2018–19 New Zealand Football Championship Explained

The 2018–19 New Zealand Football Championship season (currently known as the ISPS Handa Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifteenth season of the NZFC since its establishment in 2004. Ten teams competed in the competition with Auckland City and Team Wellington representing the ISPS Handa Premiership in the 2019 OFC Champions League after finishing Champions and Premiers (Auckland City) and runner-up (Team Wellington) respectively in the 2017–18 competition.

Clubs

width=175	Team !	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
			3,250	Ramon Tribulietx[1]		Trillian Trust Inc (Front) Carters (Back)
			9,000	Willy Gerdsen[2]		Robbie's Bar and Bistro
		Riverhills Park	5,000	Danny Hay[3]	Lilywhites	Winger Motors
			5,000	Ricki Herbert[4]		The Soccer Shop
			5,000	Brett Angell[5]		Thirsty Whale
			1,000	Paul O'Reilly[6]		Freshwater Solutions
			18,000	Andy Hedge[7]	Nike	Nelson Pine LVL (Front) Sprig & Fern (Back)
			2,250	José Figueira[8]		Stonewood Homes
			4,900	Chris Milicich		Mitre 10 Mega - Henderson (Front) Heritage Hotels (Back)
			1,900	Paul Temple[9]		Huawei

Regular season

League table

Positions by round

Notes:

• The match between Southern United and Auckland City in Round 3 was abandoned at 0–0 after 47 minutes due to the pitch becoming unplayable, it will be rescheduled for 14 February 2019.^[10]
• Waitakere United were tied with Wellington Phoenix Reserves at the end of Round 3 in last place.
• The match between Canterbury United and Tasman United was cancelled due to the Christchurch mosque shootings and awarded as a 0–0 draw.^[11]

Fixtures and results

The 2018–19 season sees every team play the other both home and away. With the finals series being played at the end of March 2019^[12]

Round 21

• The match between Canterbury United and Tasman United was cancelled due to the Christchurch mosque shootings and awarded as a 0–0 draw.^[11]

Finals series

Grand final

width=25 ! width=25 GK 1 Andrew Withers DF 16 Dominic Wooldridge DF 3 Kelvin Kalua DF 4 Nando Pijnaker MF 15 Dalton Wilkins MF 7 Tim Payne (c) MF 6 Harry Edge MF 8 Owen Parker-Price FW 14 FW 10 FW 9 Substitutes: GK 21 Justin Biega DF 2 Alex Clayton DF 5 Adam Thomas MF 23 Campbell Strong MF 17 Michael Built MF 12 Kingsley Sinclair FW 11 Mohammed Awad Manager: Danny Hay

width=25 ! width=25 GK 1 Scott Basalaj DF 11 Bill Robertson DF 4 Mario Ilich DF 16 Taylor Schrijvers MF 14 Jack-Henry Sinclair MF 17 Alex Palezević MF 12 Andy Bevin (c) MF 18 MF 15 FW 10 Nathanael Hailemariam FW 16 Angus Kilkolly Substitutes: GK 22 Marcel Kampman DF 3 Adam Mitchell MF 7 MF 8 MF 13 Daniel Mulholland FW 19 Ross Allen Manager: José Figueira

Steve Sumner Trophy: Callum McCowatt

Statistics

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Callum McCowatt	Eastern Suburbs	18
2	Andre de Jong	Eastern Suburbs	16
	Sam Mason-Smith	Hawke's Bay United
4	Garbhan Coughlan	Southern United	13
5	Martín Bueno	Hamilton Wanderers	12
6	Stephen Hoyle	Canterbury United	10
	Tommy Semmy	Hamilton Wanderers
8	Javier López	Auckland City	8
	Ahmed Othman	Tasman United
	Ben Waine	Wellington Phoenix Reserves
	Hamish Watson	Team Wellington

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
Martín Bueno	Hamilton Wanderers	Waitakere United	4–3		[13]
Sam Mason-Smith	Hawke's Bay United	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	4–1		[14]
Callum McCowatt	Eastern Suburbs	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	4–0		[15]
Garbhan Coughlan	Southern United	Hamilton Wanderers	3–1		[16]
Alex Connor-McLean	Waitakere United	Hawke's Bay United	7–2		[17]
Andre de Jong	Eastern Suburbs	Waitakere United	5–1		[18]
Callum McCowatt	Eastern Suburbs	Team Wellington	3–0		[19]

Own goals

Player	Club	Against	Round
Jordan Vale	Auckland City	Tasman United	2
Sean Liddicoat	Canterbury United	Eastern Suburbs	4
Sean Liddicoat	Canterbury United	Team Wellington	8
Boyd Curry	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	Southern United	8
Erik Panzer	Southern United	Auckland City	12
James Hoyle	Hamilton Wanderers	Hawke's Bay United	14

External links

• ISPS Handa Premiership website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Premiership Team Management . Auckland City FC . 10 October 2018.
2. Web site: Canterbury United . Canterbury United FC . 10 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180926173658/http://www.mainlandfootball.co.nz/CANTERBURY-UNITED/CANTERBURY-UNITED-1 . 26 September 2018 . dead .
3. Web site: Ole at Eastern . Eastern Suburbs . 10 October 2018.
4. Web site: Hamilton Wanderers National League . Hamilton Wanderers . 10 October 2018.
5. Web site: About Us . Hawkes Bay United Football . 10 October 2018.
6. Web site: 2017/18 Squad . Southern United . 10 October 2018.
7. Web site: 2018 - 19 Tasman United Men's ISPS Handa Premiership Team . Tasman United . 10 October 2018.
8. Web site: First Team Staff . Team Wellington . 10 October 2018 . 21 October 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181021043509/http://www.twfc.co.nz/201718-coaching-team . dead .
9. Web site: Academy Staff . Wellington Phoenix FC . 30 August 2018 . 10 October 2018.
10. News: Hyslop . Liam . Hamilton Wanderers continue strong start to national league season . . 28 October 2018.
11. News: Canterbury United end regular season ahead of Team Wellington . . 17 March 2019.
12. Web site: 2018/19 ISPS Handa Premiership Draw. NZ Football. 11 September 2018.
13. News: Hyslop. Liam. Auckland City's David Browne returns from skull fracture to bag a brace . . 16 December 2018.
14. News: Auckland City extend their national league unbeaten streak to 21 matches . . 6 January 2019.
15. News: Hamilton Wanderers and Hawke's Bay United lose ground in national league . . 13 January 2019.
16. News: Eastern Suburbs run rampant as top two go clear in national men's football league . . 20 January 2019.
17. News: Team Wellington, Auckland City make winning starts in OFC Champions League . . 24 February 2019.
18. News: Andre de Jong hat-trick fires Eastern Suburbs closer to home semifinal . . 3 March 2019.
19. News: Callum McCowatt stars as Eastern Suburbs win national men's football league final. . 31 March 2019.