
1942–1944No competition due to World War 2
1945Jolly Rogers
1946Caledonian
1947Caledonian
1948North Perth
1949Caledonian
1950Perth City
1951South Perth
1952North Perth
1953Azzurri
1954Perth City
1955North Perth
1956North Perth
1957Swan Athletic
1958East Fremantle Tricolore
1959Azzurri
1960WASF : Azzurri
WASFA : North Perth-Osborne

YearPremiersChampions
1961WASF : Windmills
WASFA : Swan Valley		East Fremantle Tricolore
1962WASF : Azzurri
WASFA : Perth City-Inglewood		Morley Windmills
1963East Fremantle TricoloreAzzurri
1964East Fremantle TricoloreNorth Perth-Osborne
1965East Fremantle TricoloreSwan Athletic
1966CracoviaAzzurri
1967AzzurriAzzurri
1968AzzurriKiev
1969AzzurriEast Fremantle Tricolore
1970East Fremantle TricoloreEast Fremantle Tricolore
1971AzzurriBayswater United
1972East Fremantle TricoloreAzzurri
1973Windmills–
1974AscotAzzurri
1975AzzurriFloreat Athena
1976AzzurriAzzurri
1977Athena–
1978Olympic KingswayOlympic Kingsway
1979Spearwood DalmatinacOlympic Kingsway
1980Olympic KingswayOlympic Kingsway
1981Perth AzzurriForrestfield United
1982Spearwood DalmatinacSpearwood Dalmatinac
1983West Perth MacedoniaWest Perth Macedonia
1984West Perth MacedoniaFloreat Athena
1985West Perth Macedonia–
1986Spearwood DalmatinacStirling Macedonia
1987Stirling Macedonia–
1988Floreat AthenaFloreat Athena
1989Floreat AthenaPerth Italia
1990Floreat AthenaPerth Italia
1991Floreat AthenaPerth Italia
1992Perth ItaliaStirling Macedonia
1993Perth ItaliaPerth Italia
1994Stirling MacedoniaStirling Macedonia
1995Stirling MacedoniaStirling Macedonia
1996Inglewood FalconsStirling Macedonia
1997Floreat Athena–
1998Western KnightsWestern Knights
1999ECU JoondalupSorrento
2000Fremantle CityPerth SC
2001SorrentoPerth SC
2002Perth SCPerth SC
2003Perth SCPerth SC
2004Western KnightsWestern Knights
2005Perth SC–
2006Sorrento–
2007Floreat Athena–
2008SorrentoPerth SC
2009Western KnightsPerth SC
2010Western KnightsPerth SC
2011BalcattaPerth SC
2012Bayswater CitySorrento
2013Stirling LionsBayswater City

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