NRFL Championship

The Northern Regional Football League Championship, currently known as Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Championship for sponsorship reasons, is a semi-professional New Zealand association football league competition. Up until 2022, the competition was known as NRFL Division 1.^[1][2][3]

NRFL Championship

Founded	1965
Country	New Zealand
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Number of teams	12
Level on pyramid	3
Promotion to	Northern League
Relegation to	NRFL Northern Conference NRFL Southern Conference
Domestic cup(s)	Chatham Cup
Current champions	Fencibles United (1st title) (2024)
Most championships	Birkenhead United Central United East Coast Bays Onehunga Sports (3 titles each)
Website	nrf.org.nz
Current: 2024 NRFL Championship

The league includes football clubs located in the northern part of the North Island, with clubs from the Northland, Auckland, Waikato and Bay of Plenty provinces. The league sits at step 3 of the New Zealand football pyramid.

Current clubs

Auckland

Ngaruawahia United

Location of clubs in New Zealand for the 2024 NRFL Championship season

ELL

FEN

FRA

HBC

MAN

MET

MAP

NSU

NTR

OHM

TAK

Location of clubs in Auckland Region for the 2024 NRFL Championship season

Takapuna and Manukau United joined the league following their relegation the season prior from the Northern League. Franklin United were promoted as winners of NRFL Conference play-offs.

Tauranga City won the 2023 season and were promoted alongside East Coast Bays to the Northern League, while Waiheke United were relegated to NRFL Northern Conference.

Team	Location	Stadium	2023 season
Ellerslie	Ellerslie, Auckland	Michaels Avenue	7th
Franklin United	Drury	Drury Sports Grounds	1st in Northern Conference (promoted via play-offs)
Fencibles United	Pakuranga, Auckland	Riverhills Domain	8th
Hibiscus Coast	Whangaparaoa, Auckland	Stanmore Bay Park	6th
Manukau United	Māngere East, Auckland	Centre Park	12th in Northern League (relegated)
Metro	Mount Albert, Auckland	Phyllis Street	11th
Mount Albert-Ponsonby	Mount Albert, Auckland	Anderson Park	4th
Ngaruawahia United	Ngāruawāhia	Centennial Park, Ngāruawāhia	3rd
North Shore United	Devonport, Auckland	Allen Hill Stadium	5th
Northern Rovers	Glenfield, Auckland	McFetridge Park	9th
Onehunga-Mangere United	Māngere Bridge, Auckland	Māngere Domain	10th
Takapuna	Takapuna, Auckland	Taharoto Park	11th in Northern League (relegated)

Past winners

Numbers in parentheses indicate wins up to that date.

Season	Winner[4]	Promoted
1965[5]	Ponsonby	Eden
1966[6]	Lynndale	Hamilton
1967[7]	Birkenhead United	Rotorua City
1968[8]	Courier Rangers	Hamilton
1969[9]	Whangarei	Birkenhead United
1970[10]	Takapuna City	Papatoetoe East Coast Bays Huntly Thistle
1971[11]	Metro College	Ellerslie
1972[12]	Papakura City	Lynndale
1973[13]	Manurewa	Papatoetoe
1974[14]	Whangarei City (2)	Takapuna City
1975[15]	Lynndale (2)	Rotorua City
1976[16]	Glenfield Rovers	Metro College
1977[17]	Ellerslie	Mt. Roskill
1978	East Coast Bays	Metro College
1979	Waitemata City	Papatoetoe
1980	Birkenhead United (2)	Rotorua City
1981	Eden	Whangarei City
1982	University	Lynndale
1983	Otara Rangers[lower-alpha 1]
1984	Howick	Papakura City
1985	Mount Maunganui	Otara Rangers
1986	Waikato	Oratia United Kelston West
1987	Mount Albert-Ponsonby[lower-alpha 2] (2)	Manukau City Blockhouse Bay
1988	Central	Rotorua City
1989	East Coast Bays (2)	Massey
1990	University (2)
1991	Central (2)	Rotorua City Kawerau Town
1992	Tauranga City	Eden Pakuranga Town
1993	Melville United	Onehunga Sports
1994	Metro (2)	Ngaruawahia United
1995	Cambridge	Northland United Hamilton Wanderers Takapuna
1996	Glenfield Rovers[lower-alpha 3] (2)
1997	Hamilton Wanderers	Glenfield Rovers
1998	Three Kings United	Tauranga City
1999	Takapuna (2)	Eastern Suburbs
2000	Central United (3)	Manukau City
2001	Onehunga Sports	Bay Olympic
2002	Waitakere City	University-Mount Wellington
2003	East Coast Bays (3)	Mangere United
2004	Papakura City (2)
2005	Albany United	Birkenhead United
2006	Onehunga Sports (2)	Hamilton Wanderers
2007	Lynn-Avon United	Melville United Metro Three Kings United Papatoetoe Mount Albert-Ponsonby
2008[18]	Manurewa (2)
2009	Three Kings United (2)
2010[19][lower-alpha 4]	Hamilton Wanderers (2) Onehunga Sports (3)
2011[20]	Eastern Suburbs	Manurewa
2012[21]	Birkenhead United (3)	Ellerslie
2013[22]	Glenfield Rovers (3)	Ngaruawahia United
2014[23]	Western Springs	Eastern Suburbs Melville United
2015[24]	Forrest Hill Milford United	Tauranga City United
2016[25]	Waitakere City (2)	Manurewa
2017[26]	Western Springs (2)	Manukau City
2018[27]	Melville United (2)	North Shore United
2019[28][29]	Forrest Hill Milford United (2)	Bay Olympic
2020	Abandoned due to COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand
2021[30][31][lower-alpha 5]	Waiheke United	Takapuna
2022[33]	West Coast Rangers	Manurewa
2023[34]	Tauranga City (2)	East Coast Bays
2024[35]	Fencibles United

1. No promotion to the Northern League due to the resizing of the league in 1984.
2. First title was won as Ponsonby.
3. No promotion to the Northern League due to the restructuring of the National league in 1996—97.
4. Division 1 split into two leagues after a grading round with Hamilton Wanderers winning Division 1A and Onehunga Sports winning Division 1B.
5. Season cancelled with games in hand due to COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand.^[32]

References

1. "New look for LOTTO NRFL 2023". Northern Region Football. 2 March 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
2. "Promoted sides drawn away in season openers for Lotto NRFL Men's Championship". friendsoffootballnz.com. 2 March 2023. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
3. "Lotto NRFL Review 2021". Northern Region Football. Archived from the original on 2 March 2023. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
4. "Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 24 June 2021.
5. "1965 Northern Leagues". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
6. "1966 Northern Leagues". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 29 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
7. "1967 Innes-Tartan Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 30 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
8. "1968 Innes-Tartan Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
9. "1969 Rothmans Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
10. "1970 Rothmans Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 28 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
11. "1971 Rothmans Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 26 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
12. "1972 Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
13. "1973 Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
14. "1974 Broadlands Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
15. "1975 Broadlands Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 29 June 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
16. "1976 Broadlands Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
17. "1976 Broadlands Northern League". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 27 April 2021. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
18. "Lotto NRFL 2008 award winners | Auckland Football Federation". www.aucklandfootball.org.nz. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
19. "Award winners end NRFL year | Auckland Football Federation". www.aucklandfootball.org.nz. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
20. "Ladder for NRFL Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
21. "Ladder for 2012 NRFL Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
22. "Ladder for 2013 Northern Region Football Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
23. "Ladder for 2014 Northern Region Football Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
24. "Ladder for NRFL 2015 Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
25. "Ladder for 2016 NRFL Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
26. "Ladder for NRFL Division 1". SportsTG. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
27. NRFL, LOTTO (10 August 2018). "CONGRATULATIONS! @MelvilleUnited have been crowned champions of the 2018 #LottoNRFL Men's Division One!pic.twitter.com/ADeSyMczOY". @LOTTONRFL. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
28. "Auckland Football Federation - LOTTO NRFL 2019". www.aucklandfootball.org.nz. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
29. Milford, Forrest Hill (30 August 2019). "pic.twitter.com/vfk2ICm7AJ". @ForrestHillFC. Archived from the original on 19 April 2020. Retrieved 19 April 2020.
30. "Northern League 2021". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
31. "Northern League and LOTTO NRFL results confirmed". Northern Region Football. Archived from the original on 26 January 2022. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
32. "Remainder of Auckland football season cancelled". Northern Region Football. Archived from the original on 15 September 2021. Retrieved 15 September 2021.
33. "West Coast Rangers survive early scare to secure Lotto NRFL first division title". friendsoffootballnz.com. 28 August 2022. Archived from the original on 29 August 2022. Retrieved 29 August 2022.
34. "Tauranga City finish season in style to win Lotto NRFL Men's Championship". friendsoffootballnz.com. 9 September 2023. Archived from the original on 9 September 2023. Retrieved 10 September 2023.
35. "Fencibles United clinch Championship title and promotion to Northern League". friendsoffootballnz.com. 25 August 2024. Retrieved 25 August 2024.

External links

• Auckland Football Federation
• NRFL Football League
• Northern League