The introduction of Under 19s to NPL Men’s and a new NPL / VPL Men promotion-relegation formula headline exciting changes to Football Victoria’s Men’s competition structures in 2025 and 2026.

On the back of Football Australia (FA) last week announcing the phasing out of the Player Points System (PPS) in 2025 in favour of a Player Roster Principles (PRP) system from 2026, Football Victoria (FV) can confirm a suite of adjustments to its competitions that will bring its senior leagues and clubs in line with their national counterparts and provide further development opportunities for players.

Appreciating the importance of alignment and consistency in the Australian football pyramid, as well as the evolving modern Domestic Transfer System, an internal FA working group developed the new PRP over the past 12 months in consultation with Member Federations.

Highlights of the new system impacting NPL Men, VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men include:

• A 2+1 visa player rule from 2025 for NPLM, the +1 being an additional player from an Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) or Asian Football Confederation (AFC) nation.
• Mandating that NPLM First Team goalkeepers must be Australian from 2026, and only foreigners with a pre-existing contract in place prior to September 19, 2024 will be permitted to play in 2025.
• A youth player rule from 2026 that ensures each senior team fields at least three Under 20 players in their matchday squads with an overall matchday squad minimum of five Under 23 players.
• Senior playing roster principles from 2025 that enshrine the need for each club to boast a minimum of three ‘homegrown’ players.

Full details regarding these changes can be found via FA’s release here.

FV has also implemented alignment in VPL Men’s 1 & 2 competitions from 2025:

• The current 3+1 (AFC) rule for VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men will now change to 3+1 (AFC / OFC) to enable alignment with NPLM.

Introduction of Under 19 division across NPLM and VPLM competitions

To assist clubs in the transition to the new PRP system in 2026, FV will introduce Under 19 divisions in the NPL Men, VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men competitions from 2025.

This will see a further 840+ players remain in the NPL / VPL environment to prepare for senior men’s football.

2025 Promotion & Relegation – NPLM & VPLM competitions

To aid preparations of clubs for next season, FV can also confirm changes to the promotion and relegation formulas for NPL Men, VPL1 Men, VPL2 Men and State League 1 that will ensure excitement levels are at an all-time high from 2025.

From 2025, the bottom three teams from each of NPL Men, VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men will be automatically relegated to the league below at season’s end.

Coming the other way, the top two teams from each of VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men will be automatically promoted, while a two-week playoff system involving teams placed 3rd to 6th will determine the third promotion slot (3 v 6 and 4 v 5; then winner v winner).

The winners of State League 1 North-West and South-East will be automatically promoted to VPL2 Men, while the runners-up in each of those divisions will play off for the third promotion slot.

FV CEO Chris Pehlivanis said the changes to the promotion and relegation system would be a winner for fans of the Victorian game.

“We believe this will add excitement to the Victorian football calendar for fans and also for players. More high stakes games will also help with player development, which is at the heart of many of these changes from Football Australia and ourselves,” Pehlivanis said.

“In the absence of finals, there can be quite a few dead-rubbers towards the end of the season in each of VPL1 and VPL2 Men. But with this new system, most, if not all, teams will have something to play for right up until the last round..

“Likewise in the NPL Men, there will be more high-stakes games. This will make for some thrilling matches for clubs, fans, sponsors and media alike come the back end of 2025 and we already can’t wait.”

Pehlivanis said FV was making adjustments in the best interests of its clubs and players in order to accommodate the upcoming roster changes implemented nationwide by FA.

“The new Under 19 division in the men’s space will provide a suitable transition from junior to senior football for this key age demographic.”

Click here for a complete rundown of Football Victoria’s Declaration of Provisional League Structures for the 2025 NPL Men, VPL1 Men and VPL2 Men.

The Structures will remain provisional until all final league design, affiliation confirmation and approval and compliance of a variety of conditions have been confirmed. This includes, but is not limited to, any decisions made in regards to the format of any National Second Tier competition run by FA in 2025 and beyond.