The new-look men’s National League Championship starts on October 1, New Zealand Football have confirmed.
The full season’s schedule has been revealed for the 10 participating teams.
Northern League qualifiers
- Auckland City
- Birkenhead United
- Auckland United
- Melville United
Central League qualifiers
- Wellington Olympic
- Miramar Rangers
- Napier City Rovers
Southern League qualifiers
- Christchurch United
- Cashmere Technical
Automatic qualification
- Wellington Phoenix Reserves
Download schedule
Click here to download PDF version of men’s National League draw >>>>
Grounds and kick-off times
Click here to check the updated dates, times and venues for matches >>>>
How the National League’s Championship phase works
Since restructuring for the 2021 season, the top tier of domestic football provides a National League that comprises the 32 clubs playing in the Northern League, Central League and Southern League.
From those regional competitions, nine clubs qualify on their final league placings to join the Wellington Phoenix Reserves in what’s called the National League’s Championship phase.
Starting in October, each club will play all other nine teams.
After all nine rounds have been played, the top two teams will meet in the Grand Final.
The Phoenix reserves are ineligible to play in the Grand Final (between the two teams finishing top of the home and away competition).
For the Championship phase, each team can field a maximum of four foreign players as well as one player who has Oceania Football Confederation nationality.
Each team must also have at least two players aged 20 or under in their starting line-up.
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