# 2020 Women's Premiership (New Zealand)

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

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Canterbury United Pride (C) | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 3 | +20 | 18 | Qualification to the Final |
| 2 | Capital | 6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 11 | 5 | +6 | 13 | Qualification to the Final |
| 3 | Northern Lights | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 13 | 6 | +7 | 10 | |
| 4 | Southern United | 6 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 18 | −12 | 6 | |
| 5 | WaiBOP | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 14 | −3 | 5 | |
| 6 | Auckland | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 17 | −9 | 4 | |
| 7 | Central Football | 6 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 16 | −9 | 4 | |
* ↑ Auckland Football forfeited three matches (losing 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.

### Positions by round

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 |
| Auckland Football | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6* | 6 |
| Canterbury United Pride | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 |
| Capital Football | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Central Football | 7 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 7 |
| Northern Lights | 3 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Southern United | 6 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 4 |
| WaiBOP | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 5 |
* Qualification to Final
* 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

## Statistics

    As of 15 December 2020

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Rina Hirano | Auckland Football | 6 |
| 1 | Kaley Ward | Capital Football | 6 |
| 3 | Tayla O'Brien | Auckland Football | 5 |
| 3 | Gabi Rennie | Canterbury United Pride | 5 |
| 5 | Rebecca Lake | Canterbury United Pride | 4 |
| 5 | Britney-Lee Nicholson | Canterbury United Pride | 4 |
| 7 | Daisy Cleverley | Auckland Football | 3 |
| 7 | Amy Hislop | Southern United | 3 |
| 7 | Arabella Maynard | Northern Lights | 3 |
| 10 | Mikaela Boxall | Central Football | 2 |
| 10 | Kelli Brown | WaiBOP | 2 |
| 10 | Chelsea Elliott | WaiBOP | 2 |
| 10 | Michaela Foster | WaiBOP | 2 |
| 10 | Chloe Knott | Northern Lights | 2 |
| 10 | Ava Pritchard | Northern Lights | 2 |
| 10 | Liz Savage | Northern Lights | 2 |
| 10 | Arisa Takeda | Auckland Football | 2 |
| 10 | Lara Wall | Canterbury United Pride | 2 |
| 10 | Grace Wisnewski | WaiBOP | 2 |

### 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

| Player | Club | Against | Round |
| Tahlia Roome | Southern United | Canterbury United Pride | 1 |
| Renee Bacon | Southern United | WaiBOP | 6 |