New Zealand’s national sport is rugby union, but soccer has been popular since the 1880s, and the New Zealand Soccer Association, now New Zealand Football, was formed in 1891. Over the next 50 years, the country’s involvement in global soccer was mostly confined to matches against Australian teams, although there were visits to New Zealand by teams from China (1924), Canada (1927) and England (1937).
read moreFrom time to time, Cambridge Football Club holds the Cambridge Summer League. The primary objective of this event is to encourage players to have lots of fun through football. The teams that take part in this competition are seeded upon their stated objectives. This would include whether they want to be serious, semi-serious or just purely social. The club encourages them to square out within this spirit’s objectives. It provides this set of rules as well as guidelines for the player enjoyment.
read moreThe Northern League is also known as the Northern Region Football League. Today, it is called Lotto Sports Italia NRFL Premier; however, this is for sponsorship reasons. This is semi-professional and professional association football league in New Zealand. It is currently run by the Auckland Football Federation.
The Northern League is at the first level of the NZ football pyramid. It shared this spot alongside the ASB Premiership, which is a franchise-based. It comprises of various football clubs in the northern part of North Island, from the Auckland, Northland, Waikato as also Bay of Plenty provinces.
read moreThere are few stadiums in New Zealand that are solely for use by soccer teams. Stadiums are generally shared with rugby teams as well as being open to other sporting events as well as entertainment, with the largest stadium welcoming international musicians.
read moreNew Zealand soccer teams have regularly been winning awards at all levels within the regional Oceania Football Confederation (OCF) championship titles. FIFA World Cup competitions have been much harder, which is no great surprise as rugby is the national sport in a comparatively sparse population. Yet many New Zealand soccer players are now playing in premier teams in the UK and Europe, bringing that experience home to the national team competitions.
