Football Federation Australia has announced a revamp of the Foxtel National Youth League competition.
The move shortens the season from 18 rounds to 10 and divides the 10 participating teams into two conferences.
Clubs will only play eight games during the competition, with two byes splitting the five teams in each group.
Conference A contains Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City, Perth Glory, Adelaide United and Brisbane Roar.
The NSW-centric Conference B includes Sydney FC, Western Sydney Wanderers, Central Coast Mariners, Newcastle Jets and the FFA Centre of Excellence.
The competition will commence on the 7th of November 2015, concluding with a grand final between the top teams of each conference on the weekend of 23-24 January 2016.
Other changes include friendlier kickoff times that take summer temperatures into consideration, and an A-League curtain raiser between Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar on January 15 at AAMI Park.
Six games also work in tandem with W-League fixtures for double-header weekends, including:
Sat 14 Nov – Melbourne City v Perth Glory
Sun 22 Nov – Melbourne City vs Adelaide United
Sun 20 Dec – Melbourne Derby
Sun 15 Nov – Western Sydney Wanderers vs Central Coast Mariners
Sun 22 Nov – Sydney Derby
Sun 6 Dec – Sydney FC vs Newcastle Jets
The reform is designed to minimise travel and workload for youth players also involved in NPL competitions over the winter.
“The participation of Foxtel National Youth League teams in the PlayStation 4 National Premier Leagues (NPL) was seen as providing Hyundai A-League Clubs with a more effective youth development framework, without the extensive travel requirements that were deemed to be counterproductive to youth development,” FFA head of A-League, Damien de Bohun said.
“From next season all nine Australian Hyundai A-League clubs will have their youth teams will play in the relevant National Premier League competitions over the winter months against men and then come together for an abbreviated National Youth League season,” FFA Technical Director Eric Abrams added.