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The National Premier Leagues Tasmania is an Australianfootball (soccer) league covering all regions of Tasmania. The league is a subdivision of the National Premier Leagues and commenced in 2013 with eight teams.[1][2] Nationally the league sits below the A-League and above the Tasmanian regional championship competitions, although no promotion or relegation exists between any of these leagues.
Prior to the NPL Tasmania the previous statewide league encompassing teams from all-over Tasmania had not taken place since 1999. The highest level of soccer being played in Tasmania was in two regional leagues in the North and South of the state.
The league was formed in 2012 by Football Federation Tasmania and the first season commenced in 2013. FFT referred to the league as the T-League during planning prior to the establishment of the league. Between 2012-2014 the league was known as the Victory League due to sponsorship by A-League club Melbourne Victory. In 2015 the league was officially known as the PS4 Victory League also for sponsorship reasons. In 2016 the league changed names again to National Premier Leagues Tasmania in line with other divisions within the NPL.
The league consists of eight clubs geographically spread throughout Tasmania. Every club plays each other three times: Home and Away with a third game Home or Away for a total of 27 games each per season. The team on top of the table is considered the league champion and qualifies to play in the National Premier Leagues finals series against the champions of the other states.
The top teams in the league also qualify for a Tasmanian end of season finals series. Between 2013-15 the winner of the local finals series was awarded the Victory Cup. In 2013 and 2014 the top four teams participated in the finals series. In 2015 the finals series has been expanded to include the top six teams in the league as well as the champions of the Northern Championship and Southern Championship.
While currently no promotion/relegation exists to the NPL Tasmania, Football Federation Tasmania have expressed an interest in a possible future promotion/relegation between NPL Tasmania and regional championships in a similar manner to the current English Conference National competition with supporters suggesting a simple system of replacing the lowest Northern or Southern based clubs with the winner of the corresponding Northern Championship and Southern Championship.
The initial clubs were awarded licences for league membership for three season between 2013-2015. In 2015 the FFT Board analysed the clubs on and off pitch. Based on this analysis six of the eight clubs in the NPL Tasmania were offered licences for an additional three seasons between 2016-2018. Glenorchy Knights and Launceston City were required to reapply for membership and compete with other clubs for the final two positions in the league in 2016.[5]Riverside Olympic, University, Clarence and New Town Eagles also applied for the two positions in addition to Glenorchy and Launceston City.[6] In August 2015 it was announced that Clarence United and Launceston City had been awarded the available licences between 2016–18, meaning that Glenorchy Knights will return to lower leagues starting in 2016.[7]
