The Kate Sheppard Cup, currently known as the New Zealand Football Foundation Kate Sheppard Cup for sponsorship purposes, is New Zealand's premier

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

tournament in women's

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

. Founded in 1994, it was known as the Women's Knockout Cup, until it was renamed in 2018. What would have been the 2020 edition of the competition, was cancelled because of

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 ...

but the competition continued again in 2021.

Format

The Kate Sheppard Cup is a national club based competition, women's teams from all clubs that are members of their regional association affiliated to

New Zealand Football New Zealand Football () is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand men's national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), th ...

are allowed to enter and is competed for during the winter club season. In March each year NZ Football calls for clubs to enter their teams and all teams that have entered shall compete on a

basis until two teams remain unbeaten to contest the final in September. New Zealand football handles the drawing of teams and at the start of the competition teams from within certain Football Federations are drawn against each other to save on travel costs. Football Federations

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

and Waikato/Bay of Plenty could be drawn against each other, as could teams from Waikato/Bay of Plenty and Central Football, Central Football and

Capital Football Capital Football is the trading name for the ACT Football Federation Incorporated, the state governing body for soccer in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT), but also has affiliated clubs based in surrounding areas of New South Wales. It i ...

, and

Mainland Football Mainland Football is one of six federations of New Zealand Football, representing regions of Northern and Central Canterbury, Tasman, Nelson, Marlborough and the West Coast. History Canterbury United Pride was founded in 2002, to represe ...

and

Southern Football Southern Football, formerly FootballSouth, is one of six federations of New Zealand Football, representing regions of South Canterbury, Waitaki, Dunedin Dunedin ( ; ) is the second-most populous city in the South Island of New Zealand ...

. The competition becomes an open draw from the semi-final stage with teams being required to travel, at their cost, throughout New Zealand.

History

The Kate Sheppard Cup is New Zealand Footballs women's national club based knockout competition that was first played in 1994 and called the Women's Knockout Cup. The competition starts with regional games until the semi-final then two Northern Region teams will play each other in one semi-final, and the Central Region winner will play the Southern Region winner in the other semi. The final is usually played as part of a double-header, with the

Chatham Cup The Chatham Cup is New Zealand's premier Single-elimination tournament, knockout tournament in men's association football. It is held annually, with the final contested in September. The current champions of the Chatham Cup are Wellington Olymp ...

Final (the men's club teams competition) as part of the traditional ending to the New Zealand football season in September. The very first game saw

Halswell United Halswell United is an amateur association football club based in Christchurch, New Zealand in the suburb of Halswell. They will compete in the New World Mainland Premier League. The club was founded in 1964 as Halswell United Soccer, changing i ...

defeat New Brighton 2–0. The first final took place at Christchurch's

English Park English Park is a football (soccer), football stadium in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is the home stadium of Canterbury United, which competes in the ASB Premiership, as well as Western AFC which currently compete in the Mainland Premier League. ...

and saw local team

Nomads United Nomads United is an association football club based in Casebrook, Christchurch, New Zealand. The club competes in the Southern League, the second tier of New Zealand football. Founded in 1910, the club play their home games at Tulett Park. It ...

emerge as the first winners of the competition, beating Waikato Unicol on penalties 4–3 after a scoreless final. The second year of the competition saw Waikato Unicol make the final again but this time winning the competition, before the start of the Northern Region dominance at the expense of Lower Hutt club

Petone Petone (Māori language, Māori: ''Pito-one'') is a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, New Zealand. It stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. Europeans first settled in Petone in Januar ...

who in four consecutive finals from 1995 to 1998 finished runners-up.

Three Kings United Three Kings United Football Club is a youth football club based in Three Kings, Auckland, New Zealand. They previously competed in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 1, with their last appearance coming in 2019. In 2020, Three Kings United m ...

where the first team to complete a "three-peat" winning the cup from 1997 to 1999 only to be succeeded by Lynn-Avon United who won it five years in a row from 2002 to 2006. They are also the cups most successful team winning the trophy nine times. On 8 March 2018, coinciding with International Women's Day and in celebration of the 125th anniversary of the

women's suffrage movement Women's suffrage is the women's rights, right of women to Suffrage, vote in elections. Several instances occurred in recent centuries where women were selectively given, then stripped of, the right to vote. In Sweden, conditional women's suffra ...

, which was led by

Kate Sheppard Katherine Wilson Sheppard ( Catherine Wilson Malcolm; 10 March 1848 – 13 July 1934) was the most prominent member of the women's suffrage movement in New Zealand and the country's most famous suffragist. Born in Liverpool, England, she emig ...

who helped women earn the right to vote in New Zealand. The cup was renamed as the Kate Sheppard Cup. In 2021, the Kate Sheppard Cup saw a record number of 57 teams enter, increasing by 40% from the previous edition.

Past winners

Maia Jackman Trophy

A Maia Jackman Trophy is presented annually to the player adjudged to have made the most positive impact in the Kate Sheppard final. Originally just the

Most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player (MVP) award is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particular competition, or ...

trophy, it was renamed in 2013 after Maia Jackman who herself won the MVP trophy in the 1996 and 1998 Women's Knockout Cup finals. * 1994 – ''Not Awarded'' * 1995 – ''Not Awarded'' * 1996 – Maia Jackman (Lynn-Avon United) * 1997 – Maria Wilkie (Three Kings United) * 1998 – Maia Jackman (Three Kings United) * 1999 – Nicky Smith (Wairarapa United) * 2000 – Amanda Crawford (Lynn-Avon United) * 2001 – Priscilla Duncan (Ellerslie) * 2002 – Yvonne Vale (Lynn-Avon United) * 2003 – Sara Clapham (Lynn-Avon United) * 2004 – Melissa Ray (Lynn-Avon United) * 2005 – Michele Keinzley (Lynn-Avon United) * 2006 –

Ria Percival Ria Dawn Percival (born 7 December 1989) is a professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder. She last played for Crystal Palace, on loan from Tottenham Hotspur. Born in England, she played for the New Zealand women's national te ...

(Lynn-Avon United) * 2007 – Nicky Smith (Western Springs) * 2008 – Kirsty Yallop (Lynn-Avon United) * 2009 – Katie Hoyle (Lynn-Avon United) * 2010 –

Olivia Chance Olivia Juliet Bridget Chance (born 5 October 1993) is a New Zealand Association football, footballer who plays as an Midfielder#Attacking midfielder, attacking midfielder or a Midfielder#Winger, left winger for Kolbotn Fotball, Kolbotn IL the N ...

(Claudelands Rovers) * 2011 – Steph Skilton (Glenfield Rovers) * 2012 –

Annalie Longo Annalie Antonia Longo (born 1 July 1991) is a Former New Zealand professional footballer who played for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League Women and the New Zealand national team. She has played for Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory in the ...

(Three Kings United) * 2013 – Laura Merrin (Coastal Spirit) *

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

– Katie Rood (Glenfield Rovers) *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

– Estelle Harrison (Glenfield Rovers) *

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

– Tessa Berger (Forrest Hill-Milford United) *

2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...

– Kate Loye (Glenfield Rovers) *

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

– Shontelle Smith (Dunedin Technical) *

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

– Tayla O'Brien and Erinna Wong (Eastern Suburbs) * 2020 – ''Not Awarded'' *

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

– Emma Main (Wellington United) *

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

–

Katie Duncan Katie Cherie Duncan (, 1 February 1988) is a New Zealand footballer who plays for Onehunga Sports and the New Zealand national team. Currently she is head coach at Eastern Suburbs AFC Premier Women's team in Auckland. Club career Duncan signed ...

(Auckland United) *

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

– Lily Jervis (Western Springs) *

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

– Charlotte Roche (Auckland United)

Performances

By team

By Federation

Sponsorship

In 2025, Delivereasy was named as the naming partner for the Kate Sheppard Cup.

Media coverage

In September 2023, New Zealand signed a deal to have selected Kate Sheppard Cup games streamed for free on

FIFA+ The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

worldwide.

References

External links

Official website
{{Association football in New Zealand Women's association football in New Zealand Association football cup competitions in New Zealand Women's association football competitions in Oceania Women's national association football cups 1994 establishments in New Zealand Cultural depictions of Kate Sheppard