New Zealand Women's National League

The National League (previously known as the National Women's League) is the top-level women's football (soccer) league in New Zealand. The teams were run by regional federations until 2021, when New Zealand Football started to move to club-based football.^[1][2]

New Zealand Women's National League

Founded	2002; 22 years ago (2002)
Country	New Zealand
Confederation	OFC
Number of teams	8
Level on pyramid	1
Domestic cup(s)	Kate Sheppard Cup
International cup(s)	OFC Women's Champions League
Current champions	Auckland United (1st title) (2023)
Most championships	Auckland Football (7 titles)
TV partners	FIFA+
Website	Official website
Current: 2024 season

History

The National League was founded in 2002 and ran until a hiatus at the end of 2007. The league resumed in 2009 with five federations participating, as well as the national women's under-19 team development squad. As of 2024, the league has eight teams, one run by each federation.

The league ran in a pure round-robin format in 2002 and 2003. Playoffs started in 2004, with the second and third-placed teams competing in a one-legged semi-final. The winner of that and the first-place team then played in the Grand Final to decide the overall champion.

Following a hiatus in 2009, the league was divided into two divisions—a Northern Conference and a Southern Conference, each comprising four teams. At the end of the season, semi-finals were held, where the winner of each division played against the runner-up of the other division. The victorious teams then competed in the Grand Final. However, in 2013, the league reverted to its previous format.

From 2010 to 2014, the league was held in the summer, in contrast to previous seasons, which were held in the winter. During this period, the league was restricted to players under the age of 20, making it a national women's youth league. The restrictions were lifted in 2015, and since then, the league has been an unrestricted women's league.

New Zealand Football looked to move the National Women's League to a club-based competition (similar to the men's competition) by 2020. The governing body also hoped to expand the number of games each federation plays in 2018. ^[3]

Participants

Current

• 4 teams from the Northern Regional League:
  • Auckland United
  • Eastern Suburbs
  • Ellerslie
  • Western Springs
• Central Football (as "Central Soccer" until 2007) (2002–2007, 2010–)
• Capital Football (as "Capital Soccer" until 2006) (2002–)
• Canterbury United Pride (as "Mainland Soccer" (2002–2005), "Mainland Pride" (2006–2007, 2010–), and "Mainland Football" (2009)) (2002–)
• Southern United (as "Soccersouth" until 2007) (2002–)
• Wellington Phoenix Reserves

Former

• Auckland Under-20 Development (2010–2011)
• Auckland Football (2002–2020)
• New Zealand Football Development (2005–2006, 2009, 2014–2016

This comprised the national under-19 team (2005), national under-18 team (2006, 2014–2016), and national under-17 team (2009). Although New Zealand Development competed from 2005, they were ineligible to take part in the semifinals and final until the 2009 season.

• Northern Lights (as "North Harbour" until 2007 and then Northern Football until 2010) (2002–2007, 2010–2020)
• Northern Region Development (2011–2013)
• WaiBOP United (2002–2020)
• Young Ferns (2013–2014)

List of champions

A list of National League champion teams:^[4]

Year	Champion [note 1]	Runner up	Score	Venue
2002[5]	Auckland (1)	Mainland Soccer	Season decided on league standings
2003[6]	Auckland (2)	Capital Soccer
2004[7]	Capital Soccer (1)	Auckland*	2–1	Unknown
2005[8]	Auckland (3)	Capital Soccer*	4–2	Newtown Park, Wellington
2006[9]	Auckland* (4)	Capital Soccer	3–1	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
2007[10]	Auckland* (5)	Capital Football [note 2]	3–1	Newtown Park, Wellington
2008	No competition
2009[11][12]	Auckland* (6)	Capital Football	5–1	Bayer Growers Stadium, Pukekohe
2010–11[13][14]	Capital Football* (2)	Waikato-Bay of Plenty	2–1	Memorial Park, Lower Hutt
2011–12[15][16]	Northern Football* (1)	Waikato-Bay of Plenty	3–0	Parrs Park, Auckland
2012–13[17][18]	Northern Football* (2)	Auckland Football [note 3]	2–0	Fred Taylor Park, Auckland
2013[19][20]	Mainland Pride (1) [note 4]	Northern Football*	4–2	North Harbour Stadium, North Shore
2014[21][22]	Mainland Pride* (2)	New Zealand U-18 Development	3–1	ASB Football Park, Christchurch
2015[23][24]	Northern Football	Mainland Pride*	4–3	ASB Football Park, Christchurch
2016[25][26]	Canterbury United Pride* (3) [note 5]	Capital Football	2–0	English Park, Christchurch
2017[27][28]	Auckland Football (7)	Canterbury United Pride*	3–2	English Park, Christchurch
2018[29][30]	Canterbury United Pride* (4)	Northern Lights [note 6]	3–2	English Park, Christchurch
2019[31][32]	Canterbury United Pride* (5)	Northern Lights	1–1 (4–3 pen.)	English Park, Christchurch
2020[33]	Canterbury United Pride* (6)	Capital Football	4–0	English Park, Christchurch
2021	National League season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic;[34] South Central Series won by Southern United
2022	Eastern Suburbs	Western Springs	4–0	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland
2023	Auckland United	Southern United	2–0	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland

1. Number of titles in brackets
2. Changed name from Capital Soccer to Capital Football
3. Had changed their name the season before with the introduction of Northern Football
4. Changed name from Mainland Soccer to Mainland Pride
5. Changed name from Mainland Pride to Canterbury United Pride
6. Changed name from Northern Football to Northern Lights

*Home team for final

Media coverage

Sky Sport had the broadcasting rights for the first two seasons (including the South Central Series). One game was televised live weekly with the remaining four games free to air on either the Sky Sport Next or New Zealand Football YouTube channels.^[35][36]

In September 2023, New Zealand signed a deal to have all National League games streamed for free on FIFA+ worldwide.^[37][38]

See also

• New Zealand Football Championship

References

1. "National women's league retains youth focus". Stuff. Retrieved 20 September 2012.
2. Nothing Trivial (15 December 2008). "Sparc plays ball with women's football". TVNZ. Archived from the original on 3 February 2009. Retrieved 2 September 2012.
3. "National Competitions Review" (PDF). NZ Football. 9 April 2017. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
4. "Honours Board". ultimatenzsoccer.
5. "New Zealand (Women) 2002". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
6. "New Zealand (Women) 2003". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
7. "New Zealand (Women) 2004". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
8. "New Zealand (Women) 2005". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
9. "New Zealand (Women) 2006". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
10. "New Zealand (Women) 2007". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
11. "New Zealand (Women) 2009". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
12. "Green hat-trick fires Auckland to sixth Women's League title". New Zealand Football. 20 December 2009. Archived from the original on 10 February 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
13. "New Zealand (Women) 2010/11". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
14. "Capital clinch ASB Women's League title". New Zealand Football. 12 March 2011. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
15. "New Zealand (Women) 2011/12". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
16. "Northern lift ASB Women's League trophy". New Zealand Football. 4 December 2011. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
17. "New Zealand (Women) 2012/13". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
18. "Northern retain ASB Women's League title". New Zealand Football. 16 December 2012. Archived from the original on 12 February 2013. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
19. "New Zealand (Women) 2013". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
20. "Mainland secure maiden league title". New Zealand Football. Archived from the original on 1 July 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
21. "New Zealand (Women) 2014". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
22. "Mainland Pride retain ASB Women's League title". Stuff. 7 December 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
23. "New Zealand (Women) 2015". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
24. Smith, Tony (6 December 2015). "Northern Football halt Mainland's dominance with national women's league final win". Stuff. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
25. "New Zealand (Women) 2016". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
26. "Pride claim third title in four years". New Zealand Football. Archived from the original on 13 January 2017. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
27. "New Zealand (Women) 2017". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
28. Caldwell, Olivia (10 December 2017). "Two late goals help Auckland storm past Canterbury to claim national women's football title". Stuff. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
29. "New Zealand (Women) 2018". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
30. Voerman, Andrew (16 December 2018). "Canterbury United Pride win fourth National Women's Football League title". Stuff. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
31. "New Zealand (Women) 2019". RSSSF. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
32. Voerman, Andrew (15 December 2019). "Canterbury United Pride win fifth national title in seven years after penalty shootout". Stuff. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
33. Rollo, Phillip (20 December 2020). "Canterbury United Pride win third straight national women's league final". Stuff. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
34. "National League Championship cancelled, new interregional competition announced and Chatham Cup moved to 2022". New Zealand Football.
35. "Updated broadcast schedule released for National League Championship with 85 games free to air". New Zealand Football. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
36. "Fixture List 2022". New Zealand Football. 7 October 2022. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
37. "New Zealand Football signs long-term partnership with FIFA+ to make international friendlies and domestic competitions free to watch". New Zealand Football. 22 September 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.
38. "How to watch New Zealand football live on FIFA+". FIFA. 16 October 2023. Retrieved 7 November 2023.

External links

• Official website