NPLW explained: what your daughter's trial actually means

Your daughter has been invited to trial for NPLW. The letters stand for National Premier Leagues Women's. It is the top semi-professional women's competition in Australia outside the A-League Women. There is a structural difference here that most parents miss at first reading. NPL Men's is now the third tier of Australian football, sitting below the new Australian Championship that launched in October 2025. There is no Australian Championship for women. There is no national women's second tier at all. NPLW sits directly under the A-League Women as the second tier of Australian women's football, run state-by-state by your state body. NPLW operates in seven state bodies: Football NSW, Northern NSW Football, Football Victoria, Football Queensland, Football South Australia, Football West, and Capital Football. Football Tasmania has its own top women's competition called the McDonald's Women's Super League, not branded NPLW. Football NT runs separate. From the 2026 season, A-League Women clubs have started entering academy teams into NPLW. Here is what NPLW actually is and what the trial invitation means for your daughter.