The Canterbury Premiership League, formally Mainland Premier League and also known as

New World The term "New World" is used to describe the majority of lands of Earth's Western Hemisphere, particularly the Americas, and sometimes Oceania."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: ...

Canterbury Premiership League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition run by

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 ...

for

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 ...

clubs located in

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

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 ...

. It is at the third tier of

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 ...

, below the Southern Leagues and above the

Canterbury Championship League The Canterbury Championship League, also known as New World (supermarket), New World Canterbury Championship League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition run by Mainland Football for association football clubs located in Christchurch, ...

. The competition currently runs between March and August each year, and consists of ten team based in Christchurch. There are 18 round where the teams play each other twice. The winner of the league has the option to play in the Mainland Football Federation Playoff, a two-leg home and away series against the winner of

Nelson Bays Premiership Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

. The winner of Mainland Football Federation Playoff, plays the winner of Southern Premiership in the Southern League Playoff, a two-leg home and away series. The winner of the Southern League Playoff will be promoted to the Southern League, assuming they will have the correct club licensing before the season starts.

History

The Christchurch League started in 1998, a breakaway competition from the Southern League. The inaugural season had eight teams; Avon United,

Canterbury University The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

, Christchurch Rangers,

Christchurch United Christchurch United Football Club is a Professionalism in association football, professional football club in Christchurch, New Zealand. They compete in various Mainland Football competitions at Junior and Senior level. The club has won six N ...

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 ...

, New Brighton,

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 ...

and

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

. The inaugural season was won by

with a record 58 points, which was only beaten in 2020 by

Cashmere Technical Cashmere Technical is an association football club based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was formed in early 2012 from the merger of two of the city's premier teams, Cashmere Wanderers and Woolston Technical. The two clubs had agreed to work t ...

with 59 points. In 2000, after the final season of the Southern League, the breakaway competition became the Federation 6 (Mainland) Premier League, the league was expanded to 11 teams, with two team outside of Christchurch; Marlborough United and Nelson Suburbs Reserves. The following season the league expanded to 12 teams, the additional team was Mid-Canterbury United, with Nelson Suburbs Reserves dropping out with Nelson Suburbs First team replacing them after withdrawing from the

2001 New Zealand National Soccer League The 2001 New Zealand National Club Championship, also known, due to naming-rights sponsorship, as the Qantas National Club Championship was the second season of a nationwide club competition in New Zealand football. The competition was won by Ce ...

, as they were unable to have two team from the same club compete in the Premier league. In 2012,

Woolston Technical Cashmere Technical is an association football club based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was formed in early 2012 from the merger of two of the city's premier teams, Cashmere Wanderers and Woolston Technical. The two clubs had agreed to work ...

and

Cashmere Wanderers Cashmere Technical is an association football club based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was formed in early 2012 from the merger of two of the city's premier teams, Cashmere Wanderers and Woolston Technical. The two clubs had agreed to work t ...

merged to become

; they replaced the Woolston side that had finished sixth in the 2011 competition. Recently merged teams

Coastal Spirit Coastal Spirit FC is an association football club in Christchurch, New Zealand and are a part of Mainland Football's federation. Their Premier Men's team currently competes in the Southern League. Their Premier Women's team competes in the W ...

(Established between

New Brighton AFC New Brighton Association Football Club is the name of two football clubs from the seaside resort of New Brighton, in Wallasey, Merseyside in England. The original club founded in 1921 were members of the Football League from 1923 until 1951, p ...

and

Rangers AFC Rangers AFC was one of the oldest football teams in New Zealand and was located in Christchurch, New Zealand. In 2007 they merged with New Brighton to form Coastal Spirit History Rangers AFC was founded in 1910 by a group of dedicated pla ...

in 2008), and

FC Twenty 11 FC Twenty 11 is a New Zealand amateur football club based in the city of Christchurch. The club was formed in 2011 following the merger of Avon United and Burnside A.F.C. The club is based in the western part of Christchurch and draw most of ...

(Established between Avon United and Burnside AFC in 2011) entered the Premier League through promotion from the Division One competition. In March 2021,

announced a change to the structure of both the premiership and the top regional leagues around the country. The Mainland Premier League and the

FootballSouth Premier League The Southern Premier League (known as the ODT Southern Men's Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand association football league competition administered by Southern Football involving clubs from the lower half of the South Is ...

will be the new Southern League. These leagues would allow local clubs to qualify for the premiership season (now known as the National League Championship), with the top 4 teams from the Northern League, the top 3 teams from the Central League, and the top 2 teams from the Southern League making up the competition, alongside the Wellington Phoenix Reserve side. All teams that qualify plus the Phoenix Reserves, would then play a single round-robin competition between September and December. For the Southern League, the two existing competitions run in the South Island (Mainland Premier League and FootballSouth Premier League) play their original league seasons for the teams to then qualify for a place in the newly formed competition. Five teams from Mainland Premier League, which covers the top of the South Island to Christchurch and three teams from FootballSouth Premier League, covering from below Christchurch to the bottom of the South Island, will qualify. The competition started on the 17 July 2021. During that time, the bottom three teams played in a qualifying league with the top two teams in the Canterbury Championship league, with the top two finishers promoted to the 2022 Southern League. In 2022, the league rebranded to become the Canterbury Premiership League (CPL), as there was no need to travel to

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

to play a Nelson team.

Promotion to Southern League

won the inaugural season of CPL, then played

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 ...

's runners-up

Roslyn-Wakari Roslyn-Wakari Association Football Club is an association football club based in Dunedin, New Zealand. They compete in the Southern Premier League. History The club's history began in 1888 when the Wakari Football Association first played in th ...

in the Southern League playoffs, as

Dunedin City Royals Dunedin City Royals Football Club is an amateur football club based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Formed in 2021, originally as South City Royals, the club is an initiative between existing Southern Dunedin based clubs, Caversham, Dunedin Technical ...

reserve team won the league and were ineligible for promotion. FC Twenty 11 won 5–2 on aggregate. In 2023,

University of Canterbury The University of Canterbury (UC; ; postnominal abbreviation ''Cantuar.'' or ''Cant.'' for ''Cantuariensis'', the Latin name for Canterbury) is a public research university based in Christchurch, New Zealand. It was founded in 1873 as Canterbur ...

won the league and played off against Nelson Bays' premiership winners

FC Nelson FC Nelson is an amateur association football, football club, based in Nelson, New Zealand, Nelson, New Zealand. The club's home ground is Guppy Park History The team was founded in 2011 through the amalgamation of Nelson United AFC, Nelson Uni ...

, winning 5–3 win on aggregate. They then faced

's runners-up

, as

Mosgiel Mosgiel () is an urban satellite of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, fifteen kilometres west of the city's centre. Since the re-organisation of New Zealand local government in 1989 it has been inside the Dunedin City Council area. Mosgiel has a p ...

declined participation in the playoffs. Drawing 2–2 on aggregate, University of Canterbury won 6–5 on penalties after extra time. In 2024,

Waimakariri United Waimakariri United is a football club based in Rangiora, New Zealand. It was formed in 2008 through the merger of two North Canterbury teams, Kaiapoi Town (formerly based at Kendall Park, Kaiapoi) and Rangiora FC (formerly based at Maria Andrews ...

won the league and played off against Nelson Bays' premiership's 3rd placed

, as

Rangers A ranger is typically someone in a law enforcement or military/paramilitary role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called "ranging" or "scouting". The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with prot ...

declined to participate and second-placed Nelson Suburbs Reserves are ineligible to participate, drawing 6–6 on aggregate, and won 4–3 on penalties after extra time. They then faced

's runners-up Wanaka, as

declined participation in the playoffs. Wanaka won 9–3 on aggregate.

Canterbury Premiership League teams

''As of 2025 season.'' :(2) — Denotes club's Second team, ineligible for promotion to the Southern League :(U) — Denotes club's Under 20 Reserve team, ineligible for promotion to the Southern League

Winners

Mainland Premier League: *1998 -

*1999 -

*2000 -

*2001 -

*2002 - Ferrymead Bays *2003 -

*2004 -

Nelson Suburbs Nelson Suburbs FC is a football club in Nelson, New Zealand. They compete in the Mainland Premier League. They have won the Mainland Premier League three times. Nelson Suburbs FC has strong ties with the region's most successful football schoo ...

*2005 -

*2006 - Ferrymead Bays *2007 -

*2008 -

*2009 -

*2010 -

*2011 - Ferrymead Bays *2012 - Ferrymead Bays *2013 -

*2014 -

*2015 -

*2016 -

*2017 - Ferrymead Bays *2018 -

*2019 -

*2020 -

*2021 -

*Cashmere Technical's MPL titles in 2009 and 2010 were won by Woolston Technical, which was later merged in 2012. Canterbury Premiership League: *2022 -

*2023 - Universities AFC *

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 ...

References

{{NZ fb general 2 Sports leagues established in 1998 1998 establishments in New Zealand