Like last season, the national league will be a predominately U-20 competition but five overage players will be allowed in each squad of 24. No more than three overage players may take the field at any one time.
Teams can select any age-restricted players who reside or play within their boundaries but will be able to draft their quota of overage players from any region.
The seven federation teams will again be split into two conferences and this season an eighth team, the Northern Conference development quad, will replace the Auckland development squad.
That squad will be comprised with an eye on developing slightly younger players for the 2014 U-20 FIFA Women’s World Cup, especially those too old for the current U-17 cycle.
In one change from last season, the league will be completed before Christmas, with a final on December 4, rather than beginning after the New Year break.
Defending champions Capital Football will again be spearheaded by talismanic striker and captain Renee Leota, whose 13 goals in eight games led the Wellington-based side to their first title in seven years.
Six-time champions Auckland Football, coached by Jill Gilmore, will again be among the favourites despite not being able to call on the services of nine Football Ferns who have left the catchment area and signed professional contracts overseas since last season.
Former Football Fern Rebecca Tegg will be looking to add to her four national league golden boot trophies and could be partnered by exciting up-and-comer Martine Puketapu, just 14, who has already represented New Zealand at U-17 level.
Outside Auckland and Capital, who are the only sides to have won the national league since its inception in 2002, last season’s beaten finalists Waikato-Bay of Plenty and a promising Northern Football side loom as the main challengers.
New Zealand Football women’s development manager Bev Priestman says the move to a youth-based format has produced a number of development positives.
“All teams last season were successful in developing young players with the potential to move into New Zealand teams and exposing the next tier of elite players to a higher level of competition than they previously had access to at that age,” Priestman says.
“The benefits of that identification and development were evident recently when the Young Football Ferns, drawn almost entirely from the youth league, beat Australia in an U-17 international series.
“On top of that, the wider squad has players from every federation and the U-20s are a similar story, so the league has allowed us to uncover and monitor a broader range of potential internationals.”
ASB Women’s Youth League games will be attended by New Zealand Football scouts with the league seen as the last chance for players to push their claims to make New Zealand squads for U-17 and U-20 world cup qualifiers early next year.
Story courtesy of New Zealand Football.
For more on New Zealand football go to www.nzfootball.co.nz

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