Football Federation Victoria (FFV) state representative teams have commenced their first day of matches at the FFA National Youth Championships in Coffs Harbour.
The annual tournament has been re-structured with the inclusion of several additional teams allowing more opportunities for players to compete on the national stage.
Victoria has re-introduced the Under 13’s & 14’s Country squads in addition to the existing Under 13 & 14’s Metropolitan squads that competed in 2017.
In previous years, the championships had 2 groups with teams only playing matches within their group. The new format will include 3 groups with teams only playing matches within their group from Monday to Wednesday. The table position at the end day 3 will determine the matches played for each team for the remaining two days.
The Country squads have been placed in Group A against Brisbane Roar, Football NSW Blue, Capital Football, Western Australia and South Australia Blue.
The Metro squads have been placed in Group B against Newcastle Jets, Football NSW White, Tasmania, Football NSW Country and Queensland Country.
Players and coaches were put through an extensive trial process in the FFV Talent Identification and Development Centre (TIDC) Program. The final selection of teams was made from the reduced squad in the final block across the 6 Regional TIDC centres and Metropolitan groups.
Day 1 Update
The first day of matches had the U13’s & U14’s Victorian Metro sides face the tough and extremely physical Tasmanian sides in very challenging weather conditions. Both age groups performed exceptionally well despite this challenge and scored some terrific goals to begin the tournament.
U13’s Victorian Metro 5-1 Tasmania
U14’s Victorian Metro 6-2 Tasmania
Day 2 Opponents: FNSW White & Queensland Country
The U13’s & U14’s Victorian Country faced a big first day with two very tough matches to begin their tournament. Both age group performed very well in game one as they tested themselves against a very strong FNSW Blue that has the majority squad comprised of Sydney FC Academy players. The players then after a short turn around faced another challenging opponent in game two against Capital football. Both games were played in extremely tough conditions on pitches that were starting to be impacted by a day of constant heavy rain and tight schedule of matches. Despite the difficulties of the conditions and the short turnaround both teams performed extremely well in two highly competitive matches.
U13’s Victorian Country 0-3 FNSW Blue
U13’s Victorian Country 1-1 Capital Football
U14’s Victorian Country 1-4 FNSW Blue
U14’s Victorian Country 0-1 Capital Football
Day 2 Opponents: Brisbane Roar, South Australia Blue
FFA National Youth Championships
Victorian Representative Squads
| U13 VIC COUNTRY | |
| Zac | Francis |
| Eero | Partonen |
| Oliver | DiGiandomenico |
| Kai | Williams |
| Lachlan | Brown |
| Tom | Illijevski |
| Noa | Skoko |
| Hassan | Al Hilfi |
| Gerald | Corbo |
| Jay | Barker |
| Linus | Bourke |
| Jai | Dal Zotto |
| Obiora | Eze |
| Leeam | Hughes |
| Kane | O'Regan |
| Oscar | O’Keeffe |
| Harrison | Watson |
| U14 VIC COUNTRY | |
| Samuel | Mumford |
| Uros | Babovic |
| Ben | Portbury |
| Tristan | Harris |
| Daniel | Harland |
| Harry | Waugh |
| Xavier | Ryan |
| Tae | Brandwyk |
| Julian | Majic Hecimovic |
| Julian | Colantuono |
| Joe | Stewart |
| Jacob | Konstanty |
| Brodie | Porta |
| James | Nieuwenhuizen |
| Christian | Corso |
| Garang | Kuol |
| Kai | Lyster |
| U13 VIC METRO | |
| Joel | Brandt |
| Christian | Cogo |
| Luca | Durso |
| Tom | Gorissen |
| Joshua | Inserra |
| Max | Krysinski |
| Tommaso | Minutoli |
| Jake | Najdovski |
| Christian | Naveen |
| Olivier | Peios |
| Harry | Shillington |
| Noah | Spaseski |
| Arion | Sulemani |
| Varun | Suttatti |
| Luca | Tasevski |
| Parker | Williams |
| James | York |
| U14 VIC METRO | |
| Eren | Arslan |
| Bryce | Coates-Reid |
| Tomas | Karlovic |
| Rhys | Dufton |
| Kasey | Bos |
| Jai | Curran-Nicholls |
| Charbel | Shamoon |
| Alexander | Menelaou |
| Ibraheem | Kassaby |
| George | Karvounis |
| Rhys | Bozinovski |
| Kai | Adachi |
| Dante | Siccita |
| Abel | Walatee |
| Vincent | Nicoletti |
| Giorgio | Serdenes |
| Lawrence | Caruso |