New Zealand Football Championship

Competition format

There are two stages to the competition; "The League" (commonly referred to as "regular season") and "The Championship" (commonly referred to as "the playoffs").

The two teams that win the league phase (the "Minor Premier") and the Grand Final (the "champion") qualify for the OFC Champions League. Should the same team win both the Minor Premiership and the Championship, the second Champions League spot is granted to the league runner-up. This has occurred on numerous occasions; the first instance being in 2006 when Auckland City (premiers and champions) and Young Heart Manawatu qualified despite Canterbury United contesting the Grand Final.

There are no lower divisions in the Premiership, thus no promotion and relegation exists, similar to leagues in Australia and in the United States.

The League

For the first four seasons, regular season had the teams play each other three times, however, this was changed to the present home-and-away system in 2008, due to financial difficulties affecting some of the clubs. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams progress to the playoffs.

The Championship

The playoffs are run as a home-and-away semi-finals series, with the winners progressing to a one-match Grand Final.

The playoff phase in the inaugural season was contested by the top three clubs, whereby the Minor Premier (winner of league phase) received a bye and hosting rights for the grand final, with second and third placed teams playing off in a one-game preliminary final. The NZFC experimented with a five team playoff in the 2005–06 season, however, this was discontinued and the league reverted to the three-team playoff system for the 2006–07 and 2007–08 seasons.

Establishment in 2004 to present

The New Zealand Football Championship was created as a replacement to the former New Zealand National Soccer League, a tournament involving clubs from the regional governing bodies of New Zealand Football. The NZFC was to be run as a summer league involving new clubs created solely for the new competition, with these new clubs being run jointly by existing winter clubs. The only exception to this was Napier City Rovers, whose summer club would be rebranded Hawke's Bay United during the second season, to be operated jointly by other clubs in the Hawke's Bay region.

Eleven groups bid for franchises, with the successful bids being announced on 7 April 2004 as Auckland City, Canterbury United, Napier City Rovers, Otago United, Team Wellington, Waikato FC, Waitakere United and YoungHeart Manawatu, with Olé Madrids, East Auckland and Team Bay of Plenty being excluded. Unhappy at their exclusion, the Olé Madrids bid team took New Zealand Soccer to court, suing for damages and demanding inclusion in the competition, claiming that, whilst they met NZ Soccer's criteria for inclusion, other successful bids did not. The case was dropped by the Madrids team eight days before the commencement of the first NZFC season. Western Suburbs, the club associated with the Olé Academy, is now a principal member of the Team Wellington franchise. East Auckland also considered legal action, however this was not pursued.

The first match of the competition was on 15 October 2004, with Auckland City defeating Napier City Rovers 3–1 at Park Island, Napier. Auckland City were also crowned the inaugural NZFC champions after defeating Waitakere United 3–2 in the final.

The second season saw Napier City Rovers rebrand and re-organize their NZFC team as Hawke's Bay United, forming an amalgamated franchise with other local clubs. It also saw the first instance of a NZFC team winning the O-League, with Auckland City FC defeating French Polynesian team AS Pirae 3–1.

At the conclusion of the 2006–07 season, New Zealand Football granted three-season licence extensions to seven of the eight franchises – all but YoungHeart Manawatu, who had to re-apply due to concerns over the club's financial and organisational situation. However, YoungHeart eventually earned reinstatement after beating out four rival bids – one based in Gisborne, one from North Shore City, and two from Manukau. Olé Madrids also applied for the licence, however they withdrew early.

On 2 September 2010, New Zealand Football announced a five-year sponsorship agreement with ASB Bank resulting in the rebranding of the New Zealand Football Championship to the ASB Premiership.

In 2013, after a review of the competition by the ASB Premiership review committee, YoungHeart Manawatu was dropped from the competition after finishing last in the previous three seasons. New Zealand Football also confirmed that a team composed of New Zealand players born on or after 1 January 1995 would take Manawatu's place in the Premiership for at least two seasons. The addition of the team – to be known as Wanderers SC – was to provide adequate preparation for New Zealand's U-20 players for the upcoming 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup which will be hosted by New Zealand. Much confusion surrounded the initials "SC" in the Wanderers' name, as no official explanation was given as to what they stood for. It wasn't until after their first match that coach Darren Bazeley finally revealed that "SC" stood for "Special Club", saying "it acknowledges this team has arisen out of a special situation and was specially formed for the purpose."

The 2014–15 season saw the Premiership expand to nine teams for the first time in its history. Wellington Phoenix Reserves was added to the competition to provide game time for the members of the Phoenix squad who are not playing frequently for the first team in the A-League. Restrictions were also put in place for all clubs requiring that at least 50% of match day squads are players who are eligible to play for the All Whites.

After 11 full seasons, only Auckland City and Waitakere United have been crowned Premiers or Champions, with Auckland City adding their sixth premiership and sixth title in the 2014–15 season. This trend was bucked, however, in the twelfth season of the competition, as Team Wellington defeated Auckland City 4-2 aet in the final.

2016 Expansion

In December 2015 it was announced that the league would be expanding to 10 teams for the 2016–17 season with Eastern Suburbs from Auckland, Hamilton Wanderers from Hamilton, and Tasman United from Nelson joining the league, while WaiBop United will exit the competition.

In September 2016 it was announced that the expanded league would be re-branded as the Stirling Sports Premiership.

Clubs

There are currently ten clubs from New Zealand playing in the 2016–17 Stirling Sports Premiership. Unlike most European leagues, there is no system for promotion and relegation. This system is similar to leagues in Australia and in the United States.

Name changes

Champions and premiers

The teams that win the league phase (the "premier") and the Grand Final (the "champion") qualify for the OFC Champions League. Should the same team win both the Premiership and the Championship, the second O-League spot will be granted to league runner-up.

Golden Boot

The Golden Boot is presented to the player who scores the most goals during the season.

Team of the Decade Awards

In 2014, to celebrate the first 10 years of the league under the franchise format (2004-05 to 2013-14), New Zealand Football announced an official Team of the Decade and five individual player awards.

Team of the Decade

Prior to the ASB Premiership Grand Final in 2014, the Team of the Decade was announced, as selected by a panel of media experts. The team was selected in a 4-3-3 formation.

Players of the Decade

Throughout the 2013-14 national league season, four Player of the Decade awards (based on playing position) were announced and prior to the 2014 Grand Final an overall Player of the Decade was announced. These awards were decided by a panel of media experts with input from fans via a public vote.

Regular season matches

As of end of 2015–16 season

Finals matches

As of the conclusion of the 2013–14 season

OFC Champions League

The OFC Champions League, also known as the O-League, is the premier football competition in Oceania. It is organized by the OFC, Oceania's football governing body. It has been organized since 2007 under the current format, following its successor, the Oceania Club Championship. Two teams from the Stirling Sports Premiership participate annually. Four O-League titles have been won by teams from New Zealand.

ASB Charity Cup

The ASB Charity Cup was introduced in 2011 as a season opener played the weekend before the first matches of the ASB Premiership season. The fixture pits the ASB Premiership Grand Final winner against the best performing New Zealand team in the OFC Champions League. However, when the same team fills both categories as Auckland City did in 2014 and 2015 the ASB Premiership runner-up qualifies for Charity Cup.

ASB Phoenix Challenge

The 2010–11 season saw the introduction of the ASB Challenge Series. This was an individual friendly competition in which the eight Premiership teams competed against a reserve team attached to Wellington Phoenix FC, a New Zealand-based team playing in the Australian A-League. The ASB Phoenix Challenge was discontinued after the 2010–11 season but reinstated for 2012–2013.

National Youth League

New Zealand Football also runs the Under-20 National Youth League. The 2011/12 season consists of two four-team conferences (North and South) that play against each conference opponent twice (home and away), for six regular season games. At the conclusion of the youth league regular season, the top ranked Northern team hosts the second ranked Southern team, and the top ranked Southern team hosts the second ranked Northern team for the semi finals. The winners of these matches will face each other in the grand final. The current Youth League champion is Canterbury United, having defeated Waitakere United 2 – 1 after extra time at Bill McKinlay Park, Auckland For the 2012–13 season the competition was expanded to 10 teams with the Nelson Falcons competing in the southern conference and Northern U17's connected to the New Zealand national team in the Northern conference.

White Ribbon Cup

The White Ribbon Cup, is a knockout cup competition run by New Zealand Football. The 2011–12 season will be the inaugural season of the NZF Cup.

It was established in 2011 to provide regular football for the six clubs not participating in the Oceania Champions League and runs in conjunction with the Stirling Sports Premiership regular season.

Referees

Referees are selected from around New Zealand and occasionally include guest referees from other nations, most notably Australia. Whilst the match referees may travel to games outside their home federation, assistant referees and fourth officials are from generally within the hosting federation.