JPL Australia Football in the Southern Highlands

ARETE Football provides U8–U13 players from Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and across the Southern Highlands with the opportunity to compete in JPL Australia.

Based in Mittagong, ARETE combines The ARETE Way with structured, competitive JPL football and access to the wider representative, tournament and international opportunities available through JPL Australia.

For us, the two work together naturally: ARETE is the environment in which we develop and support the player; JPL Australia provides the competition and wider opportunities in which they can test themselves.

What is JPL Australia?

JPL Australia is a junior football competition built around player development, meaningful competition and creating more opportunities for young footballers.

The core competition for 2027 is the JPL Championship, providing teams with regular, structured fixtures within clear competition and matchday standards. Alongside the Championship sit additional opportunities including JPL Warriors, the Summer Series and JPL All Stars & Pathways.

JPL is not simply about playing another weekly fixture. The aim is to connect local competition with opportunities that can take players beyond their regular club environment — including representative football, tournaments and international experiences.

That fits closely with what we want for ARETE players:

Good coaching. Competitive football. Wider opportunities.

ARETE in JPL Australia

ARETE Football will compete in JPL Australia from the 2027 season, providing a JPL club environment for junior players in the Southern Highlands.

But there's an important distinction between the two.

ARETE Football is the club your child belongs to. It's where they train, develop, build relationships with their coaches and teammates and experience The ARETE Way.

JPL Australia provides the competition and wider football platform in which ARETE teams participate.

That means our players can develop locally in Mittagong while being connected to something much bigger.

Our aim isn't simply to put ARETE teams into a league.

We want players to experience an environment where they are known, challenged and supported, and then have meaningful opportunities to put that development into practice through competitive football.

The ARETE Way develops the player.

JPL provides opportunities to test that development.

Which age groups compete?

For 2027, ARETE will initially provide teams from:

U8 · U9 · U10 · U11 · U12 · U13

JPL uses age-appropriate playing formats designed to develop as players progress through junior football. For ARETE's 2027 age groups these are:

U8–U9 7v7 4 × 10 minutes - U10–U12 9v9 4 × 15 minutes - U13 11v11 box-to-box 2 × 35 minutes

The progression from 7v7 through 9v9 and towards 11v11 gives players increasing space, tactical responsibility and complexity as their football develops. These are the formats set out in the ARETE/JPL 2027 parent information.

For ARETE, though, moving through the age groups should mean more than simply playing on a bigger pitch.

As players develop, we want them to become more confident, more capable of making their own decisions and increasingly responsible for solving the problems the game presents them.

What does a JPL matchday look like?

A JPL matchday should feel competitive without losing sight of development.

Players represent ARETE, compete against other JPL clubs and are expected to play with intensity, effort and a genuine desire to win.

We don't believe development and competition are opposites.

We want our players to compete. We want them to care about the result.

But the result cannot become more important than the child or their development.

Matchdays are therefore another part of the learning environment.

Players need opportunities to make decisions, try things, solve problems, make mistakes and respond to those mistakes — rather than simply having every decision made for them from the sideline.

For parents, that means you should expect an environment that values positive behaviour, respect for referees, player welfare and appropriate matchday standards alongside competitive football.

Those expectations are also part of JPL Australia's wider 2027 emphasis on clearer rules, policies and matchday standards.

The 2027 JPL season

The JPL Australia 2027 season is scheduled to begin on:

14 February 2027

ARETE's preparation starts before then.

October 2026
ARETE trials and team selection

Term 4 2026
Team training and friendly matches

14 February 2027
JPL Australia season begins

Terms 1–3
JPL Championship football

Term 4
Summer football opportunities

This means players joining ARETE aren't simply meeting for the first time shortly before their opening JPL game. We want the final part of 2026 to give teams time to train together, understand how we want to play and, importantly, begin building relationships with their coaches and teammates. Our existing parent guide sets out that October-to-February progression.

 

Representative and All Stars opportunities

JPL football can provide opportunities beyond a player's regular club team.

The JPL Australia All Stars programme creates representative opportunities for selected players, connecting players from different JPL clubs and giving them the chance to experience football beyond their normal weekly competition.

In 2026, JPL Australia took an All Stars team to South Korea, demonstrating what that wider pathway can look like for Australian players and families. JPL's 2027 plans continue to connect local competition with representative, tournament and international opportunities.

For an ARETE player, we see that pathway simply as:

COMPETE

Represent ARETE in JPL Australia.

REPRESENT

Earn opportunities through JPL Australia All Stars and representative football.

EXPERIENCE

Access wider tournaments, tours and international football experiences.

Importantly, selection for representative opportunities is not guaranteed.

Our responsibility at ARETE is to help players develop and be ready if an opportunity comes. What they do with that opportunity belongs to them.

International opportunities

One of the exciting aspects of the wider JPL network is the potential for football to create experiences beyond Australia.

JPL Australia has already delivered an All Stars experience in South Korea in 2026, with further international opportunities being developed for 2027.

Current plans include:

South Korea — late July 2027
Confirmed in the current JPL Australia 2027 pathway planning.

Real Madrid — April 2027
Currently in development.

European tournaments and club experiences
Opportunities involving destinations and clubs including Real Madrid, Barcelona, Juventus, AC Milan and Borussia Dortmund are among the wider JPL opportunities being explored or made available subject to programme availability.

The broader international programme also identifies potential tournament experiences across Spain, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, alongside football experiences associated with major European clubs.

These opportunities are additional and optional. Participation is not guaranteed simply by being an ARETE or JPL player, and dates, age groups, places, inclusions and costs are confirmed before families are asked to make any commitment.

I think that disclaimer is particularly important. It lets us sell the genuine excitement of the pathway without making ARETE sound like one of those clubs promising every eight-year-old a European football career.

How can my child play JPL in the Southern Highlands?

For families in Mittagong, Bowral, Moss Vale and across the Southern Highlands, ARETE Football provides an opportunity for U8–U13 players to join a local team competing in JPL Australia.

Players interested in joining ARETE for 2027 can register for our October 2026 trials.

But we see the trial as a two-way process.

We're interested in where a player is today, but also their attitude, willingness to learn and the potential we believe is there to grow.

And the trial isn't only about us assessing your child.

It's an opportunity for them to experience ARETE, meet our coaches and other players, and decide whether this feels like a team they want to be part of.

We're not only asking:

“How good are they now?”

We're also asking:

“Who could they become?”

U8–U13 · October 2026 · Mittagong

 

JPL Football in the Southern Highlands

ARETE Football is based in Mittagong and welcomes players from across the Southern Highlands, including Bowral, Moss Vale, Mittagong and surrounding communities.

Our aim is to give local players access to a strong junior football environment without believing they have to leave the Southern Highlands simply to find meaningful development and competitive opportunities.

Start in the Southern Highlands. See where football takes you.

ARETE FOOTBALL
Excellence · Character · Potential