2005–06 New Zealand Football Championship

The 2005–06 New Zealand Football Championship was the second season of the New Zealand Football Championship. The final was won by Auckland City, who defended the title they won in 2005.

New Zealand Football Championship

Season	2005–06
Champions	Auckland City
Oceania Club Championship	Auckland City, YoungHeart Manawatu
Matches played	90
Goals scored	326 (3.62 per match)
← 2004–05 2006–07 →

New Format

In the regular season, all teams played each other three times, as before. But the playoff stage was changed slightly, with the top five teams now going through to the playoffs (as opposed to the previous three).

Team locations

Auckland City

Waitakere United

Waikato FC

Canterbury United

Hawke's Bay United

Team Wellington

Otago United

YoungHeart Manawatu

Location of teams in the 2005-06 New Zealand Football Championship

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Auckland City (C)	21	16	0	5	63	28	+35	48	Qualified for the Club Championship and Finals series
2	YoungHeart Manawatu	21	14	4	3	50	29	+21	46
3	Canterbury United	21	13	2	6	36	22	+14	41	Qualification for Finals series
4	Team Wellington	21	8	4	9	43	53	−10	28
5	Otago United	21	7	6	8	27	25	+2	27
6	Waitakere United	21	6	4	11	38	41	−3	22
7	Waikato FC	21	6	4	11	31	44	−13	22
8	Hawke's Bay United	21	1	2	18	17	63	−46	5

Source: ^{[citation needed]}
(C) Champions

Finals

In this season's extended playoff system, the games are broken up into several rounds.

Bracket

	Qualifying and elimination finals					Semi-finals					Preliminary final					Grand final
						1	Auckland City	3								1	Auckland City (p)	3 (4)
						3	Canterbury United	0								3	Canterbury United	3 (3)
	2	YoungHeart Manawatu	0 (4)								3	Canterbury United	2
	3	Canterbury United (p)	0 (5)								4	Team Wellington	1
						2	YoungHeart Manawatu	2
						4	Team Wellington	3
	4	Team Wellington (p)	2 (4)
	5	Otago United	2 (1)

Round 1

The second place team plays the third place team in Game 1; and fourth place plays fifth place in Game 2. The second and fourth placed teams get home advantage. The winners of each game progress to Round 2, as does the loser of Game 1. The Game 2 loser is eliminated.

• • Game 1: April-2nd: YoungHeart Manawatu 0-0 Canterbury United (AET, Canterbury won on penalties 5-4)
  • Game 2: April-2nd: Team Wellington 2-2 Otago United (AET, Wellington won on penalties 4-1)

Round 2

Auckland City, as Premiers, receive a bye straight to Round 2 where they face the winner from Game 1. The loser of Game 1 gets a second chance by going into Round 2 to face the Game 2 winner.

• • Game 3: April-8th: Auckland City FC 3-0 Canterbury United
  • Game 4: April-9th: YoungHeart Manawatu 2-3 Team Wellington

The winner of Game 3 (Auckland) now goes into the Grand Final - and with home advantage. The loser of Game 3 (Canterbury) gets a second chance to make the Grand Final by playing the winner of Game 4 (Wellington). The Game 4 loser is eliminated.

Round 3

• • Game 5: April-15th: Canterbury United 2-1 Team Wellington

Canterbury, as winners, go on to face Auckland City in the Grand Final.

Grand Final

• • April-22nd: Auckland City 3-3 Canterbury United (AET, Auckland won on penalties 4-3)

Auckland City are the champions of the 2005–06 New Zealand Football Championship and, along with league runners up YoungHeart Manawatu, will go on to represent New Zealand in the Oceania Club Championship 2006

See also

• New Zealand Football Championship

External links

• Official Website