Football Federation Victoria (FFV) has today confirmed the transfer of the National Premier Leagues (NPL) licence in the Bendigo region to new club Bendigo City FC.

Bendigo City FC takes over from FC Bendigo (the latter owned by Bendigo Amateur Soccer League (BASL)) as the holder of the NPL licence in Bendigo and will compete in the Playstation 4 NPL 1 West division in 2015.

It will hold the NPL licence for two years to bring it in line with all remaining NPL clubs in Victoria, and will play its home matches at Epsom Huntly Recreation Reserve.

FFV chief executive Peter Gome welcomed the NPL’s newest club and explained the reasons behind the licence transfer.

“FFV is delighted to welcome Bendigo City FC to the NPL,” Gome said.

“As part of the original Bendigo NPL application in 2013, it was always intended that BASL would operate the licence for the first year and then transfer it to a separate entity for 2015.

“Accordingly, a decision has now been made to assign the licence to Bendigo City FC as a completely independent entity to BASL. This will help ensure that the Bendigo football community is serviced by both a local competition and an NPL club in 2015 and beyond.”

Bendigo City FC interim president Corey Scoble said the club was thrilled to be granted an NPL licence.

“It’s just massive, and that’s probably the only word I can use. It’s been such a big effort for a small community like Bendigo with a growing population to make sure that we’re in the NPL,” Scoble said.

“The Bendigo City Council and Bendigo Bank are our major stakeholders here, and they’ve got behind a group of businessmen like myself to make sure that we can survive in the NPL.”