National Premier Leagues Women's

The National Premier Leagues Women's (NPLW), also referred to as Women's National Premier Leagues (WNPL) in some states, are regional association football competitions in some states and territories in Australia, which act as the second tier of the sport in the country below the A-League Women. The WNPL consists of the highest level state league in a subset of the state-based federations within Australia, and is overseen by Football Australia (FA) in partnership with participating member federations.

National Premier Leagues Women's

Founded	2014
Country	Australia
Divisions	ACT NSW Northern NSW Queensland South Australia Victoria WA
Number of clubs	63 clubs (from 7 federations)
Level on pyramid	2

With the addition of Northern NSW in 2022,^[1] the WNPL is now contested by clubs from seven member federations: Capital Football (ACT), NSW, Northern NSW, Queensland, South Australia, Victoria and Western Australia.

History

In October 2010, (FFA) commenced a National Competition Review, its main objective being to review the current structure of soccer competitions in Australia, and to monitor and improve elite player development.^[2] NSW were the first federation to commence a competition, after a review on women's football in NSW in 2013, which looked at staying aligned with the FFA's pathway for women's football program.^[3]

Queensland switched to the NPL format in 2015, followed by South Australia and Victoria in 2016, the ACT (Capital Football) in 2017, Western Australia in 2020,^[4] and Northern NSW in 2022.

Competition format and teams

The WNPL competitions in each state and territory are run independently by the member federations, with a similar format to the equivalent men's competition - the National Premier Leagues. Teams may be relegated from the WNPL to a third-tier league in the same state (and vice versa), but there is currently no mechanism for a team to be promoted to the first tier of Australian Football, the A-League Women. The number of teams promoted and relegated from third-tier leagues per state has varied over time. The table below details the number of teams relegated automatically from the WNPL at the end of the season and the number of NPL teams which go into a relegation playoff against a lower league team.

Federation	Number of Clubs		Current Season
	Automatic Relegation	Relegation Playoffs
ACT	none		2025 NPL ACT Women's
NSW	1	0	2025 NPL NSW Women's
NNSW	not known		2025 NPL Women's Northern NSW
Queensland	1	0	2025 Women's NPL Queensland
SA	1	0	2025 Women's NPL SA
Victoria	2	0	2025 NPL VIC Women
WA	none		2025 Women's NPL WA

Current clubs

Below are listed the National Premier Leagues clubs in each competing member federation announced for the 2025 season.

NSW APIA Leichhardt Tigers Bulls FC Academy Gladesville Ravens Illawarra Stingrays Macarthur Rams Manly United Mt Druitt Town Rangers Newcastle Jets Northern Tigers NWS Spirit Sydney Olympic Sydney University UNSW FC Western Sydney Wanderers

South Australia Adelaide City Adelaide Comets Adelaide University Fulham United Flinders United Metro United Football SA NTC Salisbury Inter West Adelaide West Torrens Birkalla

Victoria Alamein Bayside United Boroondara-Carey Eagles Box Hill United Bulleen Lions Calder United FV Emerging Heidelberg United Preston Lions FC South Melbourne Southern United

Western Australia Balcatta Curtin University Football West NTC U-19 Fremantle City Murdoch University Melville FC Perth SC Perth RedStar Subiaco AFC

Honours

Premiers by season

Federations commenced under the WNPL Structure in different years.

Season	ACT	New South Wales	Northern NSW	Queensland	South Australia	Victoria	Western Australia
2014	—	Macarthur Rams	—	—	—	—	—
2015	—	Macarthur Rams	—	The Gap	—	—	—
2016	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	Calder United	—
2017	Belconnen United	Macarthur Rams	—	Peninsula Power	West Adelaide	South Melbourne	—
2018	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	South Melbourne	—
2019	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	Lions FC	Adelaide City	Calder United	—
2020	Canberra Croatia	Sydney University	—	Gold Coast United	Adelaide City	—[a]	—[b]
2021	Canberra Croatia	—[c]	—	Lions FC	Salisbury Inter	—[d]	Murdoch University Melville
2022		Sydney University			West Adelaide		Perth RedStar

Champions by season

Federations commenced under the WNPL Structure in different years.

Season	ACT	New South Wales	Northern NSW	Queensland	South Australia	Victoria	Western Australia
2014	—	Football NSW Institute	—	—	—	—	—
2015	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	—	—	—
2016	—	Sydney University	—	The Gap	Metro United	Calder United	—
2017	Canberra FC	Manly United	—	Peninsula Power	Adelaide City	South Melbourne	—
2018	Belconnen United	Macarthur Rams	—	Brisbane Roar NTC	Adelaide City	Bulleen Lions	—
2019	Belconnen United	Sydney University	—	Lions FC	Adelaide City	Calder United	—
2020	Canberra Croatia	Manly United	—	Lions FC	Metro United	—[a]	Murdoch University Melville
2021	—[e]	—[c]	—		Salisbury Inter	—[d]	Murdoch University Melville
2022		Macarthur Rams			West Adelaide		Perth RedStar

See also

• Australia portal
• soccer portal

• National Premier Leagues
• Football Australia
• Australian soccer league system

Notes

1. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[5]
2. In 2020, no Premier was declared for WA.^[6]
3. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[7]
4. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[8]
5. Cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.^[9]