Victoria Blue and NSW Metro Sky are the Under 15 and Under 16 Boys’ winners respectively, while South Australia claimed the individual accolades on the final day of the National Youth Championships 2024 in Wollongong, NSW.
The stands at WIN Stadium were rocking with eager spectators and supporters who witnessed the culmination of six days of high-quality competition from Football Australia’s nine state and territory Member Federations. A combined 331 goals were scored across the tournament which featured over 700 players and officials from 32 teams.
Subway Socceroos’ Head Coach Graham Arnold was in attendance to witness the action which also saw NSW Metro Navy (Under 15) and Northern NSW (Under 16) win the third-place playoff matches.
Victoria Blue defeated South Australia to secure the Under 15 Age Group trophy for the second consecutive year, before NSW Metro Sky emerged as National Champions in the Under 16 Age Group in a thrilling match against Queensland White.
In the Under 15 Age Group Final, Victoria Blue and South Australia found themselves locked in a stalemate with the scores remaining nil-all for most the match. Jensen Bowering finally broke the deadlock and gave Victoria Blue the advantage with just over 10-minutes remaining before a late penalty, finished by Luke Becvinovski, secured the 2-0 triumph for the Victorians.
Victoria Blue Head Coach Vaughan Coveny is excited for what the future may hold for many members of his squad.
“It's a great feeling to be National Champions,” Coveny said.
“This is about the boys and they're a great bunch to work with. They deserve everything they get, they've had a really good week, been solid and had some good performances.
“It was a pretty even contest. With respect to South Australia they are a really good side, well organised and they made it difficult for us.
“There’s some really exciting stuff ahead of this playing group. They're all eligible for the Under 17 side (Subway Joeys). So, in the next couple of years, hopefully you'll see some of these names playing for Australia,” Coveny concluded.
In the Under 16 Age Group Final, NSW Metro Sky proved too strong for a defiant Queensland White outfit who competed until the final moments. Two goals in less than 90 seconds from Ewan Gasowski and John Lawson gave NSW Metro Sky a handy 2-0 advantage early in the match. Queensland White got one back with 25 minutes remaining and threw everything at the NSW side to find the equaliser, but ultimately, NSW Metro Sky won the decider, 2-1.
NSW Metro Sky Head Coach Spencer Prior was impressed with how much his side improved over the tournament and praised their resilience following a difficult start.
“I'm really pleased for the boys. They grew into the tournament and grew in terms of their desire for the ball and playing on the front foot with or without the ball and I'm really proud of all of them,” Prior said.
“We knew Queensland wouldn’t give up and they fought hard today. We tried to be quite direct to get in behind and sure enough, that's where the goals came from.
“This side is absolutley pragmatic in their approach. Not everything's going to go their way all the time and they showed their ability to adjust. We lost our first game to Queensland so to bounce back in the Final is pretty special,” Prior concluded.
Following the Finals, the tournament awards were presented with an array of Football Australia coaches and officials on hand to congratulate the recipients.
Graham Arnold presented the awards for Player of the Tournament, with the Under 15 trophy presented to Henrique Oliveria from South Australia.
South Australia then had plenty of reason to celebrate as fellow statesman Amlani Tatu was confirmed as the Under 16 Player of the Tournament.
Subway Joeys’ Goalkeeper coach, Dave Plowright presented the award for Under 15 Goalkeeper of the Tournament to Sevdim Banusevski from Victoria Blue.
Subway Olyroos’ Goalkeeper coach, Neil Tate then presented the Under 16 Goalkeeper of the Tournament award to Oskar Von Schrenk from Victoria Blue.
National Youth Championships Boys’ Referee Lead, Izzy Blaess presented the Under 15 Referee of the tournament to Rowan Fisher from Football NSW.
Blaess then presented the Under 16 Referee of the Tournament award to Jock Quartermain from Football VIC.
Former Socceroo Josh Kennedy was also in attendance to present the runners-up and champions medals for the Under 15 Age Group before Subway Joeys Head Coach Brad Maloney presented the medals to the Under 16 Age Group. Arnold also presented the winning captains the National Youth Championships trophy.
Football Australia would like to acknowledge the ongoing support of the NSW Government through its tourism and major events agency Destination NSW along with Destination Wollongong.
Players of the Tournament:
Under 15: Henrique Oliveria, Football SA
Under 16: Amlani Tatu, Football SA
Goalkeepers of the Tournament:
Under 15: Sevdim Banusevski, Football VIC
Under 16: Oskar Von Schrenk, Football VIC
Referees of the Tournament:
Under 15: Rowan Fisher, Football NSW
Under 16: Jock Quartermain, Football VIC
Under 15 Final:
Victoria Blue 2 def South Australia 0
Victoria Blue: Jensen Bowering (46’), Luke Becvinovski (57’)
Under 16 Final:
Queensland White 1 def by NSW Metro Sky 2
Queensland White: Chimdi Nwogwugwu (35’)
NSW Metro Sky: Ewan Gasowski (10’), John Lawson (11’)
Under 15 Team Rankings
| Position | Team |
| 1 | Victoria Blue |
| 2 | South Australia |
| 3 | NSW Metro Navy |
| 4 | Victoria White |
| 5 | NSW Meto Sky |
| 6 | Northern NSW |
| 7 | Queensland Maroon |
| 8 | Victoria Silver |
| 9 | Queensland White |
| 10 | NSW Metro White |
| 11 | Western Australia |
| 12 | Capital Football |
| 13 | Tasmania |
| 14 | NSW Country |
| 15 | Queensland Silver |
| 16 | Northern Territory |
Under 16 Team Rankings
| Position | Team |
| 1 | NSW Metro Sky |
| 2 | Queensland White |
| 3 | Northern NSW |
| 4 | Victoria Blue |
| 5 | NSW Metro White |
| 6 | NSW Metro Navy |
| 7 | South Australia |
| 8 | Victoria White |
| 9 | Queensland Maroon |
| 10 | Capital Football |
| 11 | Victoria Silver |
| 12 | Western Australia |
| 13 | NSW Country |
| 14 | Invitational XI |
| 15 | Tasmania |
| 16 | Queensland Silver |
