National Women's League (New Zealand)
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| Sport | Association football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2002 |
| No. of teams | 7 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Most recent champion(s) |
Canterbury United Pride |
| Most titles | Auckland Football Federation (5) |
| Official website | Official Website |
The National Women's League (previously known as the ASB National Women's League) is the top level women's Football league in New Zealand. Unlike its male counterpart, the Stirling Sports Premiership, the teams are run by the regional federations rather than as collaborative entities between local clubs.
The league was founded in 2002 and ran until the end of the 2007, after which the league went on hiatus. The league was resumed in 2009 with five federations participating, as well as the national women's under-17 team development squad, before they left the competition leaving just 7 teams run by each federation.
The league was run as a pure league format in 2002 and 2003, from 2004 to 2008 there has been playoffs. The third and second placed teams after the season compete in a one legged semi-final. The winner of that and the first-place finished then play the Grand Final to decide the champion.
From 2009 onwards, the league is split into two divisions. A Northern and a Southern Conference of 4 teams that play each other twice. After the season there is a semi-final: 1st North vs 2nd South and 2nd North vs 1st South. The winners of those play the Grand Final.
In 2013 the league was played as a whole, rather than split in two conferences, with every team playing each other once. The top of the table advancing straight to the final (at home), with second playing a home semi-final against third place, the winner advancing to the final.
While NZ Football would like to also move the National Women's League to club based like the Men's competition by 2020, it will look to expand the number of games each federation plays in 2018 to a two round system where each team plays home and away once against every other team in the competition
The list of champions:
List of Grand Finals:
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Wikipedia