Melbourne City Football Club Youth is the

youth system In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team in the future if t ...

of Melbourne City Football Club based in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Victoria. The youth team plays in the NPL Victoria 3, the third tier of Victorian football in Australia. The club also competes in the under-21s

A-League Youth A-League Youth, formerly known as the National Youth League and Y-League, is an Australian national soccer youth developmental and under-21s league, founded by Football Federation Australia and now run by the Australian Professional Leagues. ...

competition. The under-21s and under-19s teams play also play in the NPL Victoria 3 in their respective age level.

History

Early years (2011–2014)

The team was founded in 2011 as Melbourne Heart Youth, the season after their senior side Melbourne City (then known as Melbourne Heart FC), made their A-League debut. The inaugural manager was

John Aloisi John Aloisi () (born 5 February 1976) is an Australian former soccer player and current head coach of A-League club Western United. In a professional career that spanned 20 seasons, with league totals of 459 games and 127 goals, he was the firs ...

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 Melbourne Victory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Melbourne, Victoria. Competing in the country's premier men's competition, the A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL), Victor ...

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

. 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 Brisbane Roar Football Club Youth is the youth system of Brisbane Roar Football Club based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The team plays in the National Premier Leagues, the second level of the soccer pyramid in Australia. They play the ...

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, with the U-18 side notably being managed by former manager

John van 't Schip Johannes Nicolaas van 't Schip (; born 30 December 1963) is a Dutch Canadian and former Dutch international footballer, who played as a winger. He spent his club career with Ajax, where they won four Eredivisie titles, a UEFA Cup and a Europe ...

's brother Davey. In February 2018, the two new youth teams had joined 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 ...

for the under-20s and under-18s side.

Players

Youth current squad

''These players can also play with the senior squad and compete in the

and the NPL Victoria 3.''

Under-21s current squad

''These players can also play with the Youth squad and senior squad.''

Under-18s current squad

Honours

; Youth *

Premiership **Winners (2): 2016–17, 2017–18 **Runners-up (1): 2018–19 *

Championship **Winners (2): 2015,

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 s ...

**Runners-up (1):

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

; Under-21s *

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 The National Premier Leagues Victoria 2, commonly referred to as NPL Victoria 2, is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is the second-highest in the Victorian league system, behind the National Premier Leagues Vic ...

U-21 ** Winners (4): 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 ** Runners-up (1): 2018 ; Under-19s *

U-19 ** Runners-up (2): 2018, 2019

Stadium

The team hosts its home matches at

CB Smith Reserve CB Smith Reserve is a football facility based in Fawkner, Victoria, a suburb 12 km north of the centre of Melbourne. The venue is home to the Pascoe Vale Soccer Club and Brunswick Juventus who compete in the National Premier Leagues Vic ...

. In previous years, home games have also been played at

Epping Stadium Epping Stadium is an Australian soccer ground on Harvest Home Rd in Epping, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria. The stadium has a capacity of 10,000, with approximately 1000 seats in its sole grandstand. The venue was host to several National Socc ...

John Cain Memorial Reserve 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 ...

, John Ilhan Memorial Reserve and

La Trobe University La Trobe University is a public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Its main campus is located in the suburb of Bundoora. The university was established in 1964, becoming the third university in the state of Victoria a ...

Seasons

References

External links

Official website
{{AUS fb state Vic Melbourne City FC Soccer clubs in Melbourne Association football clubs established in 2008 2008 establishments in Australia A-League National Youth League