Football NSW has worked through their 2024 Player Development Review and used it as a guide to improve its women’s and girls’ competitions and development programs for the coming seasons.
From 23 members and stakeholders’ meetings and 1,490 survey responses they have outlined six major adaptations for the following seasons in the 2025-26 competition and technical changes:
- Maintain the current numbers within Girls’ / Women’s Competitions, two tiers of 14 Clubs.
- Expand the Girls’ Youth League Two to include Under 18s, aligning the leagues
- Women’s Reserve Grade & U20s to become Under 23s (plus 4 overage players per match card team sheet)
- Decoupling of Girls’ Youth League & Women’s Senior Competitions
- Implementation of Club Standards across Girls’ Youth Leagues (two-year licence period)
- Dissolution of the Football NSW Institute program & introduction of the ‘Future Sapphires’ programs.
On top of this, the Football NSW Institute program, open since 2013, will close operations at the end of the 2024 season.
An interesting take from Football NSW given the amount of talent that has been produced by the program including prominent Matildas.
Though Football NSW does point out that with the rise in player numbers in grassroots football and female engagement across NSW and the massive investment from clubs through all levels in girls’ development.
The institute now could be observed as obsolete due to the size of the women’s game in NSW.
The closure of the Institute will free the association to concentrate on ensuring Club accountability, competition regulation and capability building across all participant groups (e.g. coaches, referees, technical directors).
The development and playing opportunities for girls and women are now placed predominantly in the player pathway programs of 4 A league clubs (Central Coast Mariners, Macarthur FC, Newcastle Jets FC and West Sydney Wanderers FC).
The idea is that the implementation of Club Standards and Benchmarking Framework, alongside Football NSW mechanisms of support, will streamline the delivery of extensive girls’ and women’s high-performance programs in NSW.
The Football NSW-led talented player pathway, underpinned by Club programs, the Talent Support Program (TSP) and the Talent Development Scheme (TDS) matches in conjunction with Football Australia.
These clubs are set to participate in the 2025/2026 Football NSW Girls’ Youth Leagues and Senior Women’s Competitions (NPL Women’s and League One Women’s).
Football NSW’s joint activities with these clubs will give players more opportunities at higher levels for girls and women’s players than Football NSW has done before.
With this Football NSW has also announced the ‘Future Sapphires’ program in 2025. A 40-week program for players across the Under 15, Under 16 & Under 18 age grades.
Some major goals of this new program include:
- 75% retention rate
- 45% of national representatives from NSW
- 25% increase in Female coaches and managers
This development shows a massive change in the NSW Football system for girls’ development and women’s competitive football.
This bold strategy is more than possible to achieve growth in NSW’s women’s football if the strategies are met and the support continues.
Exciting times lie ahead for female football in NSW.
