The Canberra United Academy is no more.
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Capital Football has decided to axe the academy after eight years and they'll replace it with a "talented sports program".
That means CUA won't be part of next year's NPLW competition, having fielded teams in it since 2016.
The new program could still bear the Canberra United name, but that decision was yet to be finalised.
While the finer details of it were still being ironed out, it will be a more conventional development system that provided elite training rather than effectively operating as a club.
It was CUA's participation in the league that drew the criticism from clubs, who felt their own governing body was taking their players to play against them.
On the flipside, it was meant to provide a development pathway to Canberra United - the capital's highly successful A-League Women's team.
The Canberra Times revealed on September 13 the academy's future was in doubt.
The decision comes in the wake of the Matildas' inspiring World Cup campaign, where they made the semi-final before finishing fourth.
Their success has sparked a surge of interest in women's soccer, with Canberra United breaking their membership record well before the upcoming season kicks off.
Capital Football chairperson Angelo Konstantinou was confident the clubs were ready to bear the development load.
He pointed to the quality of the grand finals on the weekend, with Canberra Olympic beating Belconnen United 4-3 to win the NPLW title.
"The clubs, as you can see from the games on the weekend, have stepped up their game in player development and we think they're capable now of being able to run these programs and develop players," Konstantinou said.
"We'll have our technical department working with the clubs to also assist in developing these players within the clubs and within the TSPs."
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Konstantinou said they would release the final details of the new program, including the selection process, in the coming weeks.
He hoped it would provide a stepping stone to Canberra United.
"It might have a different name, but it's still a talented sports program/academy," Konstantinou said.
"Whatever it's called it's still a pathway.
"It's for extra training and learning different things that you do in your club. It's additional to club training.
"While we've got a majority of the details and we know what we're doing, they're just fine-tuning some of the details and we'll release all that stuff all together."
Despite CUA's departure, the NPLW will continue to have eight teams next year.
Exactly how relegation and promotion will work following the academy' departure was unclear, with Capital Football to release those details as part of their "declaration of leagues" - which could be released as early as Wednesday, September 27.
West Canberra Wanderers could be relegated after finishing bottom of the ladder this year and then the top two teams from SLW1 promoted, which would be Wagga City Wanderers and the UC Stars.
The other option would be West Canberra remained in the NPLW and then just Wagga City promoted.
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