Here’s everything you need to know about the NPL 2014 Finals Series including the schedule and match ups for the four Elimination Finals.
The concept

The National Premier Leagues (NPL) Finals Series is a national competition for the winning team of each state division. The Premiers within each Member Federation NPL division progress to the NPL Finals Series.

Five Member Federations competed in the inaugural NPL Finals Series last year, but in 2014 it has been expanded to eight entrants vying to be crowned NPL 2014 Champions.



The format

The NPL 2014 Finals Series will take place over a three week period with matches to be played over the weekends of September 20/21 and September 27/28 culminating in the Final which will be held on either October 4 or 5.

Every match in the Finals Series is to be sudden-death, with extra time and penalties to be played out if required.

The makeup and grouping of the Elimination Finals has been based on geographic location. As such, the Member Federations that have been coupled together are Northern NSW Football and Football Queensland, Capital Football and Football NSW, Football Federation Tasmania and Football Federation Victoria (FFV), and Football West with Football Federation South Australia (FFSA).

Each year, the host Member Federation within the Elimination Finals shall alternate to provide all Federations with the opportunity to host every second year.

In order to determine the host Federation for the Semi Finals and Final, the following points system will apply at the conclusion of each stage of the Finals Series:

Win within regulation time = 3 points

Win during extra time = 2 points

Win in penalty shootout = 1 point

Goals scored (excluding penalty shootouts) = 3 points

Goals conceded (excluding penalty shootouts) = -1 point

Yellow cards = -1 point

Red cards = -3 points



The clubs

A club from Capital Football, Football NSW, Northern NSW Football, Football Queensland, Football Federation South Australia, Football Federation Tasmania, Football Federation Victoria and Football West will compete in the NPL 2014 Finals Series.

The clubs for each Member Federation are as follows:

Cooma Tigers (Capital Football)

Bonnyrigg White Eagles (Football NSW)

Weston Workers (Northern NSW Football)

Palm Beach Sharks (Football Queensland)

MetroStars SC (Football Federation South Australia)

South Hobart (Football Federation Tasmania)

South Melbourne (Football Federation Victoria)

Bayswater City (Football West)



The schedule

The draw for the 2014 Finals Series is as follows:

Elimination Finals
Game 1 – Weston Workers v Palm Beach Sharks
Saturday 20 September 2014 (Kick-Off 7:00pm AEST)
Rockwell Automation Park, Weston NSW

Game 2 – Cooma Tigers v Bonnyrigg White Eagles
Saturday 20 September 2014 (Kick-Off 2:30pm AEST)
AIS Athletics Field, Bruce ACT

Game 3 – South Hobart v South Melbourne
Saturday 20 September 2014 (Kick-Off 1:30pm AEST)
South Hobart Ground, South Hobart TAS

Game 4 – Bayswater City v MetroStars SC
Saturday 20 September 2014 (Kick-Off 2:00pm local time, 4:00pm AEST)
Frank Drago Reserve, Bayswater WA

Semi Finals (27/28 September 2014)
Game 5 – Winner of Game 1 v Winner of Game 2

Game 6 – Winner of Game 3 v Winner of Game 4


Grand Final (4/5 October 2014)
Game 7 – Winner of Game 5 v Winner of Game 6



Click here for the official Match Centre for all of the NPL 2014 Finals Series fixtures.

Aww shit. Squiggly lines in the title. :3

No idea what to expect from South Hobart. Hoping for a stream.... incoming tangent - should look to broadcast all finals in the future though, use the money to cover travel costs allowing for a draw to decide opening fixrtures and the elimination round to two legs.

Quick question why did other states have finals series and Victoria have a first past the post champ?

South Hobart v South Melbourne.



Expecting SM to win, but really hope this is streamed. Hope we get Corndog and Gilly. Those two are the Roy & HG of Football commentary.

South Hobart v South Melbourne.



Expecting SM to win, but really hope this is streamed. Hope we get Corndog and Gilly. Those two are the Roy & HG of Football commentary.

Still some issues with this that i hope get ironed out. Geographic fixtures are pretty unfair and don't exactly allow much variation each year. I'm sure Tassie or ACT winners would like the opportunity to go play in Queensland or WA for example rather than just hosting a VIC or NSW team at home.

Secondly i hope we can move to two legs so all teams can at least guarantee one home game.


Apart from that, bring Corndog for South Hobart vs South Melbourne!

Give it time as they are probably designed this to be as cost effective as possible in the initial stages. Glad they are rewarding the NPL best club nationally a FFA cup spot.

would that mean they would get exempt from the own state cup next year that is used for FFA cup qualification as seems pointless the winners being in

Why pointless? Why wouldn't a club want to win their state cup regardless?

Not pointless, but could really throw a spanner in the works. Say South Melbourne win the NPL Finals this year and then they go on to the Semi Finals in the Dockerty Cup as well, who gets Victoria's 4th spot? Highest non-qualifying NPLV club on the league table? Playoffs of Quarter Finals losers like in NSW this year? In that case we'd have a team in that had lost a knockout qualifying game on the path to the cup, which is not something I want to ever see in the FFA Cup again.

...or not enter the NPL Finals winner in their State Cup...

500 views, oh em gee!! Look at her butt.

-PB

Futbol24 are providing live updates of tonight's match.

"There will also be a LIVE stream of South Hobart v South Melbourne and Weston Workers v Palm Beach Sharks. See the respective home member federation websites, www.footballfedtas.com.au and www.northernnswfootball.com.au for details."

Waiting for the later of the two to come up.

-PB