The National Premier Leagues Capital Football 1 (also known as NPL ACT 1 or simply NPL1) is a

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

competition contested by clubs affiliated to

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for association football, soccer in the Australian Capital Territory, Australia, Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affili ...

. The league is the highest level (level 1) competition in the

Australian Capital Territory The Australian Capital Territory (commonly abbreviated as ACT), known as the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) until 1938, is a landlocked federal territory of Australia containing the national capital Canberra and some surrounding townships. ...

(ACT) region. It is a subdivision of the

National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues (NPL) is a national association football competition in Australia which acts as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League. The NPL consists of the highest level state league in each state-based ...

and sits in Level 2 in the overall Australian league system.

History

After the 2006 season, the tournament was reorganised based on criteria mandating a development pathway within clubs, where each club is required to field a squad in the reserves and Under-18 divisions. Nine teams contested in the Premier League in 2007, cutting Gungahlin Juventus, White Eagles and reigning premier Cooma Tigers from the top tier. The same nine teams remained in the Premier League for 2008 and 2009. The pathway system was expanded to include a Premier U16 competition, with all nine clubs required to field a team from their club or an affiliated club. Capital Football initially revoked the licence of Queanbeyan City for the 2009 season, citing a non-compliance with the developmental and administrative standards expected for the league. However, Queanbeyan were reinstated on appeal and following the presentation of further evidence demonstrating these standards could be met. At the close of the 2009 season, the licences of all participating clubs were reviewed and expressions of interest sought for new additional entrants to the competition for 2010–2012. In November 2014

Woden Weston FC West Canberra Wanderers Football Club, previously known as Woden-Weston FC is a semi-professional football club based in Canberra, Australia. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capital Football. West Canberra Wanderers ...

was incorporated with the intention to merge the elite levels of Woden Valley FC and Weston Molonglo FC into one club, to compete in the National Premier Leagues in 2015 and beyond. The new merged club was officially launched on 20 February 2015, with colours for their new strip sourced from both clubs (black from Weston Creek and red from Woden Valley). In 2016 the league was expanded to 10 teams with the addition of the Canberra United Academy (CUA) team. The decision by Capital Football to include the CUA in the top division of ACT soccer was met with opposition by other clubs in the league, citing concern with the prospect of losing their best young players to the Academy. Along with the addition of the CUA, other clubs were concerned with lack of action taken on making the Presidents of the NPL clubs voting members of the Capital Football board. A possible rebel league was mooted, and it was believed there had already been contact made with the Referees' Association and potential sponsorship lined up by the NPL clubs. 2016 also saw the establishment of the Capital Football Charity Shield to be played between the Federation Cup winners and NPL league champions before the start of the regular NPL season, as a charity fund-raiser. The inaugural Capital Football Charity Shield match was contested on 18 March 2016 between

Canberra FC Canberra Croatia Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club based in the suburb of Deakin in the south of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. Founded in 1958 the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Capi ...

( 2015 League premiers) and Gungahlin United ( 2015 Federation Cup winners) at

Gungahlin Enclosed Oval Gungahlin Enclosed Oval is a multi-use stadium located in the north Canberra region of Gungahlin, Australian Capital Territory. It is the home ground for Gungahlin United, Gungahlin Jets, Gungahlin Bulls and Gungahlin Eagles. The venue has a ...

. 7 November 2016,

announced the introduction of

Riverina Rhinos Riverina Rhinos is an Australian association football club based in the city of Griffith, New South Wales. The club was founded in 2014 and as of 2017 competes in the ACT based NPL Capital Football. History Foundation and early years Riverina ...

for the men's and boy's National Premier Leagues Capital Football for

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a ser ...

. Riverina has replaced the controversial Canberra United Academy, who have been amalgamated with the

FFA Centre of Excellence The FFA Centre of Excellence (formerly the Australian Institute of Sport Football Program) was a football talent identification and player development program run by Football Federation Australia (FFA) and was based at the Australian Institute o ...

, maintaining a ten team league. 18 March 2017, Canberra Olympic won the first piece of ACT soccer silverware for the 2017 season with an emphatic 5–2 victory over Tigers FC at Gungahlin Enclosed oval to claim the second edition of the ACT Charity Shield. The match raised $1500 for charity ''CanTeen Australia'' with both clubs and Capital Football each contributing $500. Joshua Gulevski and Stephen Domenici both scored braces for Olympic while a long range goal from Robbie Cattanach clinched the high scoring victory for last season's league and final double winners.

Competition format

NPL1 Teams play a league season, followed by a finals series for the top 4 clubs. Clubs are required to field teams in all age groups (1st Grade and Under-20s). A cup competition is contested by Premier League teams and other teams from the region, known as the Westfield FFA Cup Qualifiers, for which the winner is awarded the

Federation Cup Federation Cup or Fed Cup is the former name of the premier world team competition in women's tennis. Federation Cup may also refer to: * Capital Football Federation Cup, an Australian territory-based association football tournament *Federation Cup ...

. The winners of the Federation Cup gain entry into the national

FFA Cup The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Australia ...

competition.

Promotion and relegation

In 2019, the NPL ACT 2 competition was formed. The bottom team from NPL 1 competition was relegated for the 2020 season.

Clubs

2024 season

The following clubs are competing in the 2024 season.

Former Premier League or NPL clubs

Honours

NPL seasons (2013–present)

A snapshot of each NPL Capital Football 1 season since the formation of the NPL in 2013.

NPL/Pre-NPL (1952–2012) all-time record

National Premier Leagues Capital Football honours since introduction in 2013. A snapshot of each ACT top division season between 1952 and 2012 before the NPL started in 2013.

Pre-NPL all-time record

Pre-NPL era Division 1 honours since 1952.

Notes

References

External links

Capital Football homeNPL Capital Football PageNPL Australia homeNPL Capital Football Archive website
{{AUS fb state ACT Soccer leagues in the Australian Capital Territory Soccer in the Australian Capital Territory Soccer in Canberra National Premier Leagues