Soccer in New South Wales is a popular participation and spectator sport. It is organised and managed on a state level by two separate governing bodies; Football NSW and Northern New South Wales Football which are affiliated at a national level to Football Federation Australia.
New South Wales and the state historically has had a large influence on soccer in Australia. It has the most registered soccer players in the country, with over 457,285 players, and the most teams in the professional A-League competition.
New South Wales has the highest participation of any football playing state in the country, with a total of 7% of the population regularly playing or watching the sport.
National Representation
Current top level teams
Five of the twelve teams in the A-League are based in New South Wales: Western Sydney Wanderers, Sydney FC, Macarthur FC, Newcastle Jets and Central Coast Mariners.
NSW is represented in the national women's W-League by Newcastle Jets, Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers associated women's teams. Central Coast Mariners also had a team in the W-League between 2008–2010.
New South Wales sends teams to the annual national youth competitions in the form of New South Wales Metropolitan and New South Wales Country (run by Football NSW) and Northern New South Wales (run by Northern NSW Football).
Defunct National Soccer League
New South Wales had many different teams in the NSL over the years. NSW usually had at least the first or second most clubs in the league and also got many premierships over the years. There is a list below of clubs from NSW that participated in the NSL and are still running today in NSW competitions. A.P.I.A. Leichhardt Tigers Blacktown City Demons Canterbury-Marrickville Marconi Stallions Newcastle Rosebud United Parramatta Eagles St George Saints Sydney Olympic Sydney United Wollongong Wolves
Football NSW Competitions
In the main the Youth and Senior competitions are divided into two sections: Club or Amateur Soccer which is run by each association, and Representative or Semi-Pro soccer which is run by Football NSW.
In 2008 there was a major restructuring of the New South Wales Men's, Women's and Youth competitions. The youth teams were restructured to be aligned with their Senior Clubs. The Men's Senior competitions was restructured to add new teams to the NSW Premier League and a new promotion/relegation system was introduced.
In 2019 this system was again restructured, this time separating the Youth and Senior clubs from each other. This allowed Senior results to only affect the Senior portion of a club, and not the youth portion (e.g. if a first grade team was relegated to NPL 2, their youth would remain in their current league and not be relegated as well).
Youth/Senior - Amateur
These are the branches and associations that make up all of Football NSW's youth and senior, women and men Amateur competitions around the state. Each of the associations run their own competitions for various age groups.
16 of the associations also have teams in the Metropolitan League (11s & 12s boys). Some also act as feeder associations or give their backing to certain semi-pro or Representative clubs.
Associations
Bankstown District Amateur Football Association
Blacktown & District Soccer Football Inc. Canterbury District Soccer Football Association Central Coast Football Eastern Suburbs Football Association Gladesville-Hornsby Football Association Granville & Districts Soccer Football Association Hills Football Association Northern Suburbs Football Association (formerly Ku-Ring-Gai & District Soccer Association) Macarthur Districts Soccer Football Association Manly Warringah Football Association Nepean Football Association North West Sydney Women's Football Football South Coast Southern Districts Soccer Football Association St George Football Association Inc Sutherland Shire Junior SFA Inc. Sydney Amateur Football League Inc.
Branches
Football Riverina
Albury Wodonga Football Association
Wagga Wagga Football Association
Griffith & District Amateur Football Association
South West Slopes Football Association
Southern NSW Soccer
Controlling Body - Football NSW Southern Branch
Eurobodalla Football Association
Far South Coast Football Association
Highlands Soccer Association Inc. Shoalhaven District Football Association Inc. Southern Tablelands Football Association