The 2020–21 New Zealand Football Championship season (currently known as the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the seventeenth and final season of the NZFC since its establishment in 2004. Eight teams compete in the competition with

Auckland City Auckland City () was a territorial authority area with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Au ...

and

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was an association football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most successful football c ...

representing the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership in the

2021 OFC Champions League The 2021 OFC Champions League was originally to be the 20th edition of the Oceanian Club Championship, Oceania's premier club football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC), and the 15th season under the current OFC Cham ...

after Auckland City finished Premiers, with Team Wellington finishing regular season runners-up in the 2019–20 competition, after the remainder of the competition was cancelled mid-March due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand The COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand was part of COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic of COVID-19, coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). The first case of the disease in New Zeala ...

. The change from ten teams to eight teams was due to Tasman United and Southern United joining

Canterbury United Canterbury United Dragons was a semi-professional Association football, football club from Christchurch, New Zealand. The team plays most of its matches at English Park in Christchurch, though they occasionally play in Nelson, New Zealand, Nels ...

to form a united

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

team, playing under the Canterbury United name. Auckland City won the league with a game in hand, taking top spot for their 12th premiership.

Clubs

Regular season

League table

Positions by round

Fixtures and results

The season was scheduled to be played on a home and away basis between 14 November 2020 and 28 February 2021, with the finals series being played in March 2021. On 27 February 2021 it was announced that the game between Hawkes Bay United and Eastern Suburbs for Round 14 had been delayed because of a

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

outbreak that resulted in the Auckland region moving to Level 3 and the rest of the country changing to Level 2. New Zealand Football announced that the game was to be rescheduled to be played as a midweek fixture sometime between 8–12 March but is dependent on the Alert Levels coming down. It was also announced that if the restrictions in Auckland remained, then the game would be cancelled and classed as a draw with both clubs sharing the points. If that was to happen, then the final top four teams for the semi-finals would be Auckland City, Team Wellington, Hamilton Wanderers and Waitakere United. This potentially could cause more issues, as two of the teams (Auckland City and Waitakere United) are based in the Auckland region so was also advised that in the event that the restrictions where still in place when the semi-finals where due to be played, then the competition would proceed to a straight final to be played between the two clubs that where top of the league at the end of the season. This would then see Auckland City and Team Wellington play the final, scheduled to be played on 21 March. With the restrictions in Auckland being lowered, the game was rescheduled and played on Wednesday 10 March 2021. The result of the game decided on who finished fourth and faced Auckland City for the second Semi-final.

Results table

;All times are in New Zealand Time.

Round 1

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Finals series

Semi-finals

Grand final

Statistics

Top scorers

^† Due to reaching 12 goals in less games, Hamish Watson was awarded the Golden Boot at the Grand finals.

Hat-tricks

Own goals

References

External links

ISPS Handa Men's Premiership website
{{DEFAULTSORT:2020-21 New Zealand Football Championship New Zealand Football Championship seasons

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this sys ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...