BALLARAT Red Devils will endure six-straight road trips to open the new National Premier Leagues season.
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The Reds’ senior and under-20 teams will begin their campaign on March 15 with a clash against Bentleigh Greens before a run of five more away fixtures as the Ballarat Regional Soccer Facility draws to completion.
Ballarat will then host powerhouse South Melbourne at the new stadium on May 3.
Red Devils chairman Duncan Smith said Football Federation Victoria had assisted in scheduling matches away from Ballarat to allow the club to play as many home games at the new complex later in the season.
“We worked closely with FFV the last couple of weeks and they’ve been very obliging helping us get through this part of the season where the stadium is not going to be quite ready for league games,” Smith said.
As a result of the early away matches, the Reds receive a run of seven-straight home games through the middle of the season, which concludes after 26 rounds on September 14.
Meanwhile, the junior fixtures for boys’ under-18, under-16, under-15, under-14, under-13 and under-12 divisions have also been released.
Smith said the Reds would host junior home games at the Morshead Park soccer facility all season, which kicks off on April 6.
Ballarat is pitted in the west conference, where it will play 13 rounds before the competition is split so top and bottom teams play each other once more until the end of the season.
The Reds’ senior and under-20 teams will tune up for the year ahead with another practice match tomorrow at Morshead Park.
They will host NPL1 side Moreland Zebras, with the under-20s kicking off at 3pm and the seniors at 5pm.
Here, Ballarat’s membership packages will be unveiled.
Past senior and reserves players are being offered their official playing number - in order of when they first played for the club - as their membership number. This will last two weeks before all membership numbers are offered to the public.