By Kieran Yap 6/1/26
Above: Santi Escudero. Photo: Adrian Geremia for Impetus
Melbourne Victory are about to enter the Victorian NPLW. Head coach Santi Escudero and Team Manager Emma Checker spoke to Impetus about the club’s ambitions.
Melbourne Victory’s women’s program has long been one of the benchmarks in Australia. The club has attracted some of the biggest names from overseas, developed Matildas stars and regularly contended for trophies.
Heading into 2026, the club has taken important steps to not only continue that success but improve on it. For the first time, Melbourne Victory will field an U23 side in the NPLW Victoria.
This move will ensure that young players can develop internally, in the same system, with access to the highest-level facilities. If successful, the pathways for domestic Australian football will more closely resemble Europe’s, and with the talent and experience on board, there is every chance it will.
The first head coach of this program will be Santi Escudero. A current assistant to Jeff Hopkins, Escudero comes with an impressive track record in Australia and extensive experience abroad.
Hailing originally from Valencia in Spain, Escudero found his way to Australian women’s football, through stints as a researcher at Villareal, where he worked with former Victory men’s coach Carlos Salvachua, then through the Real Madrid Foundation and most recently as head coach of FV Academy, Football Victoria’s former development side in the NPLW.
Escudero is joined on staff by an A-League Women icon, NPLW star and former Matilda Emma Checker. The centre back ended her distinguished playing career with Preston Lions in 2025, after almost 15 years as a professional footballer.
“The difference will be massive,” Escudero told Impetus when asked about the impact the program can make.
“Because until this moment, the A-League Clubs didn’t have any reserve team or any young team that can be in competition, and that’s very important.”
Under the previous system, young players could find an NPLW club throughout the A-League off-season to gain experience, but there was no deliberate, clear pathway to Australia’s top tier. Escudero believes that Victory’s NPLW program can accelerate progress for individuals and the sport.
“It’s important, not only for the good for football, for or Melbourne Victory, it’s for all girls’ football.
“Because we are going to run with the same program as the men’s….and that’s the system that is works around the world. So, that is a great step forward.”
Emma Checker’s experience playing in Australia, South Korea, France and Sweden since the age of 15 makes her a valuable authority of what can help young players reach their potential.
After retiring from the NPLW playing duties at the end of the 2025 season with Preston Lions, Checker was excited to get stay involved in the sport. A strong relationship with Victory Football Director John Didulica opened the door.
While Escudero will be calling the shots on matchday, Checker will fill a behind the scenes role a team manager, ensuring that the players and staff will have everything they need to perform at their best.
“I guess now, coming off the back of playing, my ideal way of staying involved was more in a mentoring capacity, and I guess further progressing the pathway for young girls,” Checker told Impetus.
“This gave me a bit of an opportunity to dive into both of those areas in being a mentor for the girls within the program, but also shaping what the program actually looks like.”
A unique position
Both Escudero and Checker believe that what sets this NPLW program aside from other youth development systems in the state, is that it will aim to directly prepare the young players for A-League football, both on and off the pitch. The jump in individual playing standard between the leagues is not a big one, but the aim to give the best prospects the highest chance of success with the club and even beyond it.
“I think we’re in a pretty unique position, in the sense that our girls get exposure to what an A-League women’s program looks like,” said Checker.
“While we’re obviously also trying to continue to develop what the A-League space looks like, this is the best opportunity to give the young girls the opportunity to stretch and reach for that next step.
“I think this is a part of, getting closer to what we aspire to be like with some of the overseas leagues, where they’ve got second-tier teams and a genuine progression from being a junior through to a senior player at a club.
“Obviously, a lot of work has gone into getting this license, and I’m genuinely grateful for those that put in the time and effort, because this is the first step towards that.
“This gives the A-League an opportunity to have a second team as such, where everyone’s now got an opportunity to get game time.
“The A- league was a little bit behind in that sense, where the younger girls who were good enough to be signed, but not good enough to necessarily play each week, weren’t getting game time anywhere.
“So I think the benefit of this is. They now have that opportunity, and the second benefit is our younger girls who are exclusively part of the NPL program, get that amazing opportunity to share the field with A-League players as well, and intertwine with what their systems look like.
“I think we are on track to progressing things…and I think the best part about getting this license is that we are taking the right steps, and as a club, we’re taking a lot of pride in being part of the program.”
Knowledge and quality
Among Victorian football circles there is a general excitement that Escudero is the right man for the job. The performances by FV Academy were impressive and entertaining in the 2025 season, but results were not the primary or realistic aim of that program, development was.
Escudero was able to drastically and visibly improve the side in a matter of weeks, with an attractive, possession based and attacking style of play, where young current Victory players like Poppy O’Keeffe and Fiorina Iaria were given freedom to play and confidence to grow.
This was accomplished during a season interrupted by needing to step away and coach Victoria in the National Championships, where the state’s U16 side lifted the trophy.
One of the most notable jumps in performance was a re-match against South Melbourne. After a 7-2 defeat in March, Escudero’s team responded with a 0-0 draw that they were unlucky not to win. FV Academy looked the stronger side for much of the game, despite South having also signed their captain since that first encounter. It underlined his commitment to developing young players and according to him, it is a question mainly of experience, which is what this NPLW program hopes to help with.
This NPLW side, aims to increase match minutes for young players, a vital part of player development and a challenge for many in Australia.
“The difference in between the senior teams in NPL for FV Victoria last season and Melbourne victory in the U23s, is only the experience.
“So, as soon as possible, we can put knowledge and put more experience, on those girls.
“I think that’s the key, to be competitive and to get the same level that some clubs.
“That takes time, for sure, because it’s not the same first three games as the last three games, because during the competition, the girls are getting experience.
“At the end, with the talent that they have, the quality that they have, they are very, very competitive, so the level is almost the same, in terms of performance.
“What I try to do during the training session is to try to put my experience up as a soccer player, my experience as a coach, I try to put that in their mentality.
“I try to put more knowledge than quality, because all those girls, they have enough quality. They are talented players.
“Some of them, they play Junior Matildas, Young Matildas, or they played last season in NPL, so that we need this as soon as possible to understand what’s football, what’s the reality.
“The girls, they are very proactive to learn, they want to learn, they listen, and they are curious to know more about all the new things.”
As an U23 side, the Victory NPLW team will provide players with a valuable stepping stone, bridging the leap in pace and physicality between youth and senior football.
As a former prodigy herself, Checker reflects on her own career path and sees how something like this could be helpful to rising stars of the future.
“I think there’s always going to be those unique circumstances where a player is more advanced and ready to jump and, I guess, skip that level, but the reality is, I would say more than 90% of players do still need that more gradual progression.
“Even in the way that we’ve set up our systems where our NPL girls train right before the A-League, so they get to cross over with the A-League girls at the exact same training facility, and access to the same staff.
“If one of those girls were to get, offered an A-League contract the next season, they’ve had such, great exposure to what it already looks like.
“It’s a very, very unique position now that girls actually have this opportunity in a way that we’ve never seen before.
“For me, it was very much like, get pulled out of a club, like a local club team, and just go straight to an A-League team, whereas this now gives that, connection piece between.
“But what I would say is, I think a lot of NPL clubs have put a big emphasis recently on improving the women’s program, and I experienced it being a player in the NPL, I think it’s changed and come a long way.
“So, while the A-League teams that now have a license are obviously lifting the bar, I think there’s a lot of clubs that are also trying to do the same thing in recognising the space, that women’s football and what it needs, and just making sure that we are giving young girls the best possible opportunity to, make the next level.”
As Victory prepare for their first foray into the NPLW, the club’s aims are ambitious, but patient. Obviously staying out of the relegation battle is important, and a top four finish is ideal, but Escudero and Checker are both united in working towards the long-term future of the program, the club and the players they work with.
“In terms of objectives, all of us want the best, we’re looking for the best for Melbourne Victory as a Club,” said Escudero
“The first step is to try to move up as most players as possible, with a higher level that we can during this season, because our priority is the elite team.
“After that, for sure, we want to be competitive, and to get us most victories as possible, but we need to remember that that’s a development program.
“In the program, you must take time to develop players, and you must take time to prepare the team to compete.”
“If we talk about some other NPL clubs, let’s say South Melbourne, they are training to compete, training to win.
“We’re training to develop players, to improve players, at the same time, we need to compete… and at the end of the competition that we want is to keep the under-23s in the NPL, because that means that next season, maybe we can move one step forward, and we can work as well to get into the top four.”
Not just box ticking
Emma Checker was accustomed to success as a player. Knockout football was always a goal and as a Matilda, success was expected.
In support of Escudero, she hopes to pass this along to the next generation of Melbourne Victory stars, to help them reach the top, and the NPLW side will be an important part of that journey.
“The club has put so much emphasis on making sure that this program replicates as closely as possible what an A-League women’s program looks like.
“They have worked really hard at making sure that there’s crossover between staff, and resourcing, like sharing home of the Matildas, making sure that timing is set up for crossover, so I think there’s been a real priority in that, and being able to get Santi across the line is a really great example of how much the program means to the club.
“A lot of work goes in by the clubs to reach a point of gaining this license, but also getting it off the ground. So, getting the license is one thing, but you’ve got to actually be able to use it and have the systems in place to actually succeed, with a longer-term goal.
“It’s just that real focus on making sure we’re not just box ticking, we’re not just entering the league to say, ‘yep, we’re in the NPL’
“We’re entering this league to make sure that we are providing a genuine pathway, and one that hasn’t been provided before.”
Melbourne Victory’s first NPLW game will be against Bulleen Lions on February 14
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