2025 National Premier Leagues Victoria

The 2025 National Premier Leagues Victoria season was the 117th season of the National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL) season, the highest level of football in the state of Victoria, and the 12th since the competition was rebadged. The season began on the 6th of February,[1] and ended on the 14th September.

National Premier Leagues Victoria
Season2025
Dates6 February – 14 September 2025
ChampionsHeidelberg United
PremiersAvondale FC
RelegatedMelbourne Victory Youth
Port Melbourne
Melbourne Knights
Matches182
Goals601 (3.3 per match)
Biggest home winDandenong City 7–1 Melbourne Knights (16 Aug 2025)
Dandenong Thunder 6–0 Altona Magic (7 Jun 2025)
Biggest away winGreen Gully 0–5 Dandenong City (7 Mar 2025)
Longest winning run6 – Avondale (Feb 7 – Mar 22)
2024
2026
All statistics correct as of 2025-08-24.

The defending champions are Oakleigh Cannons, who had defeated the reigning premiers South Melbourne in the 2024 National Premier Leagues Victoria grand final.[2]

Avondale were the premiers after finishing four points clear after winning the league, however Heidelberg United qualify for the 2025 Australian Championship as second-placed due to Avondale being 'foundation members' of the spring competition. Heidelberg United were the champions after defeating sixth-placed Dandenong City 2-1 in the Grand Final.

Teams

Pre-season changes

2024 League Promoted to league Relegated from league
NPL Victoria Preston Lions
Melbourne Victory Youth
Manningham United Blues
Moreland City
Ref. [3]

Stadiums and locations

Team Head Coach Location Stadium Capacity
Altona Magic Goran Lozanovski Melbourne (Altona North) Paisley Park 5,000
Avondale FC Zoran Markovski Melbourne (Parkville) Avenger Park 1,000
Dandenong City Nick Tolios Melbourne (Endeavour Hills) Frank Holohan Soccer Complex 4,000
Dandenong Thunder Adam Piddick Melbourne (Dandenong) George Andrews Reserve 5,000
Green Gully David Chick Melbourne (Keilor Downs) Green Gully Reserve 10,000
Heidelberg United John Anastasiadis Melbourne (Heidelberg West) Olympic Village 12,000
Hume City Nick Hegarty Melbourne (Broadmeadows) Hume City Stadium 3,000
Melbourne Knights Marijan Cvitković Melbourne (Sunshine North) Knights Stadium 15,000
Melbourne Victory (Youth) Boris Seroshtan Melbourne (Bundoora) The Home of the Matildas 3,000
Oakleigh Cannons Chris Taylor Melbourne (Oakleigh) Jack Edwards Reserve 4,000
Port Melbourne Maxim Gaydovskiy Melbourne (Port Melbourne) JL Murphy Reserve 1,000
Preston Lions Louie Acevski Melbourne (Reservoir) B.T. Connor Reserve 6,500[4]
South Melbourne Sinisa Cohadzic Melbourne (Albert Park) Lakeside Stadium 12,000
St Albans Saints Cameron Watson Melbourne (St Albans) Churchill Reserve 3,500

Managerial changes

Team Outgoing manager Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming manager Date of appointment
South Melbourne Esteban Quintas Sacked 14 April 2025 11th Sinisa Cohadzic 5 May 2025
Melbourne Knights Ivan Franjic Resigned 5 May 2025 13th John Markovski 18 May 2025
Port Melbourne Sharks John Markovski Mutual Agreement 7 May 2025 14th Maxim Gaydovskiy 15 May 2025
Hume City FC Riccardo Marchioli Sacked 5 June 2025 6th Nick Hegarty 13 June 2025
Melbourne Knights John Markovski Sacked 29 July 2025 14th Marijan Cvitković 29 July 2025

Regular season

League table

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Promotion, qualification or relegation
1 Avondale FC[a] 26 19 4 3 66 27 +39 61 Qualification to Finals series
2 Heidelberg United (C, Q) 26 17 6 3 55 25 +30 57 Qualification to Australian Championship and Finals series[b]
3 Dandenong Thunder 26 16 5 5 60 32 +28 53 Qualification to Finals series
4 Oakleigh Cannons 26 15 4 7 58 33 +25 49
5 Preston Lions[a] 26 14 5 7 40 28 +12 47
6 Dandenong City 26 10 10 6 51 38 +13 40
7 Hume City 26 11 5 10 42 40 +2 38
8 Green Gully 26 8 7 11 39 42 −3 31
9 South Melbourne[a] 26 7 7 12 29 46 −17 28
10 Altona Magic 26 7 6 13 28 38 −10 27
11 St Albans Saints 26 7 6 13 45 56 −11 27
12 Melbourne Victory Youth (R) 26 5 3 18 36 60 −24 18 Relegation to Victorian Premier League 1
13 Port Melbourne (R) 26 4 5 17 24 64 −40 17
14 Melbourne Knights (R) 26 4 3 19 28 72 −44 15
Source: MyGameday
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored; 4) aggregate head-to-head results; 5) away goals; 6) alphabetical order/coin toss at the end of the season.
(C) Champions; (Q) Qualified for the phase indicated; (R) Relegated
Notes:
  1. ^ a b c Team pre-qualified to the Australian Championship as a Foundation club.
  2. ^ The second-placed team qualified to the Australian Championship since the Premier is one of the three NPL Victoria teams that have already qualified as "Foundation Clubs".

Matches

Home \ Away ALT AVO DCI DTH GGL HEI HUM KNI MVC OAK POR PRL SMB SAL
Altona Magic 0–1 0–0 0–1 0–0 0–2 1–1 4–0 1–0 1–2 4–0 0–2 0–0 2–1
Avondale FC 4–0 1–1 1–1 2–1 2–1 2–0 5–1 4–1 3–0 4–1 3–1 4–0 2–2
Dandenong City 2–1 0–3 1–2 0–0 0–2 1–3 7–1 3–1 1–0 5–2 2–2 3–3 3–3
Dandenong Thunder 6–0 2–1 2–2 2–1 3–2 1–1 4–0 4–1 3–3 5–1 3–0 1–0 2–2
Green Gully 2–3 5–2 0–5 3–1 0–3 1–1 3–0 4–1 1–1 0–0 0–1 1–0 2–2
Heidelberg United 3–1 3–1 2–2 2–0 4–1 5–1 2–1 1–0 1–1 2–1 1–1 1–1 2–2
Hume City 2–0 1–2 3–0 2–1 3–2 0–1 2–1 1–2 0–3 4–1 0–1 1–1 3–2
Melbourne Knights 1–5 1–3 0–2 0–3 1–4 3–2 1–1 1–2 3–3 3–0 0–1 0–2 3–1
Melbourne Victory Youth 1–1 2–3 0–3 3–4 1–2 0–3 2–3 1–2 0–3 1–2 1–1 3–3 3–2
Oakleigh Cannons 1–0 1–2 3–0 3–1 3–1 1–2 4–0 3–0 2–5 4–1 4–0 3–0 1–2
Port Melbourne 3–3 0–1 1–1 0–2 1–0 2–2 1–3 2–2 0–3 0–2 3–2 0–1 0–2
Preston Lions 1–0 1–1 1–1 2–0 3–2 0–1 2–1 3–0 1–0 2–3 5–0 2–0 2–1
South Melbourne 2–0 0–5 1–3 0–1 1–1 0–3 2–1 3–1 4–2 1–2 0–2 2–1 0–3
St Albans Saints 0–1 1–4 1–3 1–5 1–2 1–2 0–4 4–2 3–1 3–2 3–0 0–3 2–2
Source: MyGameday
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Finals series

Bracket

Elimination finals Preliminary finals Grand final
1 Avondale FC 0
3 Dandenong Thunder 0 6 Dandenong City 1
6 Dandenong City 1 6 Dandenong City 1
2 Heidelberg United 2
2 Heidelberg United 2
4 Oakleigh Cannons 1 5 Preston Lions 1
5 Preston Lions 2

Statistics

Goals

Rank[5] Player Team Goals
1 Bul Juach Heidelberg United 22
2 Joe Guest Oakleigh Cannons 15
3 Kenny Athiu Dandenong City 13
Manyluak Aguek Avondale
5 Hassan Jalloh Dandenong Thunder 12

Discipline

Yellow cards

Correct as of 7 July 2025[6]

Rank Player Team Cards
1 Birkan Kirdar Hume City 9
Gideon Arok St Albans Saints
Joseph Colina St Albans Saints
3 Stefan Valentini Avondale 8

Red cards

As of 7 July 2025, there are twenty-seven players with 1 red card.[7]

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref.
Asahi Yokokawa Heidelberg United Hume City 5–1 (H) 14 March 2025
Kenny Athiu Dandenong City Port Melbourne Sharks 5–2 (H) 25 April 2025
Aamir Abdallah Green Gully Avondale 5–2 (H) 9 May 2025
Kenny Athiu Dandenong City Melbourne Knights 7-1 (H) 16 August 2025
Notes
  • (H) – Home team
  • (A) – Away team

References

  1. ^ "Results for NPL VIC Men". GameDay. Football Victoria. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  2. ^ "Oakleigh Cannons defeat South Melbourne to win NPL Victoria championship". The Greek Herald. 2024-09-09. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  3. ^ "NPL & VPL1&2 Men Declaration of Provisional League Structures 2025" (PDF). footballvictoria.com.au. Football Victoria. 2024-10-15 [2024-10-15].
  4. ^ "BT Connor Reserve | Austadiums". Austadiums. Archived from the original on 2025-01-22. Retrieved 2025-02-15.
  5. ^ "Competition Stats for NPL VIC Men". Football Victoria. Retrieved 2025-02-23 – via GameDay.
  6. ^ "Competition Stats for NPL VIC Men". Football Victoria. Retrieved 2025-02-17 – via GameDay.
  7. ^ "Competition Stats for NPL VIC Men". GameDay. Retrieved 2025-07-06.