Southern Premier League (New Zealand)

The Southern Premier League (known as the ODT Southern Men's Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand association football league competition administered by Southern Football involving clubs from the lower half of the South Island of New Zealand. Five of the clubs are from Dunedin and one each are from Wānaka, Queenstown, Mosgiel, Timaru, and Invercargill.

ODT Southern Football Premier League
CountryNew Zealand New Zealand
ConfederationOFC (Oceania)
Number of teams10
Level on pyramid3
Promotion toSouthern League
Relegation toDonald Gray Memorial Cup
South Canterbury Division One
Fletcher Cup
Domestic cup(s)Chatham Cup
Current championsMosgiel (3rd title)
(2024)
Most championshipsCaversham (15 titles)
WebsiteSouthern Football

The league has also previously included an Otago youth development team. There is currently a U-15 Development League that runs alongside the competition.

Until 2009, the league was known as the SoccerSouth Premier League. Since the inception of the competition, it has been dominated by Dunedin City Royals and the two predecessor teams which merged to form that club, Caversham AFC and Dunedin Technical.

The league was expanded from eight to ten clubs at the start of the 2022 season, with the addition of teams from Timaru and Invercargill.

As of 2022, the winner of the southern premier league has the option to play in the Southern League Playoff, a two-leg home and away series against the Mainland Football Playoff winner, else Southern Football could nominate a club to participate in the playoff series. The winner of the Southern League Playoff will be promoted to the Southern League, assuming they will have the correct club licensing before the season starts.

The team placed last in the Southern Premier League is automatically relegated to its appropriate regional league. The winners of Fletcher Cup (Otago), Donald Gray Memorial Cup (Southland) and South Canterbury Division 1 (South Canterbury) play in a play off for promotion into the Southern Premier League.

ODT Southern Men's Premier League clubs

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Location of clubs in the South Island for the 2024 Southern Men's Premier League season
Location of clubs in Dunedin for the 2024 Southern Men's Premier League season

Teams which contested the 2024 season[1]

Club Location Home Ground(s) 2023 season
Dunedin City Royals (2) Dunedin North, Dunedin Tahuna Park 8th
Green Island Green Island, Dunedin Sunnyvale Park 8th in Southern League (Relegated)
6th in Southern Premier League (Reserves)
Mosgiel Mosgiel Memorial Park Ground 1st
Northern North East Valley, Dunedin Caledonian Ground 3rd
Northern Hearts Timaru Aorangi Park 10th
Otago University Dunedin North, Dunedin Dunedin Artificial Turf 7th
Queens Park Invercargill Turnbull Thomson Park 5th
Queenstown Queenstown Queenstown Events Centre Stadium 9th
Roslyn-Wakari Kaikorai Valley, Dunedin Ellis Park 2nd
Wanaka Wānaka Wānaka Recreation Centre 4th

(2) — Denotes club's second team, ineligible for promotion to the Southern League

Champions

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[2]

(2) — Denotes club's second team

Notes

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  1. ^ Now known as Dunedin City Royals

References

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  1. ^ "Southern Football". www.footballsouth.co.nz. New Zealand. Archived from the original on 26 February 2023. Retrieved 5 July 2023.
  2. ^ "Football South Honours Board". The Ultimate New Zealand Soccer Website. Retrieved 4 September 2024.