The countdown is on! With the release of the 2025 NPLM Victoria season fixture, anticipation is building for what promises to be an unforgettable campaign. From fierce rivalries to the return of historic matchups, the new season is packed with exciting storylines, fresh faces, and clubs looking to make their mark.
Here’s a closer look at some of the must-watch clashes from the opening rounds that will set the tone for an action-packed year ahead.
Round 1: Preston Lions v Hume City
As far as returns to the top-flight are concerned, one hasn't been as eagerly anticipated as that of the once mighty Preston Lions. Having suffered the second of two relegations in three seasons in 2011, the Lions were left languishing in the third tier of Victorian football for the best part of a decade. But BT Connor Reserve has proven a fortress for the Lions in recent seasons, with a fervent home support delivering a genuine twelfth man in some of its most crucial fixtures as it has climbed back up to the summit of the Victorian pyramid. Hume City had a wonderful 2024, with an appearance in the Finals complimented by two fantastic Cup runs. BT Connor would hold little fear if history has anything to go by - their last league fixture at the venue resulting in an 8-0 whitewash under then Player-Coach Andy Vlahos.
Round 1: Dandenong City v St Albans Saints
It may be seen as the junior cousin of the three Croatian derbies, but this one at Frank Holohan Soccer Complex opens the season with both clubs optimistic of what 2025 may deliver. City, fresh from an inaugural Finals appearance in the top-flight under Nick Tolios, are keen to cement their place as Finals regulars, having surprised many pundits despite a lineup stacked with NPL experience. Dandenong took all 6 points in both encounters last season, two-goal margins both home and away suggesting a gulf in class, but that was before the Saints stormed home with five wins in six to avoid relegation and present a solid case for improvement under Cameron Watson. With five wins apiece in eleven matches in the NPL era, this opening round fixture will be critical to kick-starting the winning club's campaign.
Round 1: Oakleigh Cannons v Avondale
It's hard to believe that before COVID wreaked havoc with Victorian football that these clubs had one top-flight Premiership each to show for their efforts. Since football's resumption, the two have shared the past three Championships between them, not to mention a win each in the Dockerty Cup. Their three encounters last season were split, with a win, draw and loss - but the Cannons 3-0 demolition of Avondale at Avenger Park in the Preliminary Final set them on the path to ultimate success. Avondale could be excused for underperforming when it mattered most in 2024, but their Win-Loss record over the past four seasons suggests they will be thereabouts when Finals time arrives in August. As the reigning Champions, the Cannons will be keen to start their season on a firm footing at Jack Edwards Reserve, particularly against one of their keenest rivals.
Round 2: South Melbourne v Melbourne Knights
Victoria's oldest continuous rivalry stretches back to 1960, when the newly amalgamated entity of South Melbourne Hellas humbled Croatia 6-0 at Middle Park in the Victorian second tier. The club's rivalry evolved onto the Victorian State League, Dockerty and AMPOL Cups, not to mention the National Soccer League, where they played one of the great Grand Finals in domestic football history, South Melbourne winning a chaotic penalty shootout after storming home from a seemingly desperate position. With the death of that competition, the club's have shared the VPL/NPL spotlight. While South have claimed multiple Championships in that time the Knights have struggled to have the same impact they had on the national stage. Lakeside will no doubt be buzzing on a warm Monday evening as this epic rivalry witnessed another chapter in its 65-year history.
Round 3: Preston Lions v Altona Magic
The Ilinden Derby hasn’t been a feature on the Victorian football calendar in eight years, with the last meeting between the Macedonian giants midway through the 2017 Victorian State League First Division season. A certain Hakeem al-Araibi nabbed the winner in a pulsating contest at BT Connor Reserve which finished 3-2 to the Lions. Hark back to 2004 and a thrilling Elimination Final in front of a bumper crowd at the same venue witnessed the Magic cancel out an early Johnny Cvetanovski strike thanks to goals from Pece Cergovski and Marcus Stergiopolous in each half. With 15 years passing since their last top-flight encounter, BT Connor promises to be at its electric best as it welcomes their cousins from the West.
Round 3: Dandenong Thunder v Dandenong City
A feature of Dandenong City's recent arrival to the Victorian top-flight has been the genuine growth of the Dandenong derby. While the club's represent their respective Albanian and Croatian communities in the South-East with honour, this is a rivalry truly representative of the Greater Dandenong area, with many of the players at both clubs growing up and learning their football in the region. While City may have booked their place in the Finals this season, Thunder enjoyed bragging rights in the Dandy Derby, with a 3-1 win at Frank Holohan followed by a Birkan Kirdar inspired win at George Andrews Reserve, where both teams will lock horns once again in the third round in 2025.
Round 3: Melbourne Victory v South Melbourne
As far as match-ups go, could it be any more enticing? The most successful Victorian club in the A-League duelling with the most successful club in the NSL era. While the Victory Academy may only be experiencing it's second season in the Victorian top-flight, they have impressed in their return with a strong VPL1 campaign. South, smarting after a third successive Grand Final defeat will be champing at the bit to write the wrongs of those ultimate failures, and what better way than to show up the youngsters representing the Victory, veritable upstarts if history has anything to say in the matter. The only formline between these two teams was in 2016, Victory outclassed 4-1 at Epping Stadium after an impressive first up showing at Lakeside Stadium. Can the kids overcome history?
Round 5: Preston Lions v South Melbourne
Possibly the most anticipated fixture of the season, no doubt reinforced by the largest attendance of the Victorian domestic season in 2024, where South outlasted a gallant Preston Lions at BT Connor Reserve in the sixth round of the Dockerty Cup. A rivalry born in the same competition in 1966 - when Ernie Ackerly scored the only goal to give South Melbourne Hellas the win over Makedonia - the two clubs have faced off in some significant clashes, but the long periods of absence by virtue of their respective rise and fall from the national and domestic stage makes this first league encounter since 2009 a mouth-watering one. The Lions will be hopeful of fairing better than their relegated contemporaries from that season - South scoring an aggregate of 13 goals in two crushing home-and-away victories in that Victorian Premier League season.
Round 6: Melbourne Knights v Green Gully
With over 140 years of history between them, it is with some surprise that the rivalry between Melbourne Knights and Green Gully only turns 50 this season. Their first official meeting came in 1975, as they faced off at Montgomery Park in the Victorian Metropolitan League First Division. Gully prevailed with a 2-1 victory, but both clubs would have to bide their time before achieving promotion to the State League the following season. They would dominate the league over the ensuing period, sharing in five Championships between them before stepping up to an expanded NSL in 1984. Post that competition’s demise, the teams have met once in Finals, with the Chris Taylor coached Knights prevailing in the 2008 Qualifying Final via a penalty shootout.
Round 13: Heidelberg United v Port Melbourne Sharks
It may be one of several Greek derbies in the top-flight, but Heidelberg United and Port Melbourne Sharks traditionally delivers the goods, if not a glut of goals. Their first ever meeting in league competition came almost 30 years ago in 1996, the Bergers fresh from NSL relegation, scoring an emphatic 5-2 win at the Village in the opening round of the season, thanks to a brace each from NSL legends Peter Tsolakis and Bobby Despotovski. The clubs occupied positions 1 and 2 at the end of the home-and-away season five years later and faced off in the 2001 Grand Final. The Sharks pegged back a two-goal deficit thanks to Golden Boot winner Peter Psarros and a Cameron Brown own goal, only to fall short in the penalty shootout, Jim Kourtis making two crucial saves as Brown sealed a quick redemption, not to mention the club’s fourth League Championship.