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Check Out The Information About The New Zealand Football Championship

The New Zealand Football Championship is called Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa in Māori. This is the top men’s association football league in New Zealand. Different from almost other premier leagues, this competition crowns titles for both Grand Champions and Premiership Winners. 

What is the New Zealand Football Championship?

The N.Z Football Championship is the highest tier of the New Zealand league system. Its first season was held in 2004 as the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in the country, including the National Soccer League, the National Summer Soccer League, and the New Zealand Superclub League. 

The New Zealand Football League is also called the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership for its sponsorship reasons. It will be officially known as the National League Championship from the 2021-22 season. 

New Zealand Football Premiership

How is the Format of the New Zealand Football Championship?

A season of the championship lasts from October to April. It contains an 18-round regular season, a playoff series involving the four highest-ranked teams, and a Grand Final between the two best teams. At the end of the season, the two clubs gain the qualification for the OFC Champions League, which is the continental competition for the Oceania region. A special thing about this league is that it does not use a system of promotion and relegation like most of the other leagues in the world. It is a closed league similar to the A-League in Australia and Major league Soccer in the United States. 

Regular Season

This is the first round of the New Zealand Championship where all 10 participating teams play the others twice: once at home and once away. Before applying this format, the teams play one another three times in the regular season until the 2008 season. They get three points for a win, one point for a draw, and none for a loss. The top four teams at the ending of the season enter the playoffs. 

The Playoffs and Grand Final  

The play-off round consists of two semi-final games. Their winners become the best two teams in the league to join the grand final game afterward. 

Qualification to OFC Champions League

The two teams of the NZFC qualifying for the OFC Champions League are the team that won the regular season (the Minor Premier) and the team that won the Grand Final (the Champion). If the same team wins both the titles, the second OFC Champions League spot is granted to the runner-up of the regular season.

Team Wellington win the 2020-21 New Zealand Football Championship

2020-21 New Zealand Football Championship

The 2020-21 season is the seventeenth edition of the NZFC. There are 8 teams taking part in the competition. The change from ten to eight teams was because Tasman United and Southern United joined Canterbury United to form a united South Island team, playing under the Canterbury United name.

In this season, Auckland City is the Premier winner and Team Wellington is the Championship winner. 

 Best Teams of the New Zealand Football Championship over years

According to the below New Zealand Football Championship results, Auckland City is the most successful team in the league with 12 Premiership titles and 8 Championship titles as of the 2020-21 season. The second rank belongs to Waitakere United with 5 titles in both premiership and championship. Team Wellington’s members are playing very well in recent years and they are the current champions of the league in the 2020-21 season. 

Top Best Goalscorers in the New Zealand Football Championship 

Reference Sources

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Football_Championship
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020%E2%80%9321_New_Zealand_Football_Championship