The 2026 season is the 67th in the history of South Melbourne Football Club. In addition to the regional league, the club participated in the Australian Championship for the second time, the Dockerty Cup for the 29th time, the Australia Cup for the 29th time and the OFC Professional League for the first time.
Overview NPL Victoria On 8 December 2025, the fixtures for the 2026 NPL season were released by Football Victoria. South Melbourne were drawn away to Avondale on the opening weekend, and finish the regular season away to Caroline Springs George Cross.
Australia Cup On 28 January 2026, Football Australia announced changes to the Australia Cup from the 2026 season. As winners of the 2025 Australian Championship, South Melbourne were awarded automatic entry into the Round of 32. South Melbourne were drawn to play A-League Men side Adelaide United at home. South Melbourne beat Adelaide United in what was considered a "cupset" 2–1. Bul Juach and Yuki Uchida grabbed the goals as they overturned a 1–0 deficit. In the Round of 16, South Melbourne were drawn at home to NPL Western Australia side Fremantle City.
Dockerty Cup As an NPL Victoria side, South Melbourne enter in Round 4. The draw for this round took place on 3 March 2026, with the Hellas being drawn away to the winner of Berwick City and Hampton East Brighton. The Hellas beat Victorian State League 1 South/East side Hampton East Brighton 2–1 to progress to the next round. In Round 5, South Melbourne were drawn at home to Victoria Premier League 1 side FC Bulleen Lions. They lost 4–1, ending their cup run.
OFC Pro League On 29 October 2025, South Melbourne were awarded a spot in the inaugural OFC Professional League. They kicked off their season with a 2–1 win over Tahiti United thanks to a goal eight minutes into stoppage time by substitute Andrew Mesourouni. Their second game, due to be held at North Harbour Stadium was postponed due to adverse weather in Auckland.
On 24 June 2026, South Melbourne signed David Yoo from South Island United, making this the first transfer between two OFC Professional League clubs.
Squad information First team
Transfers Note: Transfers' in/out date may refer to the date of announcement and not the date of signing from the mentioned players.
Transfers in No.PositionPlayerTransferred fromType/feeContract lengthDateRef. 16 Broadmeadow Magic Free transfer 1 year 8 January 2026 9 Marconi Stallions Free transfer 1 year 9 January 2026 7 Auckland United Free transfer 1 year 11 January 2026 13 Melbourne Victory Youth Free transfer 1 year 12 January 2026 8 Free Agent Free transfer 1 year 13 January 2026 30 Spartak Varna Free transfer 1 year 14 January 2026 7 South Island United Free transfer 6 months 24 June 2026 10 Pacific FC Free transfer 6 months 1 July 2026 8 Wellington Phoenix Free transfer 2 years 2 July 2026 5 Vanuatu United Loan 6 months 2 July 2026 6 Free transfer 6 months 2 July 2026 12 Newcastle Jets Free transfer 6 months 3 July 2026 Melbourne City Free transfer 3 months 2 October 2026 Western Sydney Wanderers Free transfer 1 year 2 October 2026
Transfers out No.PositionPlayerTransferred toType/feeDate24 Preston LionsLoan2 July 202524 Altona MagicLoan2 July 202531 Bayswater CityFree transfer2 July 202528 Springvale White EaglesFree transfer2 July 20252 Brunswick JuventusFree transfer2 July 202599 Caroline Springs George CrossFree transfer2 July 20258 Western United U21Free transfer2 July 202588 Manningham United BluesFree transfer2 July 202526 Bentleigh GreensFree transfer2 July 202515 Eastern LionsFree transfer2 July 2025— Bayside ArgonautsFree transfer2 July 202534 Springvale White EaglesFree transfer2 July 202539 Springvale White EaglesFree transfer2 July 202549 Springvale White EaglesFree transfer2 July 2025
Pre-season and friendlies
Competitions
Overall record
National Premier Leagues Victoria
League table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches The fixtures were announced on 7 December 2025.
Finals series
Australian Championship
League table
Matches The fixtures were announced on 16 September 2026.
Australia Cup
Dockerty Cup
OFC Professional League
Circuit Series
Circuit Series table
Results summary
Results by round
Matches The fixtures were announced on 24 November 2025.
Circuit 1
Circuit 2
Circuit 3
Circuit 4
Circuit 5
Leaders play-off group
Leaders play-off group table
Results by round
Matches The fixtures were announced on 22 April 2026 .
Knockout stage
Semi-final
Final
Statistics Appearances and goals Includes all competitions. Two own goals scored in OFC Pro League, one own goal scored in NPL Victoria and Dockerty Cup.
! colspan="18" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Goalkeepers
! colspan="18" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Defenders
! colspan="18" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Midfielders
! colspan="18" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Forwards
! colspan="18" style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center| Players who left during the season
Clean sheets Includes all competitive matches. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal. Numbers in parentheses represent games where both goalkeepers participated and both kept a clean sheet; the number in parentheses is awarded to the goalkeeper who was substituted on, whilst a full clean sheet is awarded to the goalkeeper who was on the field at the start of play. Goalkeepers with no clean sheets not included in the list.
PlayerNPL VictoriaAustralian ChampionshipAustralia CupDockerty CupOFC Pro LeagueTotal1 1 Javier López 3 0 0 0 1 42 30 Iliya Shalamanov-Trenkov 0 0 0 0 1 1 3 20 Jake Charlston 0 0 0 0 0 (1) 0 (1) Total 3 0 0 0 2 5
Disciplinary record Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
PlayerNPL VictoriaAustralian ChampionshipAustralia CupDockerty CupOFC Pro LeagueTotal 9FW Jordan Swibel 20000000000010030017MF Thomas Giannakopoulos 10000000000020030021MF Sebastian Pasquali 20000000000010030088MF Charlie Leech 1000000000002003004DF Marco Janković 10000000000010020031MF Ethan O’Sullivan 2000000000000002002DF Lucas Inglese 1000000000000001003DF Jordon Lampard 00000000000010010011FW Yuki Uchida 00000000000010010014MF Alex Menelaou 00000000000010010023DF Jacob Eliopoulos 00000000000010010024FW Nahuel Bonada 10000000000000010099MF Jack Pope 000000000000100100 Total 8 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 0 0 20 0 0
Awards Players No. Pos. Player Award Source 3 DF Jordon Lampard OFC Pro League Team of the Season 9 FW Jordan Swibel OFC Pro League Team of the Season 11 FW Yuki Uchida OFC Pro League Team of the Season 16 FW Arran Cocks NPL Victoria Young Team of the Season (substitute) 17 DF Thomas Giannakopoulos NPL Victoria Young Team of the Season (captain) NPL Victoria Rising Star – July 21 MF Sebastian Pasquali NPL Victoria Team of the Season (substitute) 22 MF Max Mikkola OFC Pro League Team of the Season (substitute)
References