Melbourne City’s academy has produced 52 A-Leagues players – and there are bigger things to come. Senior Academy Manager Simon Zappia speaks to aleagues.com.au.

In Round 4 of the Isuzu UTE A-League, there was a moment that highlighted Melbourne City’s youth strategy – and the success of their academy program.

City’s final goal in a 5-0 rout of Perth Glory was scored by 17-year-old duo Medin Memeti, assisted by 17-year-old Kavian Rahmani after 18-year-old Ben Dunbar started the move amid joyous scenes at HBF Park.

The academy trio combined as Memeti celebrated his maiden A-Leagues goal. It was an exciting moment for City, their academy and all of Australian football.

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“It was an unbelievable feeling. All the academy staff were on the group chats straight away,” City’s senior academy manager Simon Zappia told aleagues.com.au.

“The feeling the next day coming into the office, it wasn’t of surprise because we know the boys have the quality to do that. It was great to have the feeling of getting the reward of the hard work the coaches have put in across the years. Seeing these boys – some from 11-12 years of age.

“At the start it was joy – it’s why we do the job but then reflecting on it, this is what we expect from these boys. We expect more to come as well.”

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That goal shined a light on the pathway at Melbourne City, who have promoted seven academy prospects into their Isuzu UTE A-League squad within the last six months: Jayden Necovski, Memeti, Rahmani, Harry Shillington, Lawrence Wong, Peter Antoniou and Lachie Charles.

Of those seven players, four have progressed through City’s entire Player Development Pathway: Necovski, Antoniou, Wong and Charles.

Meanwhile, Dunbar is yet to earn a pro deal, but the 18-year-old has played the most minutes out of all of the club’s graduates at the moment.

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Since City’s academy began in 2015, 184 players have come through the system, while 52 have gone on to play in the Isuzu UTE A-League – 30 at City and 22 for other clubs. That figure does not include Sebastian Esposito, who is currently on the books of Serie A outfit Lecce, where is eyeing a first-team debut.

And there is more to come at ctrl:cyber Campus as City’s academy further establishes itself.

“It’s super exciting. From our end, these boys like Memeti, Antoniou, Charles, Wong, they were our first cycle of boys who actually started with us from 12 years of age and gone through a full academy cycle,” Zappia said.

“The quality of those players is obviously fantastic but there’s more to come behind that. Each year in our academy, we’re refining it, getting better, putting more resource into it to allow players to be at a better level.

“From an academy sense, it’s the first time we’ve ever had a full cycle come through and a lot of people forget that sometimes. In the early days when the National Youth League was around, you had the NYL team and that was it.

“2020 was the first season we were able to have teams from Under-14s all the way through here at Melbourne City. Obviously two years of that was COVID anyway, where we didn’t play much football.

“We’re really only seeing the full cycle – it will be more the 2009, 2010, 2011 boys that you will see come through over the next few years that have actually had the full five-six year period in the academy without hiccups.

“I think it’s really exciting for Australian football.”

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There are success stories across the board.

At City, 41 academy players have gone on to play for youth national teams like the Subway Olyroos, Young Socceroos and Joeys.

Five have also gone on to represent the Socceroos, including City products Jordy Bos and Connor Metcalfe, who now play for Belgian side Westerlo and Bundesliga outfit St Pauli respectively.

“We’ve seen the early fruits with Jordy Bos and Metcalfe but even those guys were only able to get in at 14-15 (years old),” Zappia said. “Whereas the likes of Lawrence (Wong) and Peter (Antoniou) and these boys were with us from 11-12, which makes a big difference as well.

“Over the next few years, it is going to get better the talent that’s coming through across all the A-League teams. Obviously we hope to be at the forefront of that.”

City Football Schools is the first step in City’s Player Development Pathway – a program set up by Zappia having relocated from Abu Dhabi before moving into his current role.

In 2024, 65% of the club’s junior academy players in 2024 came through the City Football School program.

It comes as youngsters benefit from “world-leading practices” in Melbourne.

Academy graduates to debut for Melbourne City in the Isuzu UTE A-League

“Around this time last year, we had some of the team from CFG come out from the insights and data team. They did a review on the academy and helped us set a new strategy for the next five years too,” Zappia said of City Football Group’s influence on the academy program.

“We have that influence (from CFG). A lot of the model we try to follow from Manchester. In terms of some of the other CFG clubs, we have monthly calls where we do reviews. Even compared to clubs like New York City, we try to set the bar there and teams like Lommel in Belgium too, Girona – a Champions League team this season.

“We’re kind of not too far behind, probably on level par with what these guys are doing in their academy. We try to follow a similar framework. Each country and culture has their different shortfalls which we try to make up.

“We also have our strengths which other countries don’t have that people rarely see because it’s maybe easy to be negative around Australian football. But a lot of things we’re doing are world-leading practices if I’m honest. That shows when we travel internationally and when we’re on with these guys an sharing information within our CFG network.”

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That CFG influence is also creating opportunities for some of City’s talented prospects to experience life at some of their sister clubs.

One academy player has already spent time training with LaLiga outfit Girona, who finished third last season while another is preparing for a trip to J1 League side Yokohama F.Marinos in Japan.

Melbourne City academy players to debut elsewhere in the Isuzu UTE A-League or elsewhere

“The talent insights team track players from across the network. Our Head of Recruitment who is based in Melbourne, technically works for CFG. He actually in Manchester at the moment at a scouting conference there and they get together once a year to discuss these kinds of things,” said Zappia.

“We’ve also had players from our academy train at other clubs like Girona. We have a player going into Yokohama next month to train for a couple of weeks. These kinds of opportunities are things we try to give to the players. What comes of that – sometimes it’s just a training experience but then maybe as they get a bit older, it develops into more.

“There’s grander plans long term as well with how we connect as a City Football Group. These players are discussed all the time. We have to deliver reports into CFG as well on all of our players. That’s the exciting thing for players to be at Melbourne City – it’s a bit bigger than just Melbourne City in the A-League.”