Teams
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Canterbury United damer
Southern United damer
Capital FF damer
Central Football damer
Northern Football damer
Auckland United damer
Auckland FF damer
Western Springs damer
Eastern Suburbs Auckland damer
Waikato/BOP Football Women
Northern Rovers damer
Waterside Karori damer
Ellerslie damer
Wellington Phoenix reserver damer
CF Wellington United damer
Wellington United Sapphires damer
Norwest Women
Claudelands Rovers Women
Upper Hutt City Women
Powerex Petone damer
Tawa Women
Coastal Spirit damer
Waimakairi United damer
Wellington United Diamonds damer
Brooklyn Northern United Women
Forrest Hill Milford Women
Three Kings United Women
Western Suburbs damer
Wikipedia - New Zealand Women's National League
The National League (previously known as the National Women's League) is the top-level women's football league in New Zealand. The teams were run by regional federations until 2021, when New Zealand Football started to move to club-based football.
History
This section's tone or style may not reflect the encyclopedic tone used on Wikipedia. (September 2022) |
The league was founded in 2002 and ran until the league went on hiatus at the end of 2007. The league resumed in 2009 with five federations participating, as well as the national women's under-19 team development squad. The league currently contains seven teams, one run by each federation.
The league ran in a pure round-robin format in 2002 and 2003. Playoffs started in 2004, with the second and third-placed teams competing in a one-legged semi-final. The winner of that and the first-place team then played in the Grand Final to decide the champion.
Following a hiatus in 2009, the league was divided into two divisions—a Northern Conference and a Southern Conference, each comprising four teams. At the end of the season, semi-finals were held, where the winner of each division played against the runner-up of the other division. The victorious teams then competed in the Grand Final. However, in 2013, the league reverted to its previous format.
From 2010 to 2014, the league was held in the summer, in contrast to previous seasons, which were held in the winter. During this period, the league was restricted to players under the age of 20, making it a national women's youth league. The restrictions were lifted in 2015, and since then, the league has been an unrestricted women's league.
New Zealand Football looked to move the National Women's League to a club-based competition (similar to the men's competition) by 2020. The governing body also hoped to expand the number of games each federation plays in 2018.