The New Zealand Women's National League, known as the Dettol Women's National League for sponsorship reasons (and formerly the National Women's League), is the top-level professional women's football (

soccer 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 ...

) league in

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 ...

. The teams were run by regional federations until 2021, when

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 ...

started to move to club-based football.

History

The National League was founded in 2002 and ran until a hiatus at the end of 2007. The league resumed in 2009 with five federations participating, as well as the national women's under-19 team development squad. As of 2024, the league has eight teams, one run by each federation. The league ran in a pure round-robin format in 2002 and 2003. Playoffs started in 2004, with the second and third-placed teams competing in a one-legged semi-final. The winner of that and the first-place team then played in the Grand Final to decide the overall champion. Following a hiatus in 2009, the league was divided into two divisions—a Northern Conference and a Southern Conference, each comprising four teams. At the end of the season, semi-finals were held, where the winner of each division played against the runner-up of the other division. The victorious teams then competed in the Grand Final. However, in 2013, the league reverted to its previous format. From 2010 to 2014, the league was held in the summer, in contrast to previous seasons, which were held in the winter. During this period, the league was restricted to players under the age of 20, making it a national women's youth league. The restrictions were lifted in 2015, and since then, the league has been an unrestricted women's league.

looked to move the National Women's League to a club-based competition (similar to the men's competition) by 2020. The governing body also hoped to expand the number of games each federation plays in 2018.

Participants

Current

* 4 teams from the Northern Regional League: ** Auckland United ** Eastern Suburbs ** Ellerslie ** Western Springs * Central Football (as "Central Soccer" until 2007) (2002–2007, 2010–) * Capital Football (as "Capital Soccer" until 2006) (2002–) * Canterbury United Pride (as "Mainland Soccer" (2002–2005), "Mainland Pride" (2006–2007, 2010–), and "Mainland Football" (2009)) (2002–) * Southern United (as "Soccersouth" until 2007) (2002–) * Wellington Phoenix Reserves

Former

* Auckland Under-20 Development (2010–2011) * Auckland Football (2002–2020) * New Zealand Football Development (2005–2006, 2009, 2014–2016 ::This comprised the national under-19 team (2005), national under-18 team (2006, 2014–2016), and national under-17 team (2009). Although New Zealand Development competed from 2005, they were ineligible to take part in the semifinals and final until the 2009 season. * Northern Lights (as "North Harbour" until 2007 and then Northern Football until 2010) (2002–2007, 2010–2020) *Northern Region Development (2011–2013) *

WaiBOP United WaiBOP United (known as Waikato FC until 2013) was a football club based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The club was founded in 2004 and disbanded in 2016 and played in the ASB Premiership. WaiBOP United played their home fixtures at John Kerkhof ...

(2002–2020) * Young Ferns (2013–2014)

List of champions

A list of National League champion teams: *Home team for final

Sponsorship

On 31 January 2025, New Zealand Football agreed a multi-year sponsorship deal with cleaning brand

Dettol Dettol is a brand line of products used for disinfectant, disinfection and as an antiseptic. This brand was created with the introduction of Dettol antiseptic liquid in 1933 by the British company Reckitt, Reckitt and Colman. The Dettol brand li ...

for naming rights of the National League from the start of the 2025 season.

Media coverage

Sky Sport had the broadcasting rights for the first two seasons (including the South Central Series). One game was televised live weekly with the remaining four games free to air on either the Sky Sport Next or

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channels. In September 2023, New Zealand signed a deal to have all National League games streamed for free on FIFA+ worldwide.

References

External links

Official website
{{NZ fb general

Association football leagues in New Zealand Summer association football leagues Women's association football in New Zealand

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 ...

Professional sports leagues in New Zealand