Bentleigh Greens Soccer Club has announced a $2.4 million investment to build a new pitch at Kingston Heath Soccer Complex, dedicated to growing women’s football.
The project is jointly funded by the Australian Government’s Play Your Way grant ($1.5M), the City of Kingston, and the club itself.
The announcement was supported by Mark Dreyfus MP, Councillor Tony Athanasopoulos, and Mayor Georgina Oxley, marking a major step forward for female football development in the region.
Abraam Gregoriou, President of Bentleigh Greens spoke with Soccerscene to discuss the big announcement for the club.
“The Play your Way grant program is all about funding for women’s sport and we always thought it was a no brainer for the club to get involved. We’ve always wanted to expand and we thought why not expand the women’s game at the same time.” Gregoriou said to Soccerscene.
Bentleigh Greens have always been a club with a big juniors and specifically junior girls presence in the South-East, and this investment in a new pitch is at the forefront of their major plans to continue that growth.
“We’ve had some pretty great milestones in the women’s game. A couple of seasons ago we merged with Bayside United FC which has been fantastic and has given our girls an elite pathway where they can progress,” he said.
“We’re up to 700 juniors players this season which is a record for us and of course we want to keep that growing.
“We’ve been developing our community girls programs at all levels from MiniRoos up to the older age groups. We’re getting to a point where space is limited and we don’t want to turn girls away so this pitch allows us to keep growing and focus on encouraging girls to take up the sport.”
The focus for the club has always been footballers first and Gregoriou believes the money from council and government is best spent on its players.
“You see other clubs investing in grandstands and stuff like that but for us that’s not what it’s about. It’s about growing the game and the only way to do that is by encouraging kids to play,”
“If you don’t have a pitch to play on, then what’s the point so I’d rather spend the $2.4m on a ground for the kids then spending it on a grandstand that we fill once or twice a year.”
Gregoriou also thanked the sponsors who invested in helping make this upgrade become a reality.
“I’d like to give a huge thank to our amazing sponsors: Zaparas Lawyers, Metricon, Metro Projects, Bamtec and Guzman y Gomez,”
“They support the women’s game and have put their hands in their pockets to help the growing program.”
Construction is scheduled to begin in 2026, with the pitch expected to be ready for the 2027 season.
The ambitious project, backed by government, council and sponsors, will expand opportunities for girls and women across Melbourne’s south-east.
Bentleigh Greens cement their commitment to female player development and it ensures the club can keep growing without turning eager young footballers away.
