Melbourne Victory’s three-year community strategy to improve youth football landscape

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Melbourne Victory Community Strategy
Image credit: Melbourne Victory

Melbourne Victory have released an extensive three-year community strategy with the overall goal to improve the current youth football landscape for Victorians in a multitude of areas.

Caroline Carnegie, managing director of Melbourne Victory, stated that club is with an emphasis on the importance of making football more accessible to the youth.

The executive summary explains: “Melbourne Victory has a proud history of supporting the Victorian community. We are the club for all Victorians, striving to lead, unite, connect and inspire generations through football. Although football is central to everything we do, we are more than football.”

The Strategic Plan has three pillars that centre the whole project and its philosophy:

Purpose: Melbourne Victory has an obligation to ensure football is accessible and empowering to all. We are responsible for stewarding a community that leverages football to positively impact lives.

Vision: Victory is committed to lead, united, connect and inspire generations through football. The Club will ensure every young Victorian has an opportunity to reach their potential whilst enjoying a happy and healthy life.

Mission: Creating a passionate and connected community where all people are welcome and all people belong, Melbourne Victory will actively engage disadvantaged/vulnerable Victorian youth in the development and delivery of meaningful football programs that lead to positive social impact. We will actively reduce the barriers to accessing quality football experiences, improving the overall health, wellbeing and social connectedness of young Victorians

Melbourne Victory also set concrete targets they wanted to be achieved by the end of the strategic plan in 2025. These include:

  • Increase program delivery by 50% (From 70 to 105 total)
  • Increase program participants by 50% (From 15,000 to 22,500)
  • Increase grassroots football club engagement by 10%
  • Increase school program delivery by 100%
  • Increase MVFC football pathway program delivery by 33%
  • Increase female participation by 166%
  • Increase CALD program delivery by 50%

The club also is focusing on four strategic priorities in order to efficiently use their resources and ultimately have the greatest impact they can on the progression of the young kids into adulthood. These are:

Participation

Increasing opportunities for people unfamiliar with the game of football to participate as a coach, player, administrator, volunteer or fan in the club’s attempt to provide an enjoyable experience for Victorian youth.

Education

Melbourne Victory support the development of skills for wider learning, work and life. They will leverage the beautiful game to encourage vulnerable youth to better engage with their education.

Gender Equity

Victory will support representatives of LGBTI+ communities in breaking down cultural barriers and making football a safe environment for all. They will also be providing accessible, welcoming and enjoyable opportunities for girls to play, coach and watch football.

Cultural Diversity

Victory want to celebrate and welcome the many cultures seen in Victoria using football, the global sport. Providing a safe space is important in growing the multiculturalism in the game amongst the youth.

The club in the community strategy suggest that whilst there is a clear rationale for each of the four priorities, they will combine them all in their programs.

Victory are also going to monitor the overall results of their football programs by following seven critical factors. These will be in addition to the targets set already for the three-year span of this project.

  • MVFC club culture and operations embedded in its community programming sector
  • Financial sustainability to help reduce costs for participants to play locally
  • Program design and relationship building with the Victorian community to deliver programs to clubs and areas that need it the most
  • Networking and keeping positive relations with key stakeholders like the federal and state governments, schools and grassroots clubs
  • Program delivery being at an elite standard
  • Workforce capacity amongst the community programs
  • Evaluation through quantitative and qualitative feedback to determine success.

It’s great to see an A-League club like Melbourne Victory take initiative in providing support and resources for the youth and future of football in this state and the country, an area that does need more focus if Australia want to sustain a healthy relationship with the sport for generations.

To see the Community Strategy in full, click here.

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Eastern Suburbs Football Association Announces First All-Female Referee Course and Expanded Women’s Competition

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Image Credit: Football NSW

The Eastern Suburbs Football Association has opened its 2026 season with three structural investments that reflect the growing ambition of community football associations to address participation, representation and development gaps simultaneously, beginning with the delivery of its first all-female Football Match Official Course.

The course, held at Matraville Sports High School and led by female liaison committee member Michelle Hilton and 2025 Referee of the Year Ariella Richards, brought 25 new female referees into the association ahead of Round 1. The initiative targets one of the most persistent imbalances in community sport, with women remaining significantly underrepresented in officiating roles at every level of the game, by creating a dedicated entry point separate from the mixed course environment that many women find unwelcoming.

The Women’s Premier League has also expanded, now featuring eleven teams and introducing a WPL1 and WPL2 structure following the first ten rounds of the season. The tiered format creates more competition opportunities for clubs across the region while providing a clearer development pathway for teams at different stages of growth. Returning clubs Randwick City, Glebe Wanderers, Easts FC and Sydney University join established sides in what the association describes as one of its most competitive women’s seasons. ESFA clubs have continued to perform strongly in state-wide competitions including the Football NSW Sapphire Cup, State Cup and Champion of Champions.

Building the next generation

The season opened with an inaugural Development League Gala Day for Under-9 to Under-12 boys and girls, bringing eight clubs together in a structured development environment ahead of Round 1. Sydney FC A-League Women’s players attended the event and engaged directly with young participants, a deliberate effort to connect grassroots players with visible examples of where the pathway leads.

“We are committed to creating more opportunities for clubs, players, coaches and referees to thrive, with a strong focus on participation opportunities to suit participants of all abilities and aspirations,” said ESFA CEO John Boulous.

The three initiatives, a new referee entry point for women, an expanded women’s competition structure, and a development-focused junior gala day with elite role models present, together reflect an association responding to the participation pressures the AFC Women’s Asian Cup has brought into sharp relief across Australian football.

More Than One in Five Football Australia Staff to Lose Jobs Amid Growing Financial Losses

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Image Credit: ESPN

Australian football finds itself in a curious position.

From the outside, the game appears to be riding a wave of momentum. Attendances, visibility and public interest have all experienced significant uplift in recent years, while major international tournaments and growing discussion around football’s future continue to place the sport firmly within the national conversation.

Yet behind that momentum, Football Australia is now confronting a far more challenging internal reality.

 

A compounding deficit

Chief Executive Martin Kugeler has reportedly indicated the governing body’s projected financial losses for 2025 are expected to exceed the organisation’s reported $8.5 million deficit from the previous year. Accompanying the financial outlook are substantial organisational changes, with reporting from Tracey Holmes indicating more than one in five Football Australia employees are expected to lose their positions through restructuring measures.

The figures represent more than a difficult balance sheet. They point toward a significant period of recalibration inside the organisation responsible for overseeing the sport nationally.

 

Losing the wisdom of existing staff members

For governing bodies, restructures are often framed as strategic necessities for future sustainability. However, workforce changes on this scale also raise broader questions around the challenges of such a transition.

People are often the carriers of knowledge, relationships and long-term strategic understanding. When organisations undergo significant structural change, the effects can extend beyond immediate financial outcomes.

 

Contradicting timing

The timing is what makes the developments particularly notable.

Football in Australia has spent recent years discussing expansion, growth and long-term opportunity. The conversation surrounding the game has increasingly centred on future potential. Often headlining stronger pathways, larger audiences, infrastructure development and greater visibility.

Against that backdrop, news of deep financial losses and substantial staffing reductions creates a different conversation: one focused not on where the game wants to go, but on what may be required to sustain that journey. Therefore, this announcement points toward stagnancy, rather than growth.

Further detail surrounding Football Australia’s strategy and long-term direction will likely emerge over coming months. For now, the developments serve as a reminder that growth stories are rarely straightforward.

Often, the periods that appear strongest from the outside can also be the moments organisations face their most significant internal tests.

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