Central Coast Mariners Academy

Central Coast Mariners Academy

Full name	Central Coast Mariners Football Club Academy
Nickname(s)	Mariners
Founded	2008 (as Central Coast Mariners Youth) 2012 (as Central Coast Mariners Academy)
Ground	Pluim Park
Capacity	2,000
Owner	Richard Peil
Chairman	Richard Peil
Head Coach	Lucas Vilela
League	National Premier Leagues NSW
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The Central Coast Mariners Academy (CCMA) is the youth system of Central Coast Mariners FC based in Gosford, Australia. The academy teams play in the National Premier Leagues NSW competition, the top flight of the NPL NSW system. Senior players occasionally play in the academy side, as in the case when they're recovering from injury. Lucas Vilela is the current academy first grade coach. They train at the Central Coast Mariners Centre of Excellence and play their home games at Pluim Park.

Academy team history

First Academy (2012–2014)

Central Coast Mariners Academy was formed as a joint venture between the Mariners and Central Coast Football to provide a junior development pathway to the NYL and A-League sides. Prior to 2012 the academy existed solely as a junior side; however in 2012 it was accepted to participate in the New South Wales Premier League.^[1] In October 2012 the club announced that Joey Peters had been appointed as senior coach. The club finished tenth from twelve clubs in its first two seasons.

CCMA prided themselves on producing talented young players and providing a pathway for Central Coast Mariners in the Hyundai A-League. Based on appearances for CCMA 15 year old Daniel McFarlane earned trials in the UK with Swansea City and Birmingham City. Patrick Zwaanswijk signed up McFarlane up for the CCMA in the National Youth League. Local players Steve Whyte, Josh Forbes, Bradley Wilson and Nathan Verity also made sufficient impressions in the NSWPL season to earn them a contract in the NYL squad.

Following disputes between the Mariners and Central Coast Football over technical and financial aspects of the program, the Football NSW licence to run the representative side on the Central Coast was handed back to Central Coast Football in August 2014 and the Academy program was closed.^[2]

2015–present

A competitions review conducted by Football NSW in 2015 recommended that academy sides from Sydney FC and Western Sydney Wanderers be included in the National Premier Leagues NSW competitions, with the inclusion of a Central Coast side to be determined between the Mariners and Central Coast Football. The Mariners subsequently applied for entry to the NPL and SAP in August 2015^[3] and were accepted from the 2016 season onwards,^[4] replacing Central Coast FC. The Mariners won the 2020 NPL2 premiership and grand final, as well as the 2022 NPL2 premiership, securing their promotion to the 2023 NPL competition.

Players

As of February 2024^[5]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  AUS Jack Warshawsky — GK  AUS Jai Ajanovic —  AUS Daniel Vickers — DF  AUS Michael Paragalli — DF  SSD Cher Deng — DF  AUS Andrew Parkes — DF  AUS Harry Menham — MF  AUS Jordan Small — MF  AUS Matej Busek — MF  MLT Lucas Scicluna — FW  AUS Nicholas Duarte — FW  AUS Luka Smyth — FW  AUS Donatien Niyonkuru — MF  AUS Taye Hedley —  AUS Yani Nassis — DF  AUS Jacob Tresoglavic — MF  AUS Amponsah Antwi

No. Pos. Nation Player —  AUS Prayaag Thapa — FW  AUS Ethan Debono — FW  AUS Adil Toska —  AUS Harvey James —  AUS Jude Rankin —  AUS Rocco Smith — MF  AUS Arthur De Lima —  AUS Angus Reid —  AUS Freddie Clunas — DF  AUS Sasha Kuzevski —  AUS Ahmad El Helou —  AUS Alexander Gountounas —  AUS Parker Williams —  AUS Agieg Aluk — FW  AUS Bailey Brandtman —  AUS Will Rankin —  AUS Adam Hall

Current staff

Head Coaches:

Staff:

Honours

Youth

• NPL 2/NSW League One Premiership
  • Runners-up: 2014
  • Premiers: 2020, 2022
  • Champions: 2020

Under-23s

• Y-League Premiership
  • Premiers: 2009–10, 2011–12
  • Runners-up: 2010–11, 2012–13

Academy

• Football NSW League One Youth U-20 Premiership
  • Premiers: 2015, 2018, 2022
  • Runners-up: 2019
  • Champions: 2020
• Football NSW League One Youth U-20 Championship
  • Champions: 2015
• Football NSW League One Youth U-18 Premiership
  • Premiers: 2014, 2017, 2018
  • Runners-up: 2019
• Football NSW League One Youth U-18 Championship
  • Champions: 2014, 2015, 2018
  • Runners-up: 2017

Notable academy and youth team players

The following list of youth team or Academy players have been capped in a full international. Players still currently playing for the club are in bold. Other still active players are in italics.

See also

• Central Coast Mariners FC
• Central Coast Mariners FC (W-League)

References

External links