Melbourne Victory FC Youth (women)

Melbourne Victory Youth
Full nameMelbourne Victory Football Club Youth
NicknameVictory
Short nameMVC
Founded2025
GroundThe Home of the Matildas
Capacity3,000
ChairmanJohn Dovaston
ManagerSanti Escudero
League NPLW Victoria
2026TBD
Websitehttp://www.melbournevictory.com.au
Active departments of Melbourne Victory FC
Football
(Men's)		 Football
(Men's Youth)		 Football
(Women's)		 Football
(Women's Youth)		 Football
(Women's AWT)

Melbourne Victory Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne Victory (Women) based in Melbourne, Victoria. The team plays in the National Premier Leagues Women's (NPLW), the second level of the Australian soccer league system.

History

Beginnings (2025-Present)

For more than a decade Melbourne Victory lobbied Football Victoria to have a women's youth team compete in the local NPLW Victoria. On 21 August 2025, Football Victoria confirmed that it intends to issue Melbourne Victory a NPLW Senior (U23) and U20 licence from season 2026. This was after both Melbourne Victory and club rivals Melbourne City worked together to lobby Football Victoria.[1] Victory wanted to achieve this to enable Melbourne Victory to develop an even stronger program to support both youth development and their A-League Women’s elite program.[2] After it was announced, Melbourne Victory Managing Director Caroline Carnegie described the move as “an incredible step forward for Melbourne Victory and our Women’s Academy.” and “Obtaining an NPLW and U20 license is an important part of achieving our goals for our wider Academy and pathway programs as we continue to work hard to lead, unite, connect and inspire through football,” Carnegie added.[1] Director of Football John Didulica framed the move as the missing piece in a truly professional pathway. “Elite Victorian players will now… have access to a cohesive 52-week program where their development will be prioritised in a fully professional environment. This can only help Victoria create more national team representatives.”.[3] Victory would set up a team for the upcoming 2026 NPLW Victoria season. Santi Escudero would be appointed as the inaugural head Coach for the team on 17 November 2025. He was selected for his experiences with European academy networks and his feat of winning the 2025 U16s Emerging Matildas Championship.[4]

Stadiums

The team play their home matches at The Home of the Matildas in Melbourne's northern suburb of Bundoora. The stadium has a total capacity of 3,000, with a single grandstand of approximately 800 seats. The Women's senior team of Melbourne Victory also plays home matches and trains at the venue.

Season by season history

Season League Tier Tms. P W D L GF GA GD Pts Pos Pro/Rel NPLW Finals ref
2026 NPLW Victoria 1 12 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 TBD n/a TBD

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Comito, Matthew (2025-08-21). "A-Leagues rivals unite behind revolutionary NPL change: 'An incredible step forward'". A-Leagues. Archived from the original on 26 August 2025. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  2. ^ kyogasingham (2025-08-21). "Melbourne Victory to enter NPLW competition". Melbourne Victory. Archived from the original on 26 August 2025. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  3. ^ Lewis, Georgie (2025-08-22). "Melbourne City & Victory join NPLW in 2026 as Football Victoria reshapes pathway". impetusfootball.org. Archived from the original on 26 August 2025. Retrieved 2025-08-26.
  4. ^ tsmith (2025-11-17). "Escudero named Victory's NPLW Head Coach". Melbourne Victory. Retrieved 2025-11-17.
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