National League

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National League

The growth of the game in this country was such in the years following the Second World War that the formation of a National League was imperative for growth to continue.

The new concept to New Zealand soccer - its twin objectives being to provide top competitive soccer in as many geographical centres as possible and to maintain the best playing standards - was finally unveiled in 1970, with the nation's eight leading clubs playing each other on a home-and-away basis. The success enjoyed in that first season saw two more teams added to the competition for the 1971 campaign, and a further two sides were introduced six years later.

Throughout the 1970s, it was not uncommon for 10,000-strong crowds to be in attendance at National League matches, such was its pulling power. Mt. Wellington and Christchurch United were the gun teams, in what were memorable days for New Zealand club soccer, leading up, of course, to the All Whites' 1982 successes.

In the years following, however, the National League began to lose its novelty value, other sports, most notably rugby, having studied what soccer had done and set up their own national championships in direct opposition to the innovators of the concept in this country.

This hurt clubs by way of reduced gates, while travel costs between the various venues around the country, which, in the 1980s, were as far-flung as Napier, Nelson, Dunedin, Gisborne and Auckland, meant that clubs really started to feel the pinch financially.

Extending the league to fourteen clubs in 1987 stretched resources even more, and not just financial constraints. Quality playing resources were also at a premium, despite plenty of players willing to play at the highest level in New Zealand soccer.

Few players who were involved in the last ten years of the competition were worthy of mention in the same breath as any number of their predecessors, whose skills and personalities had done so much to put bums on seats during the National League's hey-day of the 1970s and early 1980s.

Those that warranted mention tended to play alongside each other, making their clubs - the likes of Gisborne City, Napier City Rovers and, in most recent years, Waitakere City and Central United, not forgetting those hardy perennials from The Mount and Christchurch - the dominant forces in the game from about 1983 onwards.

Eventually, in 1992, the curtain came down on the National Soccer League in New Zealand, the replacement being a competition called the Superclub Championship, which lasted just three years. It was largely a regionally-based competition, with the top three teams in each region coming together after the round-robin phase to contest a Top Eight play-off competition, with the top four then going on to contest another series of play-offs to determine New Zealand soccer's Superclub.

In some ways, this was worse than the National League, for while it saved the majority of clubs from having to travel the length and breadth of the country, it resulted in an even greater dilution of playing resources, and regular instances of lop-sided scorelines - wonderful stuff for the statistically-minded, not so for the game's greater good.

A further change in format was made in 1996, and, with it, a change in playing season. Ten teams took part in the inaugural National Summer Soccer League, and the crowds came back, although not on the same scale as had been seen in the 1970s at venues such as Auckland's Newmarket Park, the spiritual home of New Zealand soccer, at least until Mother Nature played her hand, by way of a land subsidence, on a rainswept night in July 1979.

The new league marked a return to the ideals of the original National Soccer League, with the number of teams involved being just right, given the quantity of quality players now playing the game in this country. As well, the crowd-pulling play-off concept was used to determine the competition's overall winner, despite the concerns of traditionalists, who considered the real league winners to be the team which won the round-robin phase.

Once again, however, the issue of finance was to play a key role, and the demise of two of the inaugural contenders within a couple of years of the competition's commencement brought a premature end to what was, in principle, the ideal league competition as far as New Zealand soccer was concerned.

The 1999 winter campaign has seen a return to regionally based football, with a twelve-team North Island League and an eight-team South Island League. Central United emerged as national club champions after the September final, downing Dunedin Technical 3-1 after extra-time.

This concept lasted a year, before a return to a National League format came to pass, in the form of the National Club Championship. After dominating the competition in its round-robin phase, University-Mt. Wellington - in their first year of operation since amalgamation - were beaten 4-2 on penalties by Napier City Rovers in the Grand Final, after the combatants had served up two distinctly forgettable hours’ action on a North Harbour Stadium pitch which was, quite frankly, a disgrace to football.

The 2001 campaign saw Miramar Rangers emerge triumphant over the premiership phase of the competition, but they stumbled at the final hurdle at the hands of Central United, who came from behind to win a gripping Grand Final 3-2, the only time they had defeated Miramar in four meetings throughout the season.

A year on, and it was Miramar's turn to celebrate, as they downed the premiership phase champions, Napier City Rovers, 3-1 in the Grand Final, concluding a campaign which saw three of the four Auckland entries finishing in the bottom four, including the defending champions.

The defending champions retained their crown the

following season, a last-gasp winner from hat-trick hero Rupert Ryan seeing off East Auckland - a composite of the Eastern Suburbs, Ellerslie, Fencibles United and University-Mt. Wellington clubs - 3-2 in the Grand Final, a fitting finale to possibly the most closely contested National League for some years.

It may well have marked the end of National League football as we've known it, however, as an eight-team franchise-based league kicked off in October 2004, replacing the club-based competition which had become uneconomical, with too many clubs falling on hard times as the pursuit of grandeur was all too often made at the expense of financial prudence.

The inaugural competition saw Auckland City prove themselves cream of the crop over the round-robin phase of the competition, and they went on to clinch the inaugural NZ Football Championship with a last-gasp 3-2 victory over cross-town rivals and season-long title challengers, Waitakere United.

They repeated the feat a year later, winning the Grand Final on penalties over Canterbury United after topping the table after twenty-one rounds.

Four in a row proved beyond Auckland in 2008. Instead, their cross-town rivals, Waitakere United, finally shed the bridesmaid tag with which they were becoming accustomed, and swept all before them - National Youth League, NZFC Premiership and Grand Final, and potential back-to-back OFC Champions League crowns.

The West Aucklanders were relieved of the crown a season later by their cross-town rivals, Auckland City sweeping all before them, including professional teams from the United Arab Emirates and Africa en route to finishing fifth at the FIFA Club World Cup Finals, an unprecedented feat for an amateur team.

But Waitakere were back in the winners' circle in 2010, Allan Pearce scoring in his third consecutive NZFC Grand Final as United came from behind to down ten-man Canterbury United 3-1, the beaten team having made the showpiece fixture after finishing bottom of the league in each of the last two seasons.

A year later, the West Aucklanders savoured success again, this time at the expense of their cross-town arch-rivals by the odd goal in five after a season in which the Queen City duo were head and shoulders above all-comers.

And in 2012, Waitakere followed Auckland in "three-peating" the NZFC, crushing Team Wellington 4-1 in the Grand Final - the biggest scoreline in the showpiece fixture - following a season in which history was made by Auckland, who went through the entire round-robin phase of the competition unbeaten, only to come unstuck in the semi-finals.

The "Old Firm" were at it again in the 2013 final, Waitakere prevailing over Auckland by the odd goal in seven in a barnstorming encounter to win the title for a fifth time.

City matched that achievement a year later via an odd-goal win over Team Wellington, before overcoming maiden finalists Hawkes Bay United 2-1 in the 2015 final to take the crown for a record-equalling sixth time.

But they weren't able to make it a second three-peat a year later, Team Wellington coming from behind to win their maiden crown, downing Auckland 4-2 after extra time in the final, after City had gone the entire season unbeaten.

A year later, the Wellingtonians repeated the dose, this time prevailing 2-1 to claim their second successive crown. But a third successive crown eluded them in 2018, as Auckland gained sweet revenge with a 1-0 win in a cagey final, in the process extending an amazing defensive record to 1188 minutes - they haven't conceded a goal in their last ten NZFC fixtures, as well as three OFC Champions League matches.

Eastern Suburbs clinched the title in 2019 with a comprehensive 3-0 rout of Team Wellington to claim the silverware for the first time in 48 years, and exactly 40 years after the club had been relegated from the National League.

The 2020 season was halted after sixteen games in the interests of safety, a result of the Coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the planet. The play-offs were canned, and Auckland City declared champions, the seventh successive season they've finished top of the pile, and the eleventh time in the sixteen seasons in which the NZFC has operated.

A year later, Auckland made it eight straight premiership phase titles, but it was Team Wellington who took out the very last ISPS Handa Premiership, downing City 4-2 in the Grand Final of a competition which is being replaced by a winter-based Superclub-style competition, the winner of which will be crowned each December.

The top four teams from the Northern Premier League are joined by the top three from the Central Region Premier League, the top two from the Southern League and Wellington Phoenix come together in the national phase of the new format, once the regional leagues have concluded. They then play nine rounds of National League action, with the top two place-getters meeting in the Grand Final.

Just as they had done throughout the bulk of the NZFC era, Auckland City have dominated the early seasons of the National League, appearing in all three Grand Finals up to the end of the 2024 season.

They met Wellington Olympic in the first two of those finals, with City prevailing in 2022 before the tables were turned in the 2023 final. Auckland reached the 2024 showpiece fixture, this time taking on Birkenhead United, a club with a great pedigree in youth football, particularly at U-19 level.

City came from behind to take out the silverware once more, their tenth title triumph in twenty seasons, in six of which they've finished runners-up - a spell of sustained success which has never been seen before in New Zealand football.

National Soccer League Honours

Year	Winners	Province	Runners-Up	Province
1970	Blockhouse Bay	Auckland	Eastern Suburbs	Auckland
1971	Eastern Suburbs	Auckland	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1972	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	Blockhouse Bay	Auckland
1973	Christchurch United	Canterbury	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1974	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	Christchurch United	Canterbury
1975	Christchurch United	Canterbury	North Shore United	Auckland
1976	Wellington United	Wellington	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1977	North Shore United	Auckland	Stop Out	Wellington
1978	Christchurch United	Canterbury	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1979	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	Christchurch United	Canterbury
1980	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	Gisborne City	Poverty Bay
1981	Wellington United	Wellington	Dunedin City	Otago
1982	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	North Shore United	Auckland
1983	Manurewa	Franklin	North Shore United	Auckland
1984	Gisborne City	Poverty Bay	Papatoetoe	Franklin
1985	Wellington United	Wellington	Gisborne City	Poverty Bay
1986	Mt. Wellington	Auckland	Miramar Rangers	Wellington
1987	Christchurch United	Canterbury	Gisborne City	Poverty Bay
1988	Christchurch United	Canterbury	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1989	Napier City Rovers	Hawke's Bay	Mt. Maunganui	Bay of Plenty
1990	Waitakere City	Auckland	Mt. Wellington	Auckland
1991	Christchurch United	Canterbury	Miramar Rangers	Wellington
1992	Waitakere City	Auckland	Waikato United	Waikato
2020*	Auckland City	Auckland	Team Wellington	Wellington

* Season concluded after sixteen rounds due to Coronavirus pandemic. League standings used to declare champions.

Superclub Championship Grand Finals

1993	Napier City Rovers G. Whittington (2), P. Cotton, D. Fletcher	Hawke's Bay	4-3	Waitakere City R. Gray, C. Jorgenson, "oggie"	Auckland
1994	North Shore United S. Nickson (2), M. Elrick	Auckland	3-1	Napier City Rovers "oggie"	Hawke's Bay
1995	Waitakere City T. Edge, C. Jorgenson, G. Gray, D. McClennan	Auckland	4-0	Waikato United	Waikato

National Summer Soccer League Grand Finals

1996	Waitakere City D. McClennan (2), M. Elrick, N. Harlock, C. Jorgenson	Auckland	5-2	Miramar Rangers M. McGarry (2)	Wellington
1997	Waitakere City G. Gray, D. McClennan, N. Viljoen	Auckland	3-1	Napier City Rovers R. Goodacre	Hawke's Bay
1998	Napier City Rovers P. Halford (2), M. Akers, D. Batty, W. Gilbertson	Hawke's Bay	5-2	Central United F. de Jong, M. Elrick	Auckland

National Club Championship Grand Finals

1999	Central United M. Elrick (3)	Auckland	3-1	Dunedin Technical J. Seales	Otago
2000	Napier City Rovers	Hawke's Bay	0-0*	Univ.-Mt. Wellington	Auckland
2001	Central United G. Eie (3)	Auckland	3-2	Miramar Rangers G. Brown (2)	Wellington
2002	Miramar Rangers S. George, G. Little, K. Thompson	Wellington	3-1	Napier City Rovers D. Gearey	Hawke's Bay
2003	Miramar Rangers R. Ryan (3)	Wellington	3-2	East Auckland K. Waetford (pen), J. Waugh	Auckland

* Napier, 4-2 on penalties

NZ Football Championship Grand Finals

2005	Auckland City G. Young (2), L. Mulrooney	Auckland	3-2	Waitakere United D. Ellensohn, K. Jordan	Auckland
2006	Auckland City K. Jordan, G. Young, "oggie"	Auckland	3-3*	Canterbury United S. Kelly (2), "oggie"	Canterbury
2007	Auckland City L. Mulrooney, N. Sykes, P. Urlovic	Auckland	3-2	Waitakere United J. Campbell, C. Menapi	Auckland
2008	Waitakere United "oggie", A. Pearce	Auckland	2-0	Team Wellington	Wellington
2009	Auckland City K. Jordan, P. Urlovic	Auckland	2-1	Waitakere United A. Pearce	Auckland
2010	Waitakere United B. Totori (2), A. Pearce	Auckland	3-1	Canterbury United T. Lancaster	Canterbury
2011	Waitakere United D. Lucas (2), "oggie"	Auckland	3-2	Auckland City M. Exposito, "oggie"	Auckland
2012	Waitakere United R Krishna (2), J. Butler, A. Pearce	Auckland	4-1	Team Wellington H. Fa'arodo	Wellington
2013	Waitakere United R. Krishna (2), A. Pearce (2)	Auckland	4-3	Auckland City M. Exposito (2), C. Bale	Auckland
2014	Auckland City E. Tade	Auckland	1-0	Team Wellington	Wellington
2015	Auckland City R. de Vries, M. Dordevic	Auckland	2-1	Hawkes Bay United R. Tinsley	Hawkes Bay
2016	Team Wellington T. Jackson (2), B. Harris, C. Peverley	Wellington	4-2	Auckland City D. Kim, J. Moreira	Auckland
2017	Team Wellington B. Harris (2)	Wellington	2-1	Auckland City E. Tade	Auckland
2018	Auckland City C. McCowatt	Auckland	1-0	Team Wellington	Wellington
2019	Eastern Suburbs C. McCowatt (2), "oggie"	Auckland	3-0	Team Wellington	Wellington
2020	Play-offs cancelled
2021	Team Wellington A. Bevin, J. Sinclair, O. Whyte, "oggie"	Wellington	4-2	Auckland City D. Manickum, E. Tade	Auckland

* Auckland, 4-3 on penalties

National League Grand Finals

2022	Auckland City L. Gillion, G. Garriga, A. Kilkolly	Auckland	3-2	Wellington Olympic T. Davenport-Petersen, B. Mata	Wellington
2023	Wellington Olympic K. Gould, J. Sinclair	Wellington	2-0	Auckland City	Auckland
2024	Auckland City "oggie", A. Kilkolly	Auckland	2-1	Birkenhead United M. Patterson	Auckland

For season-by-season results in the National League, go here

A History of New Zealand Soccer NZ Club Soccer