‘We need it’: 2024 champion to be crowned as NPL NSW bring back finals series for upcoming season

After controversially scrapping it last year, the NPL NSW has brought back the finals series for 2024. Read about what officials and coaches think of the backflip.

Blacktown City won the 2022 NPL NSW Grand Final

A champion will once again be crowned this season after the NPL NSW confirmed the finals series is back for the upcoming 2024 season.

The competition was extended to 30 matches last season while controversially scrapping a championship series, with APIA Leichhardt named premiers.

Omitting the series last year earned mixed opinions from coaches, with Marconi Stallions manager Peter Tsekenis calling it the wrong decision.

“Every other competition had it last year but us, so not having finals in just one competition didn’t make sense to me,” Tsekenis said.

“Now we’re reverting back to it which means getting rid of it obviously wasn’t the right decision.”

APIA Leichhardt claimed the 2023 NSW NPL Premiership. Picture: Brett Nielsen

Football NSW head of competitions Troy McColl said reintroducing the finals series will be beneficial for clubs and Football NSW as a whole.

“The rationale for bringing it back is that the championship series provides a great competition and incentive for the entire length of the premiership season for all teams,” McColl said.

“It also re-establishes a flagship event that is delivered by Football NSW and supported by the football community.”

Having a champion crowned at the end of a thrilling finals series is a mainstay of Australian sport but a foreign concept in international football, with the majority of domestic league adopting the ‘first past the post’ mentality and simply having an overall premier at the end of the season.

But APIA Leichhardt coach Franco Parisi said finals have become an integral part of Australian football.

“I think we’re in a country where you need that,” Parisi said.

“The purists will always say it needs to be like it is in Europe, but we shouldn’t be comparing to other countries.

“Everyone loves a finals series here and I don’t know why we thought we could do without it.”

NWS Spirit coach David Perkovic said he’s glad finals are back, and having another goal when a team is out of the premiership race and not at risk of relegation keeps the season interesting.

“It gives those middle teams something to strive for if you’re out of the championship race,” Perkovic said.

“The team that finishes at the top of the ladder obviously had the best outcome for the season, but it does make it a little more interesting having finals back.”

The top two teams will sit out the first week of finals, with third to play sixth and fourth to play fifth in an elimination final at the end of August.

The winners will then face one of the top two to determine the grand finalists, which will take place on the first weekend of September.

Stay up to date will all the all the player movements with our NPL signings tracker, and get ready for kick-off with our season preview.