# Melbourne City FC Youth

Melbourne City Football Club Youth is the youth system of Melbourne City Football Club based in Cranbourne East, Melbourne. The youth teams consist of an under-23s team that competes in senior levels of soccer in Victoria; currently the Victorian Premier League 1, and a development squad of an under-21s team that competes in the under-23 levels of soccer in Victoria.
Melbourne City Academy was introduced in 2016 and are composed of four academy teams, ranking from under-14s to under-17s teams that compete in the youth National Premier Leagues Victoria leagues.

## History
### Early years (2011–2014)

The team was founded in 2011 as Melbourne Heart Youth, the season after their senior side Melbourne City (then known as Melbourne Heart FC), made their A-League debut. The inaugural manager was John Aloisi before he accepted the role as head manager at the end of the 2011–12 season. From 2012 onwards, Joe Palatsides had been the manager. The youth team's first match was played in the 2011–12 against local rivals Melbourne Victory in a 2–0 win at John Cain Memorial Park.

### Entry into National Premier Leagues (2014–2018)

On 7 November 2014, it was confirmed that Melbourne City would compete in the NPL Victoria 1 competition from the 2015 season onwards. The team consists mainly of Melbourne City's youth team, which also competes in the A-League Youth. On top of this, Melbourne City opted to send a U-20 team to enter the concurrently-run development-level U-20 NPL league competition.
The team finished on top of the table of the 2014–15 National Youth League, tied with Brisbane Roar FC Youth on both points and goal difference but were awarded the title having scored a greater number of goals.
After several seasons competing in the NPL, Melbourne City announced they were expanding their participation to also enter teams into the U-18 and U-15 competitions. In February 2018, youth teams joined the National Premier Leagues for the under-20s and under-18s sides, with the U-18 side being managed by Davey van 't Schip (the brother of former manager John van 't Schip).

## Players
### Youth

These players can also play with the senior squad and compete in the A-League Youth and the VPL 1.
    As of 12 February 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | AUS | James Nieuwenhuizen |
| 2 | DF | AUS | Peter Antoniou |
| 3 | DF | AUS | Ryan Kalms |
| 4 | MF | AUS | Marcus Humbert |
| 5 | DF | AUS | Harrison Shillington |
| 6 | MF | AUS | Xavier Stella |
| 7 | FW | AUS | Benjamin Mazzeo |
| 8 | MF | AUS | Zane Schreiber |
| 9 | FW | AUS | Medin Memeti |
| 10 | MF | AUS | Lawrence Wong |
| 11 | FW | AUS | Arion Sulemani |
| 12 | DF | AUS | Lewis Marinucci |
| 13 | DF | AUS | Jayden Necovski |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 14 | MF | AUS | Angus Mackintosh |
| 15 | MF | AUS | Ben Dunbar |
| 17 | DF | AUS | Sebastien Giannella |
| 18 | MF | AUS | James Georgiou |
| 19 | FW | AUS | Mikey Ghossaini |
| 20 | GK | AUS | Lachlan Charles |
| 22 | DF | AUS | Mikael Evagorou-Alao |
| 23 | MF | AUS | Kavian Rahmani |
| 24 | MF | AUS | Emin Durakovic |
| 25 | FW | AUS | John Kellis |
| 27 | FW | AUS | Roland Ballah |
| 29 | FW | AUS | Max Caputo |

### Under-21s

    As of 11 February 2025
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 16 | DF | IDN | Mathew Baker |
| 21 | MF | TLS | Beckham Baker |
| 26 | MF | AUS | Julian Recchia |
| 30 | GK | AUS | Jonty Benfield |
| 31 | MF | AUS | Joel Arena |
| 32 | FW | AUS | Luke Becvinovski |
| 33 | DF | AUS | Roland Ballah |
| 32 | DF | AUS | Mikael Evagorou-Alao |
| 33 | FW | AUS | Nicholas Vardakas |
| 34 | DF | AUS | Dion Toro |
| 35 | DF | AUS | Nikola Djurovic |
| 36 | DF | AUS | Yaser Payendeh |
| 37 | FW | AUS | Jesse Langa |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 38 | DF | AUS | Jacob Greco |
| 39 | DF | AUS | Charlie Downes |
| 41 | MF | AUS | Theodore Limberis |
| 42 | MF | AUS | Isiah Boston |
| 43 | MF | AUS | Danial Kamsani |
| 44 | FW | AUS | Dimitros Vlanes |
| 45 | FW | AUS | Daniel Matina |
| 46 | DF | AUS | Joshua McKenzie |
| 47 | FW | AUS | Aaron Cartwright |
| 48 | MF | AUS | Joseph Pezzano |
| 51 | GK | AUS | Antonie Van Riet |
| 60 | FW | AUS | Akeem Gerald |
| 63 | MF | AUS | Oliver O’Carroll |

## Current staff

Head Coaches:
| Alessandro Diamanti | Youth Head Coach |
| Lewis Potter | U21 Head Coach |
| Daniel Topping | U17 Head Coach |
| Leroy Almenara | U16 Head Coach |
| Luke Johnson | U15 Head Coach |
| Frankie Barilla | U14 Head Coach |
Staff:
| Stuart McDonald | Youth Assistant Coach |
| Daniel Topping | U21 Assistant Coach |
| Daniel Cappellaro | U17–U16 Assistant Coach |
| Josh Sasic | U15–U14 Assistant Coach |

## Honours
### Youth (Under-23s)

* A-League Youth Premiership
** Winners (2): 2016–17, 2017–18
** Runners-up (1): 2018–19
* A-League Youth Championship
** Winners (2): 2014–15, 2017
** Runners-up (1): 2018
* Victoria Premier League 2
** Runners-up (1): 2022

### Under-21s

* Victoria Premier League 1 U-23 Premiership
** Winners (1): 2023
* Victoria Premier League 1 U-23 Championship
** Winners (5): 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019, 2023
** Runners-up (2): 2018, 2022
* Victoria Premier League 2 U-23 Premiership
** Runners-up (1): 2022
* Victoria Premier League 2 U-23 Championship
** Winners (1): 2022

## Stadium

The team hosts its home matches at CB Smith Reserve and Casey Fields. In previous years, home games have also been played at Epping Stadium, John Cain Memorial Park, John Ilhan Memorial Reserve and La Trobe University.

## Team records
### A-League Youth

| Season | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | A-League Youth | Grand Final | Top scorer | Top scorer |
| Season | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Position | Grand Final | Player(s) | Goals |
| League format |||||||||||||
| 2011–12 | 18 | 8 | 2 | 8 | 35 | 37 | −2 | 26 | 5th | – | Zac Walker | 7 |
| 2012–13 | 18 | 8 | 1 | 9 | 32 | 34 | −2 | 25 | 6th | – | Joshua Groenewald | 8 |
| 2013–14 | 18 | 8 | 4 | 6 | 40 | 30 | +10 | 28 | 5th | – | Marcus Schroen | 5 |
| 2014–15 | 18 | 10 | 5 | 3 | 40 | 27 | +13 | 35 | 1st | – | Wade Dekker | 9 |
| Conference format |||||||||||||
| 2015–16 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 18 | 23 | −5 | 10 | 3rd | Did not qualify | Wade Dekker Chris Cristaldo | 4 |
| 2016–17 | 8 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 18 | 12 | +6 | 16 | 1st | Champions | Yusuf Ahmed | 5 |

### Football Victoria

| Season | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Football Victoria | Top scorer | Top scorer |
| Season | T | League | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Position | Player(s) | Goals |
| 2015 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 West | 28 | 13 | 5 | 10 | 56 | 45 | +11 | 44 | 5th | Wade Dekker | 10 |
| 2016 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 West | 28 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 70 | 45 | +25 | 46 | 3rd | Chris Cristaldo | 10 |
| 2017 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 East | 28 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 68 | 49 | +19 | 41 | 3rd | Austin Wong | 9 |
| 2018 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 East | 28 | 10 | 4 | 14 | 60 | 59 | +1 | 34 | 6th | Moudi Najjar | 14 |
| 2019 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 East | 28 | 9 | 5 | 14 | 60 | 58 | +2 | 32 | 7th ↓ | Ramy Najjarine | 13 |
| 2020 | 4 | NPL Victoria 3 | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. | No matches played due to COVID-19 pandemic. |
| 2021 | 4 | NPL Victoria 3 | 14 | 8 | 1 | 5 | 37 | 19 | +18 | 25 | 5th | Max Caputo | 12 |
| 2022 | 4 | NPL Victoria 3 | 22 | 15 | 4 | 3 | 43 | 13 | +30 | 52 | 2nd ↑ | Arion Sulemani | 12 |
| 2023 | 3 | NPL Victoria 2 | 26 | 11 | 3 | 12 | 54 | 56 | −2 | 36 | 9th | Raphael Borges Rodrigues | 7 |
| 2024 | 3 | VPL 1 | 26 | 11 | 8 | 7 | 55 | 41 | +14 | 41 | 5th | Medin Memeti | 9 |