Football Wagga 'reluctantly' made the decision to remove Albury City from the competition at a meeting on Monday night.

It came after the club was forced to sit out the opening two rounds of the season due to advice from the NSW Premier restricting travel to and from Albury due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Football Wagga president Tony Dobbin said it was a decision that was not made lightly.

"We make this decision in the interests of public health particularly with the worsening COVID-19 conditions in Victoria and NSW over the past week. This is highlighted by the new border restrictions in Albury Wodonga about to come in place," Dobbin said.

"We also make this decision based on the NSW Premier's public statement asking the residents of Albury to not travel to other locations such as Wagga. The Premier's statement is reflected in the NSW Health site which encourages limiting travel outside of the border town regions.

"Albury City has put an enormous effort into ensuring its practices were best practice and its players doing all the right things. We were and remain very comfortable with this club and regret not being able to accommodate its desire to play."

Football Wagga accepted Albury City into the Pascoe Cup at the eleventh hour when the Albury Wodonga Football Association season was cancelled.

Since then, the situation in Victoria has worsened, resulting in the closure of the NSW-Victorian border.

Albury City FC coach Ricky Piltz said he understood Football Wagga's decision.

"We understand and didn't want to be the cause of any angst and we'd hate for something to happen and we be the cause of it, so we're very appreciative to Wagga for at least giving us the opportunity," Piltz said.

"We've been training since the end of November for a season that never came, so there's obviously a lot of disappointment."

The removal of Albury City now makes the Pascoe Cup a nine-team competition and it is expected the club will now be replaced with a bye.

READ MORE