Multiple state football (soccer) bodies in recent years have recognised past failures to entice Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands people into the sport that has not held the same appeal as Australian rules, rugby league and even rugby union.

The NAIDOC Cup was established in 2022 for top players from 13 to 16 years of age in New South Wales in the footsteps of its First Nations Football Festival, formerly the National Indigenous Football Championships that begun in 2016.

While the First Nations Football Festival involves Indigenous footballers representing their local community playing for grassroots teams along the east coast of New South Wales, the NAIDOC Cup is best of the very best of Football New South Wales against Football Northern New South Wales teams over two days.

"These football festivals are really an opportunity for our junior footballers to come along," Football NSW Indigenous Advisory Group co-chairperson Bianca Dufty said.

"We've got a really great talent identification program and it's a pathway for those footballers to come play the NAIDOC Cup during NAIDOC Week.

"So this is a real opportunity for our top junior footballers to be exposed to a high-level, high-performance football that gives that kind of opportunity they wouldn't otherwise had."

The fixtures played next Wednesday (July 10) and Friday (July 12) and the winners decided under soccer's traditional two-leg format allows professional scouts an opportunity to view Indigenous talent from around the state to exhibit their best in comfortable surrounds.

But the NAIDOC Cup is more than locking away a piece of silverware in the trophy cabinet.

The fact the tournament is played in the midst of NAIDOC Week brings teenagers to the celebrations of the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on and off the sporting field.

"We try and say it's not all about the winning, but it's about Community coming together and playing at various levels and coming together according to experience," last year's winning Football NSW under-16s boys coach Greg Hartge said.

"But it's always good to win in the end."

After the successful launch of the 2022 under-16s NAIDOC Cup, the NSW government was keen to invest in the 2023 tournament under the NSW Football Legacy Program, allowing for an expansion of the Cup to also include the under-14 boys and girls age group.

Former W-League turned A-League journeywoman Allira Toby missed out playing in a similar First Nations' tournament that did not exist growing up Ipswich just outside of Brisbane.

The Kanolu/Gangulu woman has gone on to play for Adelaide United, Brisbane Roar, Sydney FC and Canberra United since starting her career on the national scene in 2015.

"You know that to have the initiative so to have spaces where Indigenous kids can be safe and thrive, and really have some fun to show who they are, I think it's the only way forward," she said.

Former Socceroo international Jade North was one of the earliest Indigenous players in the code to be given a path of opportunity when as a talented 15-year-old, he was offered a rare Australian Institute of Sport scholarship in 1997.

That worked for the Birrbay man, who went on to play 41 times for Australia in addition to 15 caps for the Olyroos.

North said the NAIDOC Cup was culturally important, separate from the competitive nature of games between top juniors from the two Sydney and Newcastle-based federation teams.

"It's great to express ourselves through football – football that I love to see," North said.

"We're so good at other (football) codes and it won't be long for us in the round-ball code that we will have a few more superstars."

The 2024 NAIDOC Cup will be hosted this year at Lake Macquarie Regional Football Facility in Newcastle.

Coach Michael Hugo from the Newcastle All Stars, who regularly dominate First Nations Football Festival campaigns, was a huge fan of the playing value that Indigenous tournaments achieve each year and their long-lasting outcomes.

"I have been coming here since (First Nations Football Festival inaugural year of) 2016 and seeing some of the kids coming through from 12 years and now they're playing in opens or just seeing where they are playing locally in their competitions is great," Hugo said.

"But we've (also) got kids, who are now with Macarthur Bulls, with Newcastle Jets, and with Sydney FC too.

"We get the kids out there, but that is what it is about and we want to get more out there. It really is about getting these kids that opportunity."