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Melbourne City FC Youth

Melbourne City Youth
Full nameMelbourne City Football Club Youth
Nickname(s)City Youth
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
GroundCity Football Academy
Youth Head CoachAlessandro Diamanti
LeagueVictoria Premier League 1
A-League Youth
20245th of 14
Websitehttp://www.melbournecityfc.com.au

Melbourne City Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne City Football Club based in Cranbourne East, Melbourne. The youth team plays in the NPL Victoria 2, the second tier of Victorian football in Australia and the hiatus A-League Youth competition. The club also fields under-21s, under-18s, and three other academy teams within the NPL Victoria system.

History

Early years (2011–2014)

The team was founded in 2011 as Melbourne Heart Youth, the season after their senior side Melbourne City (then known as Melbourne Heart FC), made their A-League debut. The inaugural manager was John Aloisi before he accepted the role as head manager at the end of the 2011–12 season. From 2012 onwards, Joe Palatsides had been the manager. The youth team's first match was played in the 2011–12 against local rivals Melbourne Victory in a 2–0 win at John Cain Memorial Park.[1]

Entry into National Premier Leagues (2014–2018)

On 7 November 2014, it was confirmed that Melbourne City would compete in the NPL Victoria 1 competition from the 2015 season onwards. The team consists mainly of Melbourne City's youth team, which also competes in the A-League Youth.[2] On top of this, Melbourne City opted to send a U-20 team to enter the concurrently-run development-level U-20 NPL league competition.[3]

The team finished on top of the table of the 2014–15 National Youth League, tied with Brisbane Roar FC Youth on both points and goal difference but were awarded the title having scored a greater number of goals.[4]

After several seasons competing in the NPL, Melbourne City announced they were expanding their participation to also enter teams into the U-18 and U-15 competitions. In February 2018, youth teams joined the National Premier Leagues for the under-20s and under-18s sides,[5] with the U-18 side being managed by Davey van 't Schip (the brother of former manager John van 't Schip).

Players

Youth

These players can also play with the senior squad and compete in the A-League Youth and the VPL 1.

As of 15 August 2024[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
1 GK Australia AUS James Nieuwenhuizen
2 DF Australia AUS Harrison Shillington
3 DF Australia AUS Ryan Kalms
5 DF Australia AUS Harry Politidis
6 MF Australia AUS Xavier Stella
7 FW Australia AUS Luqman Hassani
8 MF Australia AUS Zane Schreiber
9 FW Australia AUS Arion Sulemani
10 MF Australia AUS Emin Durakovic
12 GK Australia AUS Patrick Beach
13 MF Australia AUS Ben Dunbar
No. Pos. Nation Player
14 MF Australia AUS Marcus Humbert
15 FW Australia AUS John Kellis
16 MF Australia AUS Giacomo Luna
17 DF Australia AUS James Rallis
19 FW Australia AUS Medin Memeti
20 FW Australia AUS Max Caputo
21 FW Australia AUS Benjamin Mazzeo
22 DF Australia AUS Peter Antoniou
23 DF Australia AUS Tobenna Obani
24 MF Australia AUS Alessandro Lopane

Under-21s

As of 15 August 2024[7]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
26 DF Australia AUS Lewis Marinucci
27 MF Australia AUS Theodore Limberis
28 DF Australia AUS Jayden Necovski
29 MF Australia AUS Emilio Datario
30 FW Australia AUS Ahmed Faraz Gulari
31 FW Australia AUS Roland Ballah
32 DF Australia AUS Mikael Evagorou-Alao
33 FW Australia AUS Mikey Ghossaini
34 MF Australia AUS Joseph Pepe Myles
35 FW Australia AUS Stefan Mandic
No. Pos. Nation Player
36 DF Australia AUS Sebastien Giannella
37 DF Australia AUS Ruben Da Silva
38 FW Australia AUS Luca Durso
39 MF Australia AUS Lawrence Wong
40 MF Australia AUS Kavian Rahmani
41 MF Australia AUS James Georgiou
42 MF Australia AUS Cade Segar
43 GK Australia AUS Joaquin Fernandez
44 GK Australia AUS Lachlan Charles

Current staff

Head Coaches:

Alessandro Diamanti Youth Head Coach
Lewis Potter U21 Head Coach
Frankie Barilla U18 Head Coach
Leroy Almenara U16 Head Coach
Matthew Conversano U15 Head Coach
Peter Kofinas U14 Head Coach

Staff:

Stuart McDonald Youth Assistant Coach
Frankie Barilla U21 Assistant Coach
Luke Johnson U18–U16 Assistant Coach
Sakaria Hersi U15–U14 Assistant Coach

Honours

Youth (Under-23s)
Under-21s

Stadium

The team hosts its home matches at CB Smith Reserve and Casey Fields. In previous years, home games have also been played at Epping Stadium, John Cain Memorial Park, John Ilhan Memorial Reserve and La Trobe University.

Team records

A-League Youth

Season A-League Youth Grand Final Top scorer
Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Position Player(s) Goals
League format
2011–12 18 8 2 8 35 37 −2 26 5th Zac Walker 7
2012–13 18 8 1 9 32 34 −2 25 6th Joshua Groenewald 8
2013–14 18 8 4 6 40 30 +10 28 5th Marcus Schroen 5
2014–15 18 10 5 3 40 27 +13 35 1st Wade Dekker 9
Conference format
2015–16 8 3 1 4 18 23 −5 10 3rd Did not qualify Wade Dekker / Chris Cristaldo 4
2016–17 8 5 1 2 18 12 +6 16 1st Champions Yusuf Ahmed 5

Football Victoria

Season Football Victoria Top scorer
T League Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Position Player(s) Goals
2015 3 NPL Victoria 2 West 28 13 5 10 56 45 +11 44 5th Wade Dekker 10
2016 28 14 4 10 70 45 +25 46 3rd Chris Cristaldo 10
2017 NPL Victoria 2 East 28 11 8 9 68 49 +19 41 3rd Austin Wong 9
2018 28 10 4 14 60 59 +1 34 6th Moudi Najjar 14
2019 28 9 5 14 60 58 +2 32 7th ↓ Ramy Najjarine 13
2020 4 NPL Victoria 3 No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic.
2021 14 8 1 5 37 19 +18 25 5th[a] Max Caputo 12
2022 22 15 4 3 43 13 +30 52 2nd ↑ Arion Sulemani 12
2023 3 NPL Victoria 2 26 11 3 12 54 56 −2 36 9th Raphael Borges Rodrigues 7
2024 VPL 1

See also

Notes

  1. ^ Season suspended after 14 matches due to COVID-19 pandemic.

References

  1. ^ "Heart too good for Victory". A-League Youth. Football Federation Australia. 5 December 2017.
  2. ^ "NEWS: Melbourne City FC NYL accepted into Victorian NPL". Melbourne City FC. 7 November 2014. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  3. ^ "City commences 2016 National Premier Leagues (NPL) Season". Melbourne City FC. 25 February 2016. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  4. ^ "Melbourne City FC win Foxtel NYL title". Football Federation Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  5. ^ "City set sights on NPL with two new teams". melbournecityfc.com.au. 14 February 2018. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
  6. ^ "Under 23's – VPL1". Melbourne City FC. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Under 23's – VPL1". Melbourne City FC. Retrieved 15 August 2024.

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