Football Federation SA wishes all the best to the South Australian Boys National Training Centre (NTC) team who have started their 2015 NTC Challenge today in Canberra.

The 2015 Boys NTC Challenge will take a different format this year, with it being a critical event for selecting the intake in to the FFA Centre of Excellence for 2016 (located at the Australian Institute of Sport in Canberra).

2015 South Australia NTC Team: 

2015 NTC Challenge Format:

Players attending the FFA Centre of Excellence will have the opportunity to develop in a truly elite footballing environment and follow in the footsteps of Socceroos greats like Brett Emerton and Mark Bresciano. 

In order to ensure FFA’s technical study group are able to correctly identify the best potential players we have slightly adjusted the tournament format for 2015. The adjusted format will ensure the best potential players are selected regardless of their biological maturity. 

Biological maturity refers to a player’s physical maturity. Many 14-15 year old boys are subject to growth spurts; as a result, late developers are often left competing against more physically mature players in something that can resemble “David vs Goliath”. Therefore, in line with best practice (Belgium, Germany, Spain etc.), and in order to ensure that all aspiring players are given a fair chance to demonstrate their potential we would like to split the week into two parts. 

•    Day 1-3: Players will compete in their Member Federation teams. Each team will play 6 games. This provides players with the opportunity to play with players they are familiar with.
•    Day 4-5: Players will be split into new teams based on their biological maturity. This allocation will be done by the FFA medical team and an expert from Victoria University. These new teams will play three matches. 

Every player will have the opportunity to participate in nine games. FFA and other coaches will monitor equal playing time for every player. For the last two days players from the same biological maturity will compete against each other and playing in their preferred positions. These game opportunities will allow the Technical Study Group to judge every participating player with attention for every player and in an objective way.