Melbourne City FC commenced its PlayStation 4 2016 National Premier Leagues 2 West campaign in style on Saturday night with a comprehensive 4-0 win over Bendigo City.
Goals to Phil Petreski, Stefan Zinni, Jordan Hall and Giuseppe Marafioti secured a convincing first round away win at Epsom Huntly Reserve in Bendigo, with City and Moreland Zebras the only two clubs to register opening day wins in the NPL 2 West competition.
The Club’s under-20s team also enjoyed the perfect start to its title defence running out 2-1 winners against Bendigo City.
The Club’s 23-man senior NPL squad contains three players with Hyundai A-League experience in Ali Eyigun, Stefan Zinni and Steve Kuzmanovski, while youth team regulars Philip Petreski and Yaren Sozer both featured in the Club’s pre-season friendly against Manchester City in July 2015.
Foxtel National Youth League title-winning Head Coach Joe Palatsides, who has been with the Club for four consecutive seasons, will oversee the operations of both teams as the Club’s Head of Academy Coaching.
Palatsides also assumes the role of Head Coach of the NPL seniors alongside Assistant Coach Lachlan Armstrong.
Proven youth and Westfield W-League Championship winning coach Joe Montemurro and Hyundai A League Assistant Coach Ivan Jolic will co-coach the under-20s, who will aim to defend their title after being crowned champions in a dominant NPL 2 campaign last season.
Sam Frangos will continue in his role as the Goalkeeping Coach for both squads.
In an exciting development, both teams will continue to train at Melbourne City FC’s Academy Pitches, which are considered Hyundai A-League standard training pitches, located at the City Football Academy, Melbourne and will, for the first time, play home matches on the Academy Pitches.
Melbourne City FC is competing in the West conference, with Victoria’s second division split across East and West, holding 10 teams in each conference.
The Club is to announce an exciting major sponsor for the NPL teams soon.
Melbourne City FC NPL Senior Squad (23 players): Yaren Sozer (GK), Jack West-Astuti (GK), Bradley Clarke, Phil Petreski, Luke Gallo, Tomislav Fadljevic, Leo Athanasiou, Stefan Zinni, Ali Eyigun, Yusuf Ahmed, Jordon Hall, Mehdi Sarwari, Bailey Row, Denis Genreau, Marcus Dimanche, Nicolas Gonzalez, Giuseppe Marafioti, Austin Wong, William Nuttall, Thomas Barforosh, Steve Kuzmanovski, Christopher Cristaldo, Connor Metcalfe
Melbourne City FC NPL under-20 Squad (20 players): James Delianov (GK), Rory Curran (GK), Gerrie Sylaidos, Stefan Colakovski, Dylan Pierias, Mersim Memeti, Mitchell Trajcevski, Nathaniel Atkinson, Kobe Timms, Michael Yoseski, Alex Petropoulos, Steven Lechowicz, Liam Ward, Nicholas Dib, Zac Bates, Julian Zinni, Sebastin Kis, Anthony Theodoropoulos, Otman Benhaddou, Lucas Portelli,
