新西兰青年联赛

新西兰青年联赛

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The National Youth League (NYL) is the premier competition for youth football players in New Zealand. Founded in 2003, it was a league competition consisting of the youth teams of each of the ten clubs that played in the New Zealand Football Championship. It was held each season between October and December, and consists of each team playing each other once; the fixture list mirrors that of the senior league.

The last team to be champions of the original league and the most successful team of the competition was the youth team of Auckland City, finishing champions seven times in the sixteen years the original competition ran.

In December 2021, New Zealand Football announced that they were bringing back the National Youth Development League to run alongside the National League. The Competition will see eight teams from 3 qualifying leagues play-off in a knockout style tournament. Three teams qualify from the Northern League, three qualify from the Central League and two qualify from the Southern League.

The regional leagues will run from August through to late September. The finals series will take place at a neutral location in October and will see all eight teams play 3 games in a knockout style competition.

Wellington Phoenix Academy are the defending champions after winning the 2023 edition.

History

The first National Youth League was founded in 2003, with eight teams representing different regional football federations in New Zealand, playing each other once; the inaugural champions were Capital Soccer.

In 2007, the competition changed from teams representing federations to teams representing each club in the New Zealand Football Championship. The youth squad of Auckland City won the first season of this new format, and have since become the most successful team in the competition, winning six titles.

In 2008, the competition used a ten-team, two-group format, with the top two teams from each group heading into a playoff system; Waitakere United won in the final against Canterbury United. However, in 2009, only four teams participated due to funding issues (Auckland City, Waitakere United, Auckland-Manukau and Hawke's Bay United); the league moved to nine teams in late 2010 following the league's rebrand to the ASB Premiership, still following the two-group format.

The 2013 season introduced two more teams to make a twelve-team, two-group league, but in 2014 the format was amended to mirror the New Zealand Football Championship; each league team fielded a youth team in the National Youth league, with the competitions returning to its one-group format.

In the 2016 season, mirroring the club movements of the New Zealand Football Championship, Hamilton Wanderers replaced the outgoing WaiBOP United and both newly founded teams Tasman United and Eastern Suburbs fielded sides in the competition. Surprisingly, Hamilton Wanderers won the title at their first attempt under the leadership of first-team players Michael Built and Adam Luque.

After a review by New Zealand Football of all their national competitions, it was decided to end the national youth competition. Instead each club from the New Zealand Football Championship will have to register 40 players, of which 17 of them have to be aged 21 or under. They will also work with the local federations the clubs are assigned with, to run a development team in the regional leagues.

In the last season of the old competition, Auckland City won its seventh title as well as winning three in a row from 2017 to 2019 to finish as Champions of the competition.

In 2021, New Zealand Football announced the reintroduction of the National Youth League as an U-17 competition that will run alongside the National League.

新西兰青年联赛(New Zealand Youth League,简称NZYL)是新西兰的顶级青年足球联赛,专为17岁及以下的年轻球员打造。联赛成立于2012年,旨在通过足球培养年轻人的体育精神、团队合作和领导能力。

参赛队伍主要来自新西兰各地的城市和郊区,联赛分为常规赛和季后赛两个阶段。每个赛季通常持续9个月,从每年的6月或7月开始,到次年的3月或4月结束。常规赛阶段,每支球队将进行10到12场比赛,而季后赛阶段则是一场定胜负的淘汰赛。

这个联赛对于新西兰足球的发展至关重要,因为它为年轻球员提供了竞技平台,帮助他们提升技能、建立自信和增强团队合作精神。同时,它也为各俱乐部提供了发掘和培养潜力新人的机会,从而充实了球队的阵容。

对于参赛球员,这是一个难得的机会,能够与来自全国各地的同龄人切磋技艺、交流经验,并在竞争激烈的比赛中脱颖而出。许多球员在比赛中展现出了出色的表现,有的甚至进入了新西兰的职业联赛,进一步提高了自己的足球水平。

虽然联赛对于新西兰足球和年轻球员有着重要意义,但它也有着一些挑战和争议。一些人认为联赛过于重视竞技性,而忽略了培养年轻球员的全面素质。此外,联赛的财政状况也备受关注,因为球队和球员需要自负盈亏,这可能会导致一些球队或球员无法继续参与联赛。尽管如此,新西兰青年联赛仍然是一个充满活力和潜力的足球赛事,对于新西兰的足球文化有着积极的影响。