The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria, commonly known as NPL Victoria, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer lea ...

, and forms the third tier of the overall Australian league system. Originally founded as NPL 1 in 2014, it has undergone several changes in competition structure since its inception. Comprising 14 teams in its first season, the league then featured 20 teams divided into two geographic East and West conferences from 2015–19. With the creation of NPL Victoria 3 in 2020, a state-wide second division was re-founded, comprising 12 clubs. The competition is administered by

Football Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australian ...

, the governing body of the sport in the state.

Format

In 2014, the competition was a 14 team league. For the 2015–2019 seasons, the league was divided into East and West conferences of 10 teams each. Each team played home and away against teams in their conference and single games against each team in the opposite conference. The winner of each conference was promoted to the NPL Victoria, while second place in each conference entered into a promotion/relegation series. In 2020, the competition reverted to a 12 team league. For 2023 seasons, the competition returns to a 14 team league.

Current clubs (2023)

The following clubs will take part in the 2023 NPL Victoria 2 season:

History

Avondale FC Avondale FC is an Australian semi-professional association football club, with the men's and women's teams based in Parkville and the junior sides based in Avondale Heights, suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria. The club competes in the National P ...

were the inaugural champions of the National Premier Leagues Victoria 1 division in 2014, while

North Geelong North Geelong is a suburb of Geelong in the Australian state of Victoria. The suburb was bypassed by traffic from Melbourne coming from the Princes Freeway by the creation of the Geelong Ring Road, which was complete in 2009. At the , North Geelo ...

finished the season as runners up with both sides earning promotion to the

. On 6 November 2014,

Football Federation Victoria Football Victoria is the state governing body for soccer in Victoria, Australia. It is affiliated with Football Australia, the sport's national governing body. History Football Victoria began operation in 1884 under the name Anglo Australia ...

announced

Melbourne City FC NPL Melbourne City Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne City Football Club based in Melbourne, Victoria. The youth team plays in the NPL Victoria 3, the third tier of Victorian football in Australia. The club also competes in the ...

and

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 Australia's soccer pyramid in Australia. The club also competes in ...

would join the league in 2015.

Eastern Lions SC Eastern Lions Soccer Club is an Australian football club based in Burwood, Victoria, currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2. Its home ground is the Gardiners Reserve. Club history Eastern Lions Soccer Club was founded in 1 ...

, Murray United FC,

Nunawading City FC Nunawading City Football Club is an Australian semi-professional association football club based in Forest Hill, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. Founded in 1971, the club currently competes in the NPL Victoria 3. History Recent History ...

and

Moreland City FC Moreland City Football Club is an Australian soccer club based in Coburg, Victoria, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. History It was founded in 1990, when Moreland Park Rangers, formerly Morela ...

all also joined the expanded competition for the 2015 season.

FC Bulleen Lions FC Bulleen Lions is an Australian semi-professional football club based in the Melbourne suburb Bulleen. Founded in 1974 by Melbourne's Italian community, the club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, the second highe ...

and

Richmond SC Richmond Soccer Club is an Australian soccer club from Richmond, Victoria, an inner eastern suburb of Melbourne, Australia. Richmond compete in the Victorian State League Division 1 South-East competition, the third tier of football in Victor ...

were the two clubs to achieve automatic promotion in the revamped league in 2015 by winning their respective conferences. Melbourne Victory joined them by beating NPL2 West runner up

Moreland Zebras FC Brunswick Juventus FC is an Australian soccer club based in the Melbourne municipality of Merri-bek. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 and is based at CB Smith Reserve in the suburb of Fawkner. The earlies ...

in the NPL2 preliminary promotion playoff, and then North Geelong in the promotion playoff, with North Geelong joining automatically relegated sides

Werribee City FC Werribee City Football Club is an Australia semi-professional soccer club based in Werribee, Melbourne, currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 competition. The club plays its home games at Galvin Park Reserve (Benlor Grou ...

and

Dandenong Thunder SC Dandenong Thunder SC is a soccer club from Dandenong, a suburb in the South-East region of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. They are an Albanian Australian-backed club. Thunder compete in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. In 2012, Danden ...

in NPL2 for 2016. In 2016, St Albans Saints SC and

Kingston City FC Kingston City Football Club is an Australian, professional soccer club from Clayton South, Victoria (within the local government area of Kingston), whose home ground is The Grange Reserve. Kingston club is competing in 2020 in the National P ...

won automatic promotion by winning their respective West and East conferences, while North Geelong immediately bounced back into the top-flight, beating Dandenong Thunder in the NPL2 playoff and Richmond in the NPL promotion-relegation playoff. Richmond, Melbourne Victory and

Northcote City FC Northcote City Football Club (Iraklis) is a soccer club based on the border of Thornbury and Northcote, Victoria (Australia). Formed in 1960 by local Greek Australians, the club currently competes in the NPL Victoria 2. In 2011, Northcote w ...

were the relegated sides from NPL, joining the NPL2 for 2017.

Past winners

References

External links

Football Victoria website

Notes

{{AUS fb state Vic Soccer leagues in Victoria (Australia) Recurring sporting events established in 2014 2014 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 2014 Professional sports leagues in Australia Third level football leagues in Asia