National League 2025

Watched the Olympic and Miramar game online due to the kids softball event. Sob.

Thought Miramar made an absolute mess of it. Greeks played the occasion to perfection. A squad full of players that have been there and done it. Miramar on the other hand looked clueless, just booting it long into Bueno who stopped running after about 30 minutes!!! Fair play for the amount of goals he's scored, but Miramar looked like they were playing with 9 players at times, he did nothing but whinge, moan and blame everyone else from what I could see. Great free-kick from the lad that came on - hit it fantastically well and gave the keeper no chance. Defending for Olympic's second goal was non-existent. Sounded like a good atmosphere too from what you could pick-up with fireworks going off? Well done Olympic and a solid effort from Miramar in the National League.

Onto my weekly whinge...commentary (broken record, I know). I actually thought it was really good to be honest. I couldn't 100% tell, but sounded like the usual Olympic commentator was co-commentator/comments man, which I think suits better and the main commentator was the usual Miramar one? Not sure. Either way, would rather listen to him than Spoonley for Phoenix games!!! Wonder if Sky actually keep tabs on it all? I've said before the Miramar and Auckland City one have a lot of potential. Watched 20 minutes of Auckland FC against Auckland United today and that was punishing beyond belief. I really hope NZF read these forums and act for next season, as it could do wonders, a little bit of extra training etc.

Sets up a good final next week at Newtown Park, which I really want to get to. From memory, parking is a bit average. I'd imagine a good crowd and Auckland might bring a few? I'm going Olympic to snatch it and Prins to be the main man...

My ratings/assessments for the teams

OUTPERFORMED:
 - Auckland City; considering the very long season they've had and struggles in other competitions, have done well to reach the GF
- Miramar Rangers; tipped by a few as dark horses and nearly fulfilled that tag
- Auckland FC II; first year in the comp and delivered a much better campaign than expected given inexperience and Northern League finish

MET EXPECTATION:
- Wellington Olympic; came in as favourites and while they had a few wobbles, delivered and now have a home final to finish the job
- Christchurch United; despite all the Pro League noise, midtable was probably expected
- Western Suburbs; had some real highs and lows but ultimately low finish always seemed likely
- Phoenix reserves; struggles expected but still managed to win a few and perform credibly

A BIT DISAPPOINTING:
 - Western Springs; as Northern League champs and with the position they got into, should be fuming how it fell apart
 - Birkenhead United; should have been in grand final contention but apart from the first few weeks, they weren't

LET DOWNS:
 - Auckland United; expected at least mid-table after Northern League and Chatham Cup performances but they were consistently poor
 - Coastal Spirit; just not good enough for a regional champ to finish last with the least goals and most against

Obviously I'm biased as a Wellingtonian who attends Olympic Games when possible but I really hope Olympic win. They've really struggled to get into the champions league in recent years and if they're able to secure the Chatham Cup AND the National League they'd be guaranteed a spot. And they'll really need it since from what I'm hearing the Champions league is being called into question because of the Pro league, so best they have as many cards stacked in their favour as possible

Noah4thenix

Obviously I'm biased as a Wellingtonian who attends Olympic Games when possible but I really hope Olympic win. They've really struggled to get into the champions league in recent years and if they're able to secure the Chatham Cup AND the National League they'd be guaranteed a spot. And they'll really need it since from what I'm hearing the Champions league is being called into question because of the Pro league, so best they have as many cards stacked in their favour as possible

I'm pretty sure the champions league is being disbanded and the winner of the Pro-League will get the spot for future club world cup/other competitions.

chopah

Noah4thenix

Obviously I'm biased as a Wellingtonian who attends Olympic Games when possible but I really hope Olympic win. They've really struggled to get into the champions league in recent years and if they're able to secure the Chatham Cup AND the National League they'd be guaranteed a spot. And they'll really need it since from what I'm hearing the Champions league is being called into question because of the Pro league, so best they have as many cards stacked in their favour as possible

I'm pretty sure the champions league is being disbanded and the winner of the Pro-League will get the spot for future club world cup/other competitions.

Pro League is getting the Club World Cup and Intercontinental Cup spots, but the Champions League isn't being disbanded as yet.

It's scheduled to be played in Fiji in August next year - don't really know what the point of it is without Fifa comps qualification, but so far OFC seem to have no plans to disband it.

You could say the same about the Europa League and Conference League really. Even without CWC qualification it's still a continental cup 

Noah4thenix

You could say the same about the Europa League and Conference League really. Even without CWC qualification it's still a continental cup 

There's a dramatic difference in prestidge. The OFC CL historically has mostly just been seen by NZs top clubs as a pathway to a FIFA cashup

Thanks for the break down.

Out of curiosity why were the Nix expected to struggle?

Surely based upon their investment and performance against Wrexham, better things were expected?

LT01

My ratings/assessments for the teams

OUTPERFORMED:
 - Auckland City; considering the very long season they've had and struggles in other competitions, have done well to reach the GF
- Miramar Rangers; tipped by a few as dark horses and nearly fulfilled that tag
- Auckland FC II; first year in the comp and delivered a much better campaign than expected given inexperience and Northern League finish

MET EXPECTATION:
- Wellington Olympic; came in as favourites and while they had a few wobbles, delivered and now have a home final to finish the job
- Christchurch United; despite all the Pro League noise, midtable was probably expected
- Western Suburbs; had some real highs and lows but ultimately low finish always seemed likely
- Phoenix reserves; struggles expected but still managed to win a few and perform credibly

A BIT DISAPPOINTING:
 - Western Springs; as Northern League champs and with the position they got into, should be fuming how it fell apart
 - Birkenhead United; should have been in grand final contention but apart from the first few weeks, they weren't

LET DOWNS:
 - Auckland United; expected at least mid-table after Northern League and Chatham Cup performances but they were consistently poor
 - Coastal Spirit; just not good enough for a regional champ to finish last with the least goals and most against

Weenix coach Greeny and about 4-5 of their squad missed the first two weeks of National League away at the U20 WC didn't they?

They are never the most settled, stable playing group. Players coming in & out.
First team callups. The U20 WC. 

Having to give some guys a break from football at some stage - those like Supyk, Cassidy, GSR etc that might otherwise go over 12-18 months without a break as they flip between Central L, U20, National L and A League football.

However, the performance preseason gainst Wrexham set the bar so high I'd have to say everything afterwards was a letdown. Greenie must have felt the same. When I saw him on the sideline in their 0-3 loss v Western Springs he was spitting tacks.

I just would have thought with their infrastructure and systems, they would have been considerably better than AFC that’s all.

AucklandPhoenix

I just would have thought with their infrastructure and systems, they would have been considerably better than AFC that’s all.

Of more relevance is AFC rarely call up reserve players to the ALM first team, and had less players (or their coach) away at the U20 WC. 

I'm just thinking AFC II do generally have a more stable squad, than Weenix.

LT01

Noah4thenix

You could say the same about the Europa League and Conference League really. Even without CWC qualification it's still a continental cup 

There's a dramatic difference in prestidge. The OFC CL historically has mostly just been seen by NZs top clubs as a pathway to a FIFA cashup

I get that a lot of the prestige is gone but I'm saying there's still some appeal in winning a continental cup. Without CWC it doesn't mean as much but most clubs aren't gonna turn down silverware especially if it says you're a continental winner. idk maybe I'm overestimating how much clubs wanna win it anymore but I personally still feel like there's some appeal.

It won't have much appeal if the clubs have to pay their own expensive travel and accommodation costs. How did it work previously, did OFC fully fund everything?

Amateur players will also be less motivated to take a few weeks off work, for a tough hot tourney on bumpy pitches with no CWC carrot.

coochiee

It won't have much appeal if the clubs have to pay their own expensive travel and accommodation costs. How did it work previously, did OFC fully fund everything?

Amateur players will also be less motivated to take a few weeks off work, for a tough hot tourney on bumpy pitches with no CWC carrot.

Both are FIFA comps so its subsidised for OFC, covers flights and accommodation for core players and staff. The Intercontinental Cup is almost completely covered. However Team Welly and Auckland would go over early at their own expense to acclimatise. Flights would be covered but the hotels, training facilities and food outside of the FIFA funded stuff. Clubs like Olympic would love to go, and I would say that the prestige element would still be there for them. 

I mean is attending the OFC Champions League tourney (usually somewhere in the Islands) fully funded by FIFA/OFC?

If not could be an attractive extra financial burden for an amateur club like Olympic, with no FIFA tourney carrot winning reward

Attendance at FIFA tourneys (CWC and Intercontinental Cup) will only be available to teams in the OFC Pro League from 2026.

Yeah no one will be giving a fudge about the Champions League if you can't even make the Intercontinental Cup, let alone the Club World Cup.

AucklandPhoenix

Thanks for the break down.

Out of curiosity why were the Nix expected to struggle?

Surely based upon their investment and performance against Wrexham, better things were expected?

LT01

My ratings/assessments for the teams

OUTPERFORMED:
 - Auckland City; considering the very long season they've had and struggles in other competitions, have done well to reach the GF
- Miramar Rangers; tipped by a few as dark horses and nearly fulfilled that tag
- Auckland FC II; first year in the comp and delivered a much better campaign than expected given inexperience and Northern League finish

MET EXPECTATION:
- Wellington Olympic; came in as favourites and while they had a few wobbles, delivered and now have a home final to finish the job
- Christchurch United; despite all the Pro League noise, midtable was probably expected
- Western Suburbs; had some real highs and lows but ultimately low finish always seemed likely
- Phoenix reserves; struggles expected but still managed to win a few and perform credibly

A BIT DISAPPOINTING:
 - Western Springs; as Northern League champs and with the position they got into, should be fuming how it fell apart
 - Birkenhead United; should have been in grand final contention but apart from the first few weeks, they weren't

LET DOWNS:
 - Auckland United; expected at least mid-table after Northern League and Chatham Cup performances but they were consistently poor
 - Coastal Spirit; just not good enough for a regional champ to finish last with the least goals and most against

Wrexham was a one-off preseason match, some first teamers played anyways.

The Nix reserves always struggle to some extent in National League, age group world cups and first team callups usually hurt them. 3 wins in 10 games and a GD close to 0 nothing to rave about but competitive. They werent anything special in Central League this year so I didn't expect much different.

AFC reserves a different story - a massively impressive overperformance with a young team. While yes they were able to cherry pick the best youngers born 05-07 from local clubs, clearly a big improvement from Northern League form too (remember they finished way behind Birko, Springs and Auck Utd in that, but above all 3 in nationals).

coochiee

I mean is attending the OFC Champions League tourney (usually somewhere in the Islands) fully funded by FIFA/OFC?

If not could be an attractive extra financial burden for an amateur club like Olympic, with no FIFA tourney carrot winning reward

Attendance at FIFA tourneys (CWC and Intercontinental Cup) will only be available to teams in the OFC Pro League from 2026.

Attending the OFC Champions league tourney is only partially funded by OFC, cost to teams is generally around $200 - $250k depending on where it is. at least in the men's league there is prize money if you win the tournament (no prize money for the Womens CL)

Yes but winners of the OFC Women's Champions League have the FIFA Women's Champions Cup carrot.

Auckland United playing that recent playoff against Wuhan in China.

$200-$250K is a bit of dosh even for the Trillian Trust to pay, just for prestige and a shiny trophy. 

And again alot of players may just say no I'm not using 2 weeks of precious annual leave to sweat buckets and get kicked around a bumpy OFC pitch. Ain't no Bayern Munich at the end of the rainbow any more.

So basically we aren't sure whether or not clubs will actually show up? Awesome. 

Anyway bringing it up is looking too far ahead into the future, Olympic and Auckland still need to beat one another first before we even start thinking about whether or not they actually wanna play in the champions league 

Does anyone know how ticketing will work for the final? Will they charge like for the Chatham Cup final, or is it just turn up and watch like the rest of the games?

Simon B

Does anyone know how ticketing will work for the final? Will they charge like for the Chatham Cup final, or is it just turn up and watch like the rest of the games?

I'm not seeing any tickets being advertised/sold so I imagine it's just turn up and sit down. I imagine with Newtown Park it's pretty hard to stop people from just walking in anyway

newtown park.jpg 293.22 KB

Newtown park only has two points of entry, both gates can be monitored if ticketing was gonna happen.

Coulda sworn there were more entry points, been a years now since I've actually been there

Noah4thenix

Coulda sworn there were more entry points, been a years now since I've actually been there

You can stand and look through the wire fence in any case.

Noah4thenix

Coulda sworn there were more entry points, been a years now since I've actually been there

whole perimeter is wire fenced, has been that way for years, fencing may have been improved when the american women were training there for the WC.

Simon B

Does anyone know how ticketing will work for the final? Will they charge like for the Chatham Cup final, or is it just turn up and watch like the rest of the games?

NZF aren't charging for it, its turn up and watch, still will be a decent crowd there, even at gold coin donation they could have made a bit....

bumpy OFC pitch??? move on from the 1990's, there is really no such thing anymore. FIFA, UEFA and now the Saudi's have pumped in a lot of money. I applied for a VSA job in Vanuatu a few years ago and when I said I loved football I was told that the best facilities in the islands were FIFA funded football stadiums.

as for winning OFC Women's CL, carrot of Women's Champions Cup is still going to see club losing money, any that go is for the prestige 

coochiee

Yes but winners of the OFC Women's Champions League have the FIFA Women's Champions Cup carrot.

Auckland United playing that recent playoff against Wuhan in China.

$200-$250K is a bit of dosh even for the Trillian Trust to pay, just for prestige and a shiny trophy. 

And again alot of players may just say no I'm not using 2 weeks of precious annual leave to sweat buckets and get kicked around a bumpy OFC pitch. Ain't no Bayern Munich at the end of the rainbow any more.

zonknz

Noah4thenix

Coulda sworn there were more entry points, been a years now since I've actually been there

You can stand and look through the wire fence in any case.

LOL! May as well do a lion roar while you're at it.

The JourneyFan

bumpy OFC pitch??? move on from the 1990's, there is really no such thing anymore. FIFA, UEFA and now the Saudi's have pumped in a lot of money. I applied for a VSA job in Vanuatu a few years ago and when I said I loved football I was told that the best facilities in the islands were FIFA funded football stadiums.

as for winning OFC Women's CL, carrot of Women's Champions Cup is still going to see club losing money, any that go is for the prestige 

coochiee

Yes but winners of the OFC Women's Champions League have the FIFA Women's Champions Cup carrot.

Auckland United playing that recent playoff against Wuhan in China.

$200-$250K is a bit of dosh even for the Trillian Trust to pay, just for prestige and a shiny trophy. 

And again alot of players may just say no I'm not using 2 weeks of precious annual leave to sweat buckets and get kicked around a bumpy OFC pitch. Ain't no Bayern Munich at the end of the rainbow any more.

Did you watch the OFC Nations in Port Vila last year at all? It was held in a FIFA upgraded stadium.

The pitch was indeed bumpy. As usually are the pitches when you watch any OFC U16 & U19 age group tourneys held there. Though lately alot seem to have been held in Samoa for some reason, and maybe the FIFA investment there hasn't improved things much yet.

There was an article around that OFC Nations Cup time, saying a big problem is thin leaved ryegrass that you need a good amount of in a top quality football pitch, just gets overtaken by broad leaved fast growing native tropical species. All the FIFA money in the world still struggles to combat nature, and climate.

For that Port Vila tourney, the AWs actually found a little ground higher up in the hills around Port Vila that had a good surface to train on. Cooler weather, more ryegrass in the pitch and a truer surface. Though as it adjoined a local forest, didn't so much enjoy seeing a few very large spiders apparently.

Wrapping up the final round of the Men's #NZNationalLeague...

👉 Wellington Olympic won the derby to progress
👉 Auckland City's set pieces kept their title defence alive
👉 Triumphant closing notes for Auckland FC, Wellington Phoenix & Birkenhead Unitedhttps://t.co/hvt61pUcfx

— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) December 9, 2025

Nathan Garrow made a name for himself with a volume of saves at the Club World Cup and he's gone to a whole new level with Auckland City in the #NZNationalLeague

Absolutely crucial throughout their campaign and at his best during their must-win game on the weekend pic.twitter.com/AajKMcRAb2

— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) December 9, 2025

Couple of bangers from the ever underrated Leon van den Hoven to commemorate his last match with Birkenhead United before moving to Oz #NZNationalLeague pic.twitter.com/N2ERC5T1ek

— The Niche Cache (@thenichecache) December 9, 2025

Should be a fun day out at Newtown Park and they could get a reasonable crowd. Maybe a good dress rehersal for the Nix for when they switch venues from Sky Stadium to Newtown(3500 easy fit for Newtown)
Have they ever used Newtown 2 for parking as it has sealed access?

I remember my Dad taking me to Newtown to watch an AW 11 vs a Russian team in red shirts. The place was packed out and the vibe was ok for a match inside a running track.

I wonder if Welly United will have their club room food counter running? After a few cold outings this last winter I rate the food and service, and it’s always nice to know your money is going to a local club rather than Big Catering.

Looking at an Olympic post it's gonna be them selling food not Wellington United. Still a local club tho

Game Day!

Was able to convince my dad to come along which is pretty cool, hopefully we get a great performance from both sides. Hard to know when another Grand Final will be hosted in Wellington so best to make the most of this opportunity.

Best of both worlds (from Wellington United FB):
"Newtown Park will be buzzing tonight! 

The Men’s National League Grand Final kicks off at 6pm, between our neighbours Wellington Olympic and their archrivals Auckland City. The gates and our clubrooms OPEN from 5pm! For anyone wanting a pre-match tipple and some famous Greek Food come and join us early"

Goalless at the break in Wellington 🏆

▶️ Watch the second half live and free on FIFA+ at https://t.co/H2KJGENXLJ pic.twitter.com/W6Rulmzi5E

— NZ National League 🏆🇳🇿 (@nzleagues) December 13, 2025

35' | @WgtnOlympic 0-0 @AucklandCity_FC pic.twitter.com/u5VyqgwAgu

— NZ National League 🏆🇳🇿 (@nzleagues) December 13, 2025

28' | Great save from Basalaj@WgtnOlympic 0-0 @AucklandCity_FC pic.twitter.com/9zlG6UGMuD

— NZ National League 🏆🇳🇿 (@nzleagues) December 13, 2025

Couldn’t make the game in the end, but crossing fingers and toes for an Olympic equaliser!

Simon B

Couldn’t make the game in the end, but crossing fingers and toes for an Olympic equaliser!

Well, you got one!