Sunshine Coast Fire reveal overseas competition admission amid Football Queensland dispute

A leading junior football academy has lost so much faith in the game’s landscape in Australia that it has made the extraordinary move to join two youth leagues in the United Kingdom. Discover what it means for the players involved.

Sunshine Coast FC Fire. Picture: Facebook

A Sunshine Coast club has lost so much faith in Australia’s football landscape it has made the extraordinary move to join two youth leagues in the United Kingdom.

Queensland’s Sunshine Coast Football Club has dropped a bombshell, revealing two of their junior teams would compete in the under-16 National Youth League (NFYL) and the under-19 Junior Premier League (JPL) in the UK from September 2025.

It follows a running battle with Football Queensland that left the club excluded from Australia’s traditional competitions.

In October last year the club was forcibly removed from all junior and senior Football Queensland competitions and were not invited to apply for a new license after receiving a legal letter from their own governing body.

A month later the club announced its plans to join a Football Victoria competition and play all senior home games out of a ground in Melbourne in the 2024 season.

The club said they still had ‘no idea’ why the had been removed in the first place while a Football Queensland spokesperson said there were no legal matters in existence between the parties.

“Despite being offered affiliation to Football Queensland for junior and senior community teams to participate in the 2024 season, Sunshine Coast FC chose not to affiliate and continues to operate as a private business outside of the federated club system,” the spokesperson said.

“Football Queensland has received no communication from Sunshine Coast FC since 2 November 2023 when affiliation documents were issued to the club.”

Sporting Director Melvyn Wilkes said the club made moves to join the UK leagues because he didn’t want to have to wait around and see the club’s current crop of junior stars miss out on furthering their careers.

“Whilst we’ve been working on and navigating the issue with Football Queensland, we started communications with these two major leagues in the UK in November,” he said.

“We’ve since managed to gain affiliation with the English FA and we’re then permitted to compete and have affiliation with both of those professional leagues.”

“After listening to our parents and players, they want to be tested against the very best.

“Looking at the way football is over in Australia at the moment, we can’t afford for our progressing full time academy to wait for the game to catch up.”

Wilkes said the Fire would be the first football club to not only compete in the two competitions from outside of the UK, but also the only club to relocate to another country.

The NFYL side would be based in the North West Championship division while the JPL team will compete in the Midlands Division.

The Fire would compete against renowned professional clubs with development squads such as Liverpool, Everton, Leeds United, Chelsea, Newcastle United and others, including the Nationwide League Youth Cup and Trophy competitions.

The NYFL is known for providing players into professional careers, providing a platform for teenagers who may have been overlooked by mainstream academies.

Since 2002, more than 80 players have signed Premier League, English Football League or overseas contracts with a further 60 acquiring National League North and South or international honours.

The JPL is renowned for its player-focused approach, emphasising development.

The JPL is the only national league in England for under-7 to under-18 players with more than 35,000 juniors competing against some of the country’s most prestigious clubs and development programs.

It’s believed one in 11 players progress to professional football club academies through playing in the JPL.

Sporting director Melvyn Wilkes and head of sports science and performance Bruno Pena Couto. Picture: Patrick Woods.

Players will be required to commit to a 10 month full-time program in the UK, consisting of pre-season preparations, training, matches and remote online learning delivered by Peregian Beach College.

“We’re not looking to take kids out of Australia full stop, some will inevitably be looked at by different elite level clubs but ultimately they should come back a better player and person which will help them head into domestic competitions at the senior level,” he said.

Wilkes said the club was unsure of the final costs but would be travelling back and forth to the UK in the coming weeks to finalise accommodation and training base logistics.

“We’ll probably have an indicative cost within the next couple of weeks and we’re hoping to pull a package together where everything is included,” he said.

“It’s not a money making exercise, it’s an opportunity for the kids to compete and play against the very best.”

The players would also steer clear of any Visa concerns.

“Because it’s an under-18 educational exchange, as long as we don’t exceed 12 months we’re fine and anyone over 18 is okay too,” he said.

In a statement by the club it read the college would soon commence the recruitment process for those specific 2025 age grounds and noted the UK operations will be in addition to the existing full-time academy program at Peregian Beach College.

Wilkes said the club would be viewing a 16-month window to attract applications from parents and players across Australia.

“Once we start to get the material out there, we suspect applications from everywhere to be honest,” he said.

“It will give us time to do some in-depth work to prepare these players for what’s to come because this competition is going to be absolutely fierce.

Wilkes said information regarding expressions of interest for players and parents will be published by the club in due course.

Football Queensland have been contacted for comment.