# 2017–18 New Zealand Football Championship

The 2017–18 New Zealand Football Championship season (currently known as the ISPS Handa Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fourteenth season of the NZFC since its establishment in 2004. Ten teams competed in the competition with Team Wellington and Auckland City representing the ISPS Handa Premiership in the 2018 OFC Champions League after finishing Champions and Premiers respectively in the 2016–17 competition.

## Clubs

| Team | Location | Stadium | Capacity | Manager | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| Auckland City | Sandringham, Auckland | Kiwitea Street | 3,250 | Ramon Tribulietx | Kappa | Hi-Chew (front) Trillian Trust Inc (Back) Carters (Back) |
| Canterbury United | Christchurch | English Park | 9,000 | Willy Gerdsen | Nike | Robbie's Bar and Bistro |
| Eastern Suburbs | Panmure, Auckland | Bill McKinlay Park | 5,000 | Danny Hay | Lilywhites | Winger Motors |
| Hamilton Wanderers | Hamilton | Porritt Stadium | 5,000 | Ricki Herbert | Nike | The Soccer Shop |
| Hawke's Bay United | Napier | Bluewater Stadium | 5,000 | Brett Angell | Adidas | Kinetic Electrical |
| Southern United | Dunedin | Sunnyvale Park | 1,000 | Paul O'Reilly | Lotto Sport Italia | Freshwater Solutions |
| Tasman United | Nelson | Trafalgar Park | 18,000 | Davor Tavich | Joma | Nelson Pine LVL (Front) Sprig & Fern (Back) |
| Team Wellington | Wellington | David Farrington Park | 2,250 | Jose Figueira | Nike | Stonewood Homes |
| Waitakere United | Whenuapai, Auckland | The Trusts Arena | 4,900 | Chris Milicich | Lotto Sport Italia | Jerry Clayton BMW (Front) Heritage Hotels (Back) |
| Wellington Phoenix | Wellington | David Farrington Park | 2,250 | Chris Greenacre | Adidas | Huawei |

### Kits
## Regular season
### League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Auckland City (C) | 18 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 41 | 12 | +29 | 40 | Qualification to the Champions League and Finals series |
| 2 | Team Wellington | 18 | 11 | 4 | 3 | 39 | 20 | +19 | 37 | Qualification to the Champions League and Finals series |
| 3 | Canterbury United | 18 | 11 | 3 | 4 | 35 | 20 | +15 | 36 | Qualification to the Finals series |
| 4 | Eastern Suburbs | 18 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 37 | 24 | +13 | 32 | Qualification to the Finals series |
| 5 | Southern United | 18 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 28 | 27 | +1 | 24 | |
| 6 | Tasman United | 18 | 6 | 5 | 7 | 34 | 39 | −5 | 23 | |
| 7 | Waitakere United | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 30 | 34 | −4 | 19 | |
| 8 | Hawke's Bay United | 18 | 5 | 4 | 9 | 21 | 36 | −15 | 19 | |
| 9 | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | 18 | 4 | 3 | 11 | 27 | 53 | −26 | 15 | |
| 10 | Hamilton Wanderers | 18 | 1 | 3 | 14 | 23 | 50 | −27 | 6 | |

### Positions by round

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 |
| Auckland City | 9 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Team Wellington | 3 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Canterbury United | 5 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Eastern Suburbs | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 4 |
| Southern United | 4 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 |
| Tasman United | 1 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Waitakere United | 5 | 9 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Hawke's Bay United | 7 | 5 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| Wellington Phoenix | 7 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 |
| Hamilton Wanderers | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
* Leader and qualification to AFC Champions League Group stage
* Qualification to Finals series
Notes:
* Auckland City and Team Wellington played their Round 8 game early on 15 October 2017, and had an extra game played between Rounds 1 and 7.
* Canterbury United were tied with Waitakere United at the end of Round 1.
* Hawke's Bay United were tied with Wellington Phoenix Reserves at the end of Round 1.
* Auckland City and Eastern Suburbs had a game in hand between Rounds 7 and 12, with their Round 7 game played before the start of Round 13 on 24 January 2018.
* Wellington Phoenix and Canterbury United had a game in hand between Rounds 4 and 14, with their Round 4 game played before the start of Round 15 on 11 February 2018.
* Auckland City beat Tasman United 3–1 in round 9, 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.

### Fixtures and results

The 2017–18 season sees every team play the other both home and away. The Round 7 and round 8 matches between Team Wellington and Eastern Suburbs vs Auckland City have been moved due to Auckland City playing at 2017 FIFA Club World Cup at the start of December. The match between Wellington Phoenix Reserves and Canterbury United was postponed till February 2018 due to New Zealand playing their intercontinental playoff against Peru that same day in Wellington.

#### Round 9

* Auckland City beat Tasman United 3–1 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.

#### Round 18
## Finals series
### Grand final

| Auckland City | Team Wellington |
90+2' :
| DF | 9 | Darren White | |
| DF | 5 | Ángel Berlanga (c) |
| DF | 6 | Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi |
| MF | 7 | Cameron Howieson | | |
| MF | 8 | Albert Riera |
| MF | 11 | Fabrizio Tavano | | 69' |
| MF | 15 | Dan Morgan |
| FW | 20 | Emiliano Tade | 47' |
| FW | 9 | Kris Bright | | 69' |
| FW | 26 | Callum McCowatt |
| Substitutes: |||
| GK | 24 | Conor Tracey |
| DF | 25 | Owen Parker-Price | | |
| DF | 13 | Alfie Rogers |
| MF | 4 | Mario Bilen | | 69' |
| MF | 17 | Reid Drake | | |
| MF | 27 | Dalton Wilkins | | |
| FW | 19 | Micah Lea'alafa | | 69' |
| Manager: |||
| Ramon Tribulietx ||||
Scott Basalaj :
| DF | 2 | Justin Gulley (c) |
| DF | 4 | Mario Ilich | | |
| DF | 3 | Scott Hilliar | 80' |
| MF | 10 | Nathanael Hailemariam | | |
| MF | 7 | Eric Molloy | |
| MF | 11 | Mario Barcia | | 89' |
| MF | 12 | Andy Bevin |
| FW | 13 | Roy Kayara | | |
| FW | 14 | Jack-Henry Sinclair | | 62' |
| FW | 19 | Ross Allen | |
| Substitutes: |||
| GK | 22 | Marcel Kampman |
| DF | 5 | Liam Wood | | |
| MF | 20 | Daniel Mulholland | | |
| FW | 16 | Angus Kilkolly | | 62' |
| FW | 21 | Hamish Watson | | 89' |
| Manager: |||
| José Figueira ||||
* Steve Sumner Trophy:
* Callum McCowatt
* Assistant referees:
* Gareth Sheehan
* Edward Cook
* Fourth official:
* Nick Waldron

## Statistics

    As of 18 March 2018

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Emiliano Tade | Auckland City | 16 |
| 2 | Paul Ifill | Tasman United | 12 |
| 3 | Andre de Jong$^1$ | Eastern Suburbs | 11 |
| 4 | Stephen Hoyle | Canterbury United | 9 |
| 5 | Garbhan Coughlan | Southern United | 8 |
| 5 | Ryan De Vries$^2$ | Auckland City | 8 |
| 7 | Andrew Bevin | Team Wellington | 7 |
| 7 | Keegan Linderboom | Waitakere United | 7 |
| 7 | Callum McCowatt | Auckland City | 7 |
| 7 | Tommy Semmy | Hamilton Wanderers | 7 |
| 7 | Jack-Henry Sinclair | Team Wellington | 7 |
| 7 | Derek Tieku | Eastern Suburbs | 7 |
$^1$ Transferred to Maccabi Hakoah in Australia, 5 March 2018. $^2$ Transferred to FC Gifu in Japan, 17 January 2018.

### Hat-tricks

| Player | For | Against | Result | Date |
| Andre de Jong | Eastern Suburbs | Team Wellington | 3–1 | 22 October 2017 |
| Ryan de Vries | Auckland City | Waitakere United | 5–0 | 29 October 2017 |
| Angus Kilkolly | Team Wellington | Hamilton Wanderers | 3–1 | 19 November 2017 |
| Futa Nakamura | Canterbury United | Tasman United | 6–0 | 7 January 2018 |
| Paul Ifill | Tasman United | Hamilton Wanderers | 4–4 | 14 January 2018 |
| Paul Ifill | Tasman United | Hawke's Bay United | 5–2 | 4 February 2018 |
| Garbhan Coughlan | Southern United | Hawke's Bay United | 3–1 | 17 March 2018 |
| Ryan Cain | Waitakere United | Tasman United | 5–3 | 17 March 2018 |

### Own goals

| Player | Club | Against | Round |
| Unknown | Hamilton Wanderers | Auckland City | 4 |
| Unknown | Auckland City | Team Wellington | 8 |
| Ryan Lowry | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | Eastern Suburbs | 8 |
| Daniel McHenery | Hawke's Bay United | Hamilton Wanderers | 10 |
| Unknown | Waitakere United | Canterbury United | 11 |
| Julyan Collett | Waitakere United | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | 12 |
| Liam Moore | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | Eastern Suburbs | 14 |
| Xavier Pratt | Hamilton Wanderers | Wellington Phoenix Reserves | 16 |