Country Australia Number of teams 10 Relegation to Zone League One | Founded 2011 Level on pyramid 4 Domestic cup(s) FFA Cup | |
The Newcastle Zone Premier League, Zone Premier League or just ZPL is an Australian football (soccer) league in the North of New South Wales. It is the third tier of football in the Northern New South Wales Football association.
Contents
The competition is made up of 10 teams who play each other twice, home and away. The players in the league are mostly amateurs.
2015 will see 3 teams promoted into the Northern NSW State League Division 1 from ZPL as a result of league restructuring. These teams are Cooks Hill United FC, Kahibah FC and Wallsend FC. The applications from Morisset United FC and Swansea FC were unsuccessful.
Format
The Zone Premier League competition consists of ten teams, each of whom have a 1st-grade side, a Reserve grade side and an under-23s side. The regular season takes place over 18 rounds, with each team playing each other once at home and once away. The team that finishes first at the end of the 18 rounds is crowned Minor Premier.
The top four teams contest the Finals Series. The first round consists of major (1st vs 2nd) and minor (3rd vs 4th) semi-finals. The winner of the major semi-final progresses straight to the grand final, the winner of the minor semi-final then plays the loser of the major semi-final of which the winner then progresses into the grand final where the winner of that game is crowned the Major Premier.
The Minor Premier of the League is not currently promoted to the NNSW State League Division 1 regardless of the clubs ability to meet the eligibility criteria. The last placed team is relegated to Zone League One and replaced by the Minor Premier of Zone League One.
2015 Season Teams
All teams are required to present in 3 grades.