Do you want to understand how the men’s football leagues in our region are structured? How promotion and relegation works?

Here’s an overview of the top levels of men’s football relevant to clubs in the Waikato and Bay of Plenty.

National League

The top level of Men’s  Football in New Zealand is the Men’s National League, played in two stages.

The Regional Stage – commonly called the Northern, Central and Southern Leagues – is played over the regular winter season from March to September.

It is followed by a playoff, called the Championship phase, of the top teams from the regional competition. The top four teams from the Northern League, three from the Central League (plus the Wellington Phoenix Reserve team) and two from the Southern League take part in this nine round playoff, from late September through to early December.

In 2024, no teams from the WaiBOP region qualified for the National League Championship phase.

Northern League (Regional stage of the National League)

The Northern League is made up of twelve teams.

It is administered by Northern Regional Football (NRF) on behalf of New Zealand Football,  though the competition spans two Federations: NRF and WaiBOP. Teams in 2024 came from Auckland, Hamilton and Tauranga.

Promotion and relegation for the Northern League is a “2 Up, 2 Down” system. At the end of the season, the bottom two clubs are relegated to the NRFL Championship, while the two clubs that finished first and second in the NRFL Championship move up to the Northern League.

However, 2024 saw a one-off change to the rules.

The arrival of Auckland FC into the A-League created a unique situation. Auckland FC’s reserve team has been given automatic entry into the 2025 Northern and National League (just like the Wellington Phoenix in the Central League and National League).

This meant for 2024, two teams would be relegated from the Northern League, but only one promoted from the NRFL Championship.

The bottom two teams were relegated (Melville United and Hamilton Wanderers), and the NRFL Championship team that finished first (Fencibles United) was promoted.

A playoff was introduced in 2024, again as a one-off. The third-last team of the Northern League (Manurewa) played off with the team who came second in the NRFL Championship (Manukau FC) for the last spot in the 2025 Northern League. Manurewa won the two legged playoff to stay in the Northern League for 2025.

From 2025, this will revert to the standard “2 up, 2 down” model, with Auckland FC reserves protected from relegation. If AFC Reserves finish in the bottom 2, it’s the team that finishes in 10^th place that will be relegated.

The Northern League 2025 starts on March 22, 2025.

Tauranga City is the only WaiBOP team in this competition.

NRFL Championship

The NRFL Championship is a twelve team competition that sits below the Northern League.

The teams that finish in first and second place are promoted to the Northern League for the following season (except in 2024, where only one moved up).

The team than finishes last is relegated to the NRFL Men’s Conference – except for 2024, where the one off rule change meant the bottom two moved down.

Here’s what that looked like in 2024:

Fencibles United was promoted to the Northern League (-1)

Melville United and Hamilton Wanderers were relegated from the Northern League (+2)

Cambridge United was promoted from the Men’s Conference (+1)

Metro FC and Franklin United were relegated to the Men’s Conference (-2)

The LOTTO NRFL Championship league starts on March 22, 2025.

WaiBOP Football is represented by Cambridge FC, Melville United, Hamilton Wanderers and Ngaruawahia United.

NRFL Men’s Conference – Split into 2 Leagues, Northern and Southern

The NRFL Men’s Conference is split into a Northern and Southern league, with eight teams in each.

These are determined by geographical location (the Northern Conference is NRF Clubs; the Southern Conference is WaiBOP Clubs).

Which teams are relegated from the Championship determines space available and promotion/relegation from/into the leagues below them, the NRF League One, and the WaiBOP League One.

In 2024, the bottom two teams from the Championship to be relegated were Franklin United and Metro FC – both NRF clubs. With these teams both going down into the NRFL Men’s Northern Conference, two Northern Conference teams (Oratia United and Te Atatu AFC) have been relegated to NRF League One.

With one spot available in the NRFL Championship for promotion, the winners of the Northern Conference (Waiheke United) and the Southern Conference (Cambridge FC) had a two-legged playoff.

Cambridge FC won the playoff and promotion to the NRFL Championship.

Te Awamutu finished at the bottom of the league, and were relegated to WaiBOP League One.

Otorohanga FC won League One, and therefore were eligible for promotion to the NRFL Southern Conference. However, they advised WaiBOP Football that they could not meet the entry criteria in 2025.

Waikato Unicol, who finished fifth in 2024, have withdrawn from the Southern Conference in 2025.

WaiBOP Football, in consultation with all clubs involved in the Southern Conference and League One, and in line with the competition regulations have confirmed that Northern United, Matamata Swifts and West Hamilton will all compete in the NRFL Southern Conference in 2025.

The Southern Conference kicks off on March 29, 2025.

The eight teams in the 2025 league are:

• Claudelands Rovers
• Matamata Swifts AFC
• Northern United Sports Club
• Ngongotaha AFC
• Otumoetai AFC
• Papamoa FC
• Taupo AFC
• West Hamilton United FC

WaiBOP League One

WaiBOP Football Clubs were surveyed at the start of 2024, and the League One promotion/relegation guidelines were put together and published at the start of the 2024 season.  These will be updated in early 2025 for the 2026 season.

In 2025, WaiBOP League One will be a ten-team league and the following teams are confirmed:

• Te Awamutu AFC
• Otorohanga AFC
• Te Puke United FC FC
• Hamilton Wanderers
• Tauranga City AFC AFC
• Cambridge FC
• Tokoroa AFC
• Claudelands Rovers
• Otumoetai AFC 
• Melville United

Article added: Wednesday 15 January 2025