The Illawarra Premier League is a regional Australian semi-professional

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league, comprising teams from the

Illawarra The Illawarra is a coastal Regions of New South Wales, region in the southeast of the Australian state of New South Wales. It is situated immediately south of Sydney and north of the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region. It encompas ...

, and South Coast regions of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. The competition is run under the

Football South Coast Football South Coast is a governing body and soccer competition based in the Illawarra and South Coast regions of New South Wales. All competitions and soccer activity of Football South Coast is under control of Football New South Wales. Teams ...

body, an associate of

Football NSW Football NSW is the governing body for soccer in the Australian state of New South Wales, with the exception of the northern regions of NSW (the governing body for which is Northern New South Wales Football). Football NSW is a member of the nat ...

– a member federation of

Football Federation Australia Football Australia is the governing body of soccer, futsal, and beach soccer within Australia, headquartered in Sydney. Although the first governing body of the sport was founded in 1911, Football Australia in its current form was only establ ...

. It therefore fits below the national

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

and NSW wide divisions including

National Premier Leagues NSW The National Premier Leagues NSW is a semi-professional soccer competition in New South Wales, Australia. The competition is conducted by Football NSW, one of the two organising bodies in New South Wales (the other being the National Premier L ...

, The league sits at level 4 on the New South Wales league system, making it a level league 5 in the Australian League System. The major sponsor for the Illawarra Premier League is the

Illawarra Mercury The ''Illawarra Mercury'' is a daily newspaper serving the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It has been published since 1855, making it one of Australia's oldest newspapers and the second-oldest regional newspaper in New South Wa ...

and as such the competition is often referred to as the Illawarra Mercury Premier League.

History

The Illawarra Premier League was founded in 1977 with

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California *George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer to ...

taking out the inaugural championship, defeating Fairy Meadow 1-0 in the grand final. Fairy Meadow had won the inaugural Premiership.

Format

The competition consists of 12 teams from around the

Wollongong Wollongong ( ; Dharawal: ''Woolyungah'') is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near water' or 'sound ...

, and South Coast regions of

. Each team plays each other twice, to form a 22-round, round robin format. 5 teams progress to a month-long finals series. The final two teams play-off in a

grand final Primarily in Australian sports, a grand final is a game that decides a sports league's premiership (or championship) winning team, i.e. the conclusive game of a finals (or play-off) series. Synonymous with a championship game in North Ameri ...

to determine the winner.

Clubs

The following clubs competed in the 2024 Illawarra Premier League

Honours

Port Kembla FC are the most successful Illawarra Premier League club, with 9 grand final wins, and 7 Premierships since the league's inception in 1977. Source:

George Naylor Medalist

The George Naylor Medal goes to the player of the season.

Notes

References

External links

* {{official, https://footballsouthcoast.com/ – Football South Coast 5 Recurring sporting events established in 1977 1977 establishments in Australia Sports leagues established in 1977