2019–20 New Zealand Football Championship

ISPS Handa Premiership

Season	2019–20
Champions	Auckland City
Premiers	Auckland City
OFC Champions League	Auckland City Team Wellington
Matches played	60
Goals scored	226 (3.77 per match)
Top goalscorer	Myer Bevan (12)
Biggest home win	Eastern Suburbs 6–0 Southern United (2 February 2020)
Biggest away win	Canterbury United 1–6 Eastern Suburbs (19 January 2020)
Highest scoring	Waitakere United 2–6 Auckland City (11 January 2020)
← 2018–19 2020–21 → All statistics correct as of 2 February 2020.

The 2019–20 New Zealand Football Championship season (currently known as the ISPS Handa Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the sixteenth season of the NZFC since its establishment, in 2004. Ten teams compete in the competition with Eastern Suburbs and Auckland City representing the ISPS Handa Premiership in the 2020 OFC Champions League after finishing Champions (Eastern Suburbs) and Premiers (Auckland City) respectively in the 2018–19 competition.

Clubs

Team	Location	Stadium	Capacity	Manager	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Auckland City	Auckland	Kiwitea Street	3,250	José Figueira[1]	Kappa	Trillian Trust Inc (Front) Carters (Back)
Canterbury United	Christchurch	English Park	9,000	Lee Padmore[2]	Nike	Robbie's Bar and Bistro
Eastern Suburbs	Auckland	Madills Farm	5,000	Tony Readings[3][4]	Lilywhites	Winger Motors
Hamilton Wanderers	Hamilton	Porritt Stadium	5,000	Kale Herbert[5]	Kelme	The Soccer Shop
Hawke's Bay United	Napier	Bluewater Stadium	5,000	Chris Greatholder Bill Robertson[6]	Adidas	Thirsty Whale
Southern United	Dunedin	Sunnyvale Park	1,000	Paul O'Reilly[7]	Lotto Sport Italia	Freshwater Solutions
Tasman United	Nelson	Trafalgar Park	18,000	Jess Ibrom[8]	Nike	Nelson Pine LVL (Front) Sprig & Fern (Back)
Team Wellington	Wellington	David Farrington Park	2,250	Scott Hales[9]	Nike	Stonewood Homes
Waitakere United	Auckland	The Trusts Arena	4,900	Chris Milicich	Lotto Sport Italia	Mitre 10 Mega - Henderson (Front) Heritage Hotels (Back)
Wellington Phoenix	Wellington	Porirua Park	1,900	Paul Temple[10]	Adidas	Huawei

Managerial changes

Team	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Position on table	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Hamilton Wanderers	Ricki Herbert	Resigned[5]	4 December 2019	10th	Kale Herbert	4 December 2019[5]

Regular season

League table

On 18 March 2020, New Zealand Football announced that the 2019–20 New Zealand Football Championship season had been concluded due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The remaining two rounds of the regular season and the finals series were cancelled. Auckland City, who were leading the regular season table, were declared champions and also awarded the Minor Premiership, and qualified for the 2021 OFC Champions League together with Team Wellington, who were at second place in the regular season table.^[11][12]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Auckland City (C)	16	11	4	1	42	15	+27	37	Qualification to OFC Champions League group stage and Finals series (cancelled)
2	Team Wellington (Q)	16	10	4	2	36	15	+21	34
3	Waitakere United (Q)	16	8	3	5	35	32	+3	27	Qualification to Finals series (cancelled)
4	Eastern Suburbs	16	6	4	6	33	26	+7	22
5	Tasman United	16	6	2	8	27	26	+1	20	Disbanded at end of season
6	Hamilton Wanderers	16	6	2	8	24	39	−15	20
7	Southern United	16	5	4	7	25	38	−13	19	Disbanded at end of season
8	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	16	4	6	6	30	32	−2	18
9	Hawke's Bay United	16	4	3	9	32	44	−12	15
10	Canterbury United	16	2	4	10	19	36	−17	10

Positions by round

	Leader and qualification to OFC Champions League Group stage
	Qualification to Finals series

Notes:

• Southern United beat Tasman United 4–0 in round 1, however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had played an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Tasman United.^[13][14]

Fixtures and results

The season was scheduled to be played on a home and away basis between November 2019 and March 2020, with the finals series being played in April 2020.^[15]

Round 1

*Southern United beat Tasman United 4–0 however it was ruled by NZ Football that they had played an ineligible player so forfeited the result. This meant the win was awarded as a 3–0 result to Tasman United.^[13]

Round 2

Round 3

Round 4

Round 5

Round 6

Round 7

Round 8

Round 9

Round 10

Round 11

Round 12

Round 13

Round 14

Round 15

Round 16

Round 17

Round 18

Round 19

Round 20

Finals series

Semi-finals

Grand final

Statistics

As of 2 February 2020

Top scorers

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Myer Bevan	Auckland City	13
2	Martín Bueno	Eastern Suburbs	10
3	Ahinga Selemani	Hawke's Bay United	8
	Hamish Watson	Team Wellington
5	Derek Tieku	Hamilton Wanderers	7
6	Ollie Bassett	Team Wellington	6
	Jean-Philippe Saiko	Tasman United
	Dane Schnell	Waitakere United
9	Reid Drake	Eastern Suburbs	5
	Byron Heath	Wellington Phoenix Reserves
	George King	Canterbury United
	Ahmed Othman	Wellington Phoenix Reserves
	Jack-Henry Sinclair	Team Wellington

Hat-tricks

Round	Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Ref
1	Myer Bevan	Auckland City	Waitakere United	3–2	2 November 2019	[16]
2	Dylan Sacramento	Hawke's Bay United	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	3–4	10 November 2019	[17]
2	Blake Driehuis	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	Hawke's Bay United	3–4	10 November 2019	[17]
5	Joel Stevens	Southern United	Hawke's Bay United	5–2	1 December 2019	[18]
12	Martín Bueno	Eastern Suburbs	Southern United	6–0	2 February 2020	[19]

References

External links

• ISPS Handa Premiership website Archived 23 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine