Leeton United FC will host APIA Leichardt as part of a Riverina Festival of Football in January

National NSW Premier League giant APIA Leichardt FC will travel to the Riverina early in the new year to take part in Leeton United's new event.

The reigning Pascoe Cup champions have introduced the Riverina Festival of Football, where some of the best locals will go up against the Sydney visitors in a pre-season trial.

Wagga City Wanderers will join Leeton United on the day, with Griffith-based CPL club Yoogali Soccer Club a withdrawal over the weekend.

The festival will take place on Saturday, January 14 at Leeton Number One Oval. It will kick off with junior games in the afternoon, into a twilight main event before a dinner at Leeton Soldiers Club that night.

Leeton United FC president Rod Harrison explained the event had been some time in the making.

"We've got an affiliation with APIA Leichardt," Harrison explained.

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"A few of our older players that used to live in Sydney played with them and still have relations here in town.

"They've always wanted to come down to do a trial match so we thought we'd tick it off this year with a trial match and also get a few other clubs involved."

Harrison believes it will be a showpiece event for the sport in the region.

"It will give people a look at how other associations are and their standard, that type of thing," he said.

"It's good PR for soccer in the region and that was the reason why we wanted to have Yoogali Soccer Club involved. So we could pit ourselves against them to see what standard they are at, and what we are at."

Harrison believes the timing is far from ideal for Football Wagga clubs, such as Leeton but believes the benefits far outweigh the negatives.

"It's probably a little bit early in the season for it," he said.

"We're probably going to be a little behind the eight ball with everyone due to a lack of training and our season finishing a lot later than the other ones do.

"The Wanderers and Yoogali, their season usually starts a bit earlier than ours so it's a good hit-out for them."

The format of the day is yet to be finalised but is likely to see the local-based clubs taking turns at APIA Leichardt over 90 minutes.

"We've got a couple of options," Harrison said.

"The big thing will be, APIA want a solid 90 minute hit-out.

"Depending on the weather, we're either going to do it in quarters or halves but APIA will basically stay on for that whole 90 minutes and one of us will go on and play a half, 45 minutes against them, and then replace them with the Wanderers.

"But it will be weather dependent. We're just hoping that the weather will be fine and the ground will be up to scratch."

Leeton United are exploring the possibility of replacing Yoogali SC with a Shepparton or Albury-based team.

Meantime, the Pascoe Cup premiers are hoping to announce a new coach within the next fortnight after the departure of Ross Morgan and Rhys Jones to Wagga City Wanderers.

Applications close for the Leeton job at the end of the week.

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