National Premier Leagues
Capital Football

Founded	2013 (12 years ago) (2013) 1992–2012(as Premier League) 1952–1991(as Division One)
Country	Australia
State	ACT NSW
Confederation	AFC
Number of clubs	11
Level on pyramid	2
Domestic cup(s)	Australia Cup Federation Cup
Current champions	Tigers FC (2025)
Current premiers	Canberra Croatia (2025)
Most championships	Canberra Olympic Canberra Croatia (3 titles)
Website	NPL Capital Football 1
Current:2025 NPL Capital Football

TheNational Premier Leagues Capital Football (also known asNPL ACT 1 or simplyNPL1) is asoccer competition contested by clubs affiliated toCapital Football. The league is the highest level (level 1) competition in theAustralian Capital Territory (ACT) region. It is a subdivision of theNational Premier Leagues and sits in Level 2 in the overallAustralian league system.^[1][2]

After the 2006 season, the tournament was reorganised based on criteria mandating a development pathway within clubs, where each club is required to field a squad in the reserves and Under-18 divisions. Nine teams contested in the Premier League in 2007, cutting Gungahlin Juventus, White Eagles and reigning premier Cooma Tigers from the top tier.^[3]

The same nine teams remained in the Premier League for 2008 and 2009. The pathway system was expanded to include a Premier U16 competition, with all nine clubs required to field a team from their club or an affiliated club. Capital Football initially revoked the licence of Queanbeyan City for the 2009 season, citing a non-compliance with the developmental and administrative standards expected for the league.^[4] However, Queanbeyan were reinstated on appeal and following the presentation of further evidence demonstrating these standards could be met.^[5]

At the close of the 2009 season, the licences of all participating clubs were reviewed and expressions of interest sought for new additional entrants to the competition for 2010–2012.

In November 2014Woden Weston FC was incorporated with the intention to merge the elite levels of Woden Valley FC and Weston Molonglo FC into one club, to compete in theNational Premier Leagues in 2015 and beyond. The new merged club was officially launched on 20 February 2015, with colours for their new strip sourced from both clubs (black from Weston Creek and red from Woden Valley).^[6]

In 2016 the league was expanded to 10 teams with the addition of theCanberra United Academy (CUA) team.^[7] The decision by Capital Football to include the CUA in the top division of ACT soccer was met with opposition by other clubs in the league, citing concern with the prospect of losing their best young players to the Academy.^[8] Along with the addition of the CUA, other clubs were concerned with lack of action taken on making the Presidents of the NPL clubs voting members of the Capital Football board. A possible rebel league was mooted, and it was believed there had already been contact made with the Referees' Association and potential sponsorship lined up by the NPL clubs.^[9]

2016 also saw the establishment of the Capital Football Charity Shield to be played between the Federation Cup winners and NPL league champions before the start of the regular NPL season, as a charity fund-raiser.^[10] The inaugural Capital Football Charity Shield match was contested on 18 March 2016 betweenCanberra FC (2015 League premiers) andGungahlin United (2015 Federation Cup winners) atGungahlin Enclosed Oval.^[11]

7 November 2016,Capital Football announced the introduction ofRiverina Rhinos for the men's and boy's National Premier Leagues Capital Football for2017. Riverina has replaced the controversialCanberra United Academy, who have been amalgamated with theFFA Centre of Excellence, maintaining a ten team league.^[12]

18 March 2017, Canberra Olympic won the first piece of ACT soccer silverware for the2017 season with an emphatic 5–2 victory over Tigers FC at Gungahlin Enclosed oval to claim the second edition of the ACT Charity Shield. The match raised $1500 for charityCanTeen Australia with both clubs and Capital Football each contributing $500. Joshua Gulevski and Stephen Domenici both scored braces for Olympic while a long range goal from Robbie Cattanach clinched the high scoring victory for last season's league and final double winners.^[13]

NPL1 Teams play a league season, followed by a finals series for the top 4 clubs. Clubs are required to field teams in all age groups (1st Grade and Under-20s).

A cup competition is contested by Premier League teams and other teams from the region, known as the Westfield FFA Cup Qualifiers, for which the winner is awarded theFederation Cup. The winners of the Federation Cup gain entry into the nationalFFA Cup competition.

In 2019, theNPL ACT 2 competition was formed. The bottom team from NPL 1 competition was relegated for the 2020 season.^[14][15]

The following clubs competed in the2026 season.

Belconnen United

Brindabella Blues

Canberra Croatia FC

Canberra Juventus

Canberra Olympic

White Eagles

O'Connor Knights

Tigers FC

Tuggeranong United

class=notpageimage|

2026 NPL1 ACT based clubs

Monaro Panthers

Queanbeyan City

class=notpageimage|

2025 NPL1 NSW based clubs

A snapshot of each NPL Capital Football 1 season since the formation of the NPL in 2013.

National Premier Leagues Capital Football honours since introduction in 2013.

A snapshot of each ACT top division season between 1952 and 2012 before the NPL started in 2013.^[17][18]

Pre-NPL era Division 1 honours since 1952.

• Soccer in the Australian Capital Territory
• Sport in the Australian Capital Territory
• National Premier Leagues

• Capital Football home
• NPL Capital Football Page
• NPL Australia home
• NPL Capital Football Archive website

• National Premier Leagues Capital Football
• National Premier Leagues
• Soccer leagues in the Australian Capital Territory
• Second level football leagues in Asia
• 2013 establishments in Australia
• Sports leagues established in 2013

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2010
• Use dmy dates from June 2020
• Use Australian English from August 2019
• All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Pages using infobox football league with province, state, or region