The 2020 Women's Premiership (currently known as the ISPS Handa Women's Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the eighteenth season of the league, New Zealand's top level women's football league since its establishment in 2002. Seven teams again were involved in the season representing the different regions in New Zealand. The league after consultation and feedback from stakeholders, was reverted to a single round-robin format, with the two highest-placed sides progressing to a one-off grand final. Canterbury United Pride was again the team to beat, as they were looking at a threepeat, having played in every final since 2013, won five out of seven of those finals, including the last two years.
After an unbeaten regular season, Canterbury United Pride capped it off by completing the threepeat, beating 2nd place Capital Football 4–0 in the final.
Teams
Team Location Ground Coach Northern Lights North Shore Allen Hill Stadium Ben Bate Auckland Football Auckland McLennan Park Aaron McFarland WaiBOP Cambridge John Kerkhof Park Nico Girard and Tracy Wrigley Central Football Palmerston North Massey Uni Barry Scullion Capital Football Lower Hutt Petone Memorial Park Maia Vink Canterbury United Pride Christchurch English Park Alana Gunn Southern United Dunedin Logan Park Ignacio Sande
Regular season League table
Positions by round
Auckland Football docked 9 points for fielding an ineligible player in their Round 1, 2 and 3 games against Central Football, Canterbury United Pride and Capital Football and the results recorded as 3–0 wins for the opposition.
Fixtures and results New Zealand women's football league matches will take place from 31 October to 20 December with the draw reverting to a single-round robin competition with the top two teams progressing to the one-off final.
On the 11 December New Zealand Football announced Auckland Football had been docked 9 points for fielding an ineligible player in three of their ISPS Handa Women's Premiership games. The results from Round 1, 2 and 3 against Central Football, Canterbury United Pride and Capital Football were forfeited and results recorded as 3–0 wins for the opposition.
Round 1
Bye: WaiBOP *Auckland Football beat Central Football 9–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Central
Round 2
Bye: Northern Lights *Auckland Football beat Canterbury United Pride 4–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Canterbury
Round 3
Bye: Central Football *Auckland Football beat Capital Football 3–1 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had fielded an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Capital
Round 4
Bye: Southern United
Round 5
Bye: Canterbury United Pride
Round 6
Bye: Auckland Football
Round 7
Bye: Capital Football
Final
Statistics
Top scorers RankPlayerClubGoals1 Rina Hirano Auckland Football6 Kaley Ward Capital Football3 Tayla O'Brien Auckland Football5 Gabi Rennie Canterbury United Pride5 Rebecca Lake Canterbury United Pride4 Britney-Lee Nicholson Canterbury United Pride7 Daisy Cleverley Auckland Football3 Amy Hislop Southern United Arabella Maynard Northern Lights10 Mikaela Boxall Central Football2 Kelli Brown WaiBOP Chelsea Elliott WaiBOP Michaela Foster WaiBOP Chloe Knott Northern Lights Ava Pritchard Northern Lights Liz Savage Northern Lights Arisa Takeda Auckland Football Lara Wall Canterbury United Pride Grace Wisnewski WaiBOP
Hat-tricks Player For Against Result Date Ref Kaley Ward Capital Football Southern United 5–0 7 November 2020 Gabi Rennie Canterbury United Pride Central Football 6–0 22 November 2020
Own goals PlayerClubAgainstRound Tahlia Roome Southern United Canterbury United Pride 1 Renee Bacon Southern United WaiBOP 6
References
External links Official website