New Zealand Football Championship
New Zealand Football Championship ( NZFC ) is the highest football league in New Zealand. The competition was founded in 2004 is a semi - professional league franchise and is the national association, New Zealand Football, operated. Since 2010, the league is sponsored by the ASB Bank and now bears the name of the ASB Premiership.
The status of the league as the successor of the National Soccer League is controversial, as traditional teams were not considered and instead franchise teams participating in the competition.
Game operation
The league consists of eight clubs that play three times each against each other. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams qualify for the play- offs and play the champions. Here, the first play against the fourth and the second against the third in a double round ( round-trip game). The winners of those ties occur in the final match against each other. The winner will qualify as a New Zealand football champions for the OFC Champions League.
Current Teams
When the league was introduced, there were eleven candidates. Olé Madrid Team Bay of Plenty and East Auckland were rejected. Then Olé Madrid tried to sue, but failed. About an expansion of the league, however, thought.