39-612: The John Kosmina Medal is a National Premier Leagues award given to the player of the match in the NPL Grand Final each year. Introduced in the first season of the NPL in 2013, the medal is named after John Kosmina , who played for the Australia national soccer team in 1976–1988. This association football article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . National Premier Leagues The National Premier Leagues ( NPL )
78-538: A Grand Final, where the winner was crowned National Premier Leagues Champions. From 2014 to 2019, the NPL Champion also qualified for the following years' FFA Cup round of 32. Depending on the State Federation in charge, teams may be relegated from the NPL to a third-tier league in the same state (and vice versa), but there is currently no mechanism for a team to be promoted to the first tier of Australian soccer,
117-523: A National Second Tier), to be played between October and December 2025. In October 2010, Football Federation Australia (FFA) commenced a National Competition Review, its main objective being to review the current structure of soccer competitions in Australia, and to monitor and improve elite player development. By May 2012 the results of the National Competition Review were released. In it,
156-401: A New Zealand-based team, and must play all of their matches in Australia, away from home. The inaugural 2014 FFA Cup Final was held as a mid-week fixture on Tuesday 16 December 2014, in order to minimise the impact on the scheduling of the 2014–15 A-League season, already disrupted by Australia hosting the 2015 AFC Asian Cup . For the following year, the 2015 FFA Cup Final was played on
195-496: A deferral was later announced in November 2013, after several clubs objected to the process for selecting teams. However, by December 2013, a resolution was reached whereby Victorian teams participated in the 2014 season. FFA announced their intentions of a promotion and relegation structure between the first tier A-League and second tier working title Australian Championship from late 2022 but move to 2025. The finals series for
234-483: A proposal to re-brand and revitalise state-based competitions in Australia. On 13 February 2013, the establishment of the National Premier Leagues was announced. As a direct outcome of the National Competition Review, the league would rebrand the premier league in each state under a single banner. Originally named Australian Premier League but due to a violation of naming rights held by Lawn Bowls Australia
273-582: A sustainable national knockout cup competition that encompassed clubs on all levels of Australian league system has been hard to realise. Prior to the FFA Cup, the first and only Australian national knockout tournament was the Australia Cup . It was founded in 1962 but was abolished in 1968 after just seven seasons of competition. In 1977 a knockout competition called the NSL Cup was founded, which ran in parallel with
312-464: A three-season deal with TEN Sports in 2014. In 2015 and 2016 Fox Sports streamed live all non-broadcast games via their online services. From 2017 onwards, 5 FFA Cup matches (from quarter finals) were broadcast live by beIN Sports in Asia-Pacific nations, such as: Brunei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand. 7 FFA Cup matches were broadcast live by BT Sport in
351-457: A weekend date free of other 2015–16 A-League games, to "emphasise the importance of the Final". From 2016 to 2019, the Final was staged as a mid-week fixture. At the end of the final, the winning team is presented with a trophy , known as the "Australia Cup Trophy", which they will hold until the following year's final. The trophy is a large traditional style cup with an intentional resemblance to
390-489: Is a men's 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 federation within Australia. In total the NPL is contested by clubs from eight divisions; these are ACT , NSW , Northern NSW , Queensland , South Australia , Tasmania , Victoria and Western Australia . The NPL
429-540: Is overseen by Football Australia , in partnership with participating state-based member federations. Up to the 2019 season, one representative from each regional participated in the NPL Championship, a knock-out competition to determine a national champion. From the 2025 season, the NPL Premiers from each Member Federation will be invited to play in the new 16-team National Second Division (currently referred to as
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#1732855837011468-439: The A-League . The number of teams promoted and relegated from third-tier leagues per state has varied over the existence of the NPL. The table below details the number of teams relegated automatically from the NPL at the end of the season and the number of NPL teams which go into a relegation playoff against a lower league team (subject to those lower league teams meeting additional eligibility criteria to be able to be promoted to
507-657: The Mitre Delta Max for the 2021 FFA Cup. After using the Delta Max for the 2022 competition, the Ultimax Pro was chosen to replace it for 2023. On 25 November 2024, it was announced that beverage company Hahn would become the naming rights sponsor of the competition from 2025 onwards, in a three-year deal. Since its establishment, the Australia Cup has been won by 5 different teams, and 9 different teams have contested in
546-550: The "Westfield FFA Cup". Between 2014 and 2016 Umbro supplied match balls for all FFA Cup matches. The FFA Cup Match Ball, the Umbro Neo 150 Elite , was specially designed for the competition. Between 2017 and 2019 Mitre supplied the Mitre Delta Hyperseam as the official FFA Cup match ball after a public vote to select between three alternate ball designs. After the cancellation of the 2020 competition, Mitre introduced
585-482: The 2020 competition was cancelled on 3 July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia , and has not been held since. The NPL competitions in each state and territory are run by the member federation, with a national playoff tournament at the end of each season. Each member federation, or 'conference' contains various numbers of teams, and they play a full season with no inter-conference matches (an identical format to
624-473: The FFA Cup. On 24 February 2014, the FFA Cup was formally launched by David Gallop. The first member federation club to qualify for the FFA Cup was Tuggeranong United from the Australian Capital Territory . Tuggeranong United qualified for the 2014 FFA Cup as the winners of the 2013 ACT Federation Cup. The first games in the tournament proper occurred on 29 July 2014, with four games from
663-445: The NPL). Below are listed the National Premier Leagues clubs in each respective state member federation from the 2024 season . In total, there are 94 clubs that compete in the top tier of the National Premier Leagues each season. Most NPL divisions involve promotion and relegation to leagues below the NPL and so participating clubs change annually. The John Kosmina Medal is presented to
702-594: The Northern Territory have been represented since 2015. From 2015 to 2021, the National Premier Leagues Champion of the previous year qualified for the FFA Cup Round of 32. The first club to qualify via this method was North Eastern MetroStars from South Australia who won the 2014 National Premier Leagues Finals Series . Since 2022, as there is no longer an NPL Champion, an additional slot
741-496: The Round of 32 played concurrently. In 2014 former three time NSL Champions Adelaide City became the first semi-professional state-league club to defeat a professional A-League club, defeating Western Sydney Wanderers 1–0. In late 2020 the FFA announced that future winners of the cup would earn an Asian Champions League preliminary round spot. However, this did not occur, in part because
780-617: The UK and Republic of Ireland. From 2018, at least 1 FFA Cup match per round was scheduled to be broadcast live by ESPN+ in the United States and in other countries where the rights were not sold, most of the matches were streamed live by YouTube via My Football channel. In 2017 the ABC held the Radio broadcast rights for FFA Cup matches, including the Final. In 2021 Network 10 and Paramount+ obtained
819-432: The base of the cup and the other as a trim, on the very top of the cup lid. The Australia Cup Trophy was created by D3 Design, who also designed the A-League , W-League and NPL Champions silverware. In its inaugural season the FFA Cup joined with an official naming rights partner. In 2014, Westfield Group was announced as the sponsor for the first three seasons of the cup tournament, known for commercial purposes as
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#1732855837011858-502: The best player in the NPL final and is named in honour of former Australian international John Kosmina . FFA Cup The Australia Cup (currently known as the Hahn Australia Cup for sponsorship reasons) is the national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia . This annual competition is organised by Football Australia , known as Football Federation Australia until 2020. The Australia Cup comprises teams from
897-451: The competition was re-formatted and Australia lost some qualification slots for the 2023–24 AFC Champions League . Instead, Macarthur FC as the 2022 winner qualified for the 2023–24 AFC Cup . The 2020 competition was cancelled on 3 July 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia . This on-going pandemic caused further disruptions to both the preliminary rounds and the main competition in 2021. In 2022 Sydney United 58 became
936-408: The fact that it is the only way that A-League Men and lower-tier clubs can play formal competitive matches. Adelaide United are the most successful team with three titles. Macarthur FC are the defending champions after defeating Melbourne Victory in the 2024 final for their second Australia Cup title. Australia has a long history of regional and state-based knockout cup competitions. However,
975-637: The final. The award given to the player of the match in each year's FFA Cup Final. Named after the late former journalist and broadcaster, the Michael Cockerill Medal recognizes the tournament's standout performer from a Member Federation Club. In the tournament's first season, 10 matches were broadcast live on Fox Sports . Internationally, several FFA Cup matches were broadcast live in South Asian nations, such as: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, after
1014-431: The first National Premier Leagues club to reach the final of the Australia Cup, defeating A-League Men 's club Brisbane Roar in the semi-final. Up to and including the 2019 edition, the 32 teams that make up the Australia Cup competition proper have been the 10 A-League teams with the remaining 22 teams composed of various semi-professional and amateur qualifiers, referred to as "Member Federation Clubs", from each of
1053-635: The following years' AFC club competitions (the AFC Champions League for 2022, the AFC Cup for 2023–24, and the AFC Champions League Two from 2024–25 onwards), unless Wellington Phoenix or Auckland FC are the winner. Since the Australian soccer league system provides no promotion and relegation mechanism between the first and lower divisions, part of the competition's appeal stems from
1092-489: The former National Soccer League (NSL) . This competition involved Australian soccer clubs competing in the then top-flight NSL, plus a limited number of clubs from state-based competitions. The NSL Cup ceased after the 1996–97 tournament . An A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup competition ran between 2005 and 2008 but involved only the teams from the A-League Men and was not in a traditional knockout format. The FFA Cup
1131-413: The historical Australia Cup trophy which ran from 1962 to 1968 . The cup itself is made from silver-soldered brass, which is plated with 24 carat gold and sterling silver. It has two handles which each have the badge of Football Federation Australia inscribed on the inside corners. Also inscribed on the cup is the design of the cup and the words FFA Cup . The trophy features two soccer balls , one as
1170-467: The individual State Leagues that preceded the NPL). The winner of each division is determined by the club in first position of each conference table at the end of the regular season, rather than the winner of the various state-based finals series. Up to the 2019 season, the winners of each respective Federation league (the regular home and away season) competed in a finals playoff tournament. These were all single match knock out matches. Between 2013 and 2015
1209-414: The main competition, joining clubs from A-League Men. Initially, all A-League Men's teams entered at the Round of 32; following the latest expansion of the league , the top eight teams enter at the Round of 32, while play-offs are conducted between the four lowest-ranked teams for the final two qualification slots. Since 2021, the winner of the competition also qualifies for one of the play-off spots for
John Kosmina Medal - Misplaced Pages Continue
1248-472: The match ups were based on predetermined geographically adjacent Federations, with hosting rights for the quarter-finals alternating each year. From 2016 to 2019 the match ups were determined by an open draw. The hosts for the semi-finals and Grand Final were determined by a formula based on the time of winning of the previous NPL Finals matches (normal time, extra time or penalties), goals scored and allowed, and yellow/red cards. The finals series culminated in
1287-512: The original name was scrapped and replaced with National Premier Leagues. The inaugural season of the NPL began in March 2013. It included teams from five of the nine state-based federations: The other four of the nine state-based federations joined the NPL in 2014: Those federations who joined in the 2014 season, were expected to adopt a partial model at some time in the future. Although Victoria initially announced their teams would enter in 2014,
1326-497: The state federations, with the A-League clubs enter the competition at the Round of 32. Since 2021, the top eight placed A-League clubs for the season gain automatic qualification to the Round of 32. The remaining four teams are subject to a play-off series for the remaining two positions. The number of clubs representing each federation is determined by player registration numbers in each jurisdiction and reviewed annually. Teams from
1365-408: The top division, A-League Men (known as simply the A-League before the 2021–22 season), as well as those from lower tiers in the Australian soccer league system . Teams enter in progressive stages, with qualifying rounds culminating with the competition proper, starting with the Round of 32. Each of the regional, state or territory -based member federation is granted a team allocation for entry into
1404-581: The top eight placed A-League Men clubs for the previous season gain automatic qualification, with the remaining four teams subject to a play-off series for the remaining two positions. Since 2023 the playoffs have been held in Darwin as a promotional move. Since 2022, an open draw for each round is made from the Round of 32 to the Semi-Finals, with home ground preference given to Member Federation Clubs where they are drawn against A-League opposition. In 2021 there
1443-531: Was a restricted draw for the Round of 32 and Round of 16, split into different geographic zones to minimise travel requirements during the COVID-19 pandemic. In prior years, the draw was made to ensure that there would be some progression of Member Federation Clubs to later rounds, including one Member Federation club guaranteed to make the Semi Final. Wellington Phoenix have additional restrictions imposed as they are
1482-419: Was allocated to Victoria. The competition proper is a five round, 32-team knockout tournament . In the event of a match being drawn after the completion of 90 minutes, extra time is played, followed by a penalty shoot-out if required. In some preliminary rounds, games can go straight to penalties if tied at 90 minutes. Up until the 2019 edition, all A-League teams entered at the Round of 32. From 2021, only
1521-436: Was previously scheduled to commence in 2013, though after suffering numerous delays due to FFA 's 2012 television coverage deal and rising cost concerns the competition was put on hold. On 29 August 2013, it was announced that a national FFA Cup would commence in 2014, after what would be two years of organising the knock out competition. On 14 October 2013, FFA announced that it had appointed Sam Chadwick as General Manager of
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