The Mainland Premier League is a league competition run by Mainland Football for association football clubs located in the northern half of the South Island, New Zealand. It is currently regarded by the New Zealand footballing community as the strongest football league in the South Island of New Zealand and features current and former New Zealand Football Championship players. The competition currently runs between March and August each year, and consists of seven teams based in Christchurch, and one team in Nelson. There are 21 rounds where teams play each other three times. The winner of the league qualifies for the South Island Championship, a one-off game against the winner of the FootballSouth Premier League, which is hosted by the two federations in alternate years. By statute, the winners of the Canterbury Championship League and Nelson Bays Division One play in a home and away play-off, with the winner of the tie receiving promotion to the Premier League. However, due to potential extra travel costs, the winner of the Nelson Bays Division One title usually forgoes the right to a play-off. This effectively means that the winner of the Canterbury Championship League title is normally promoted to the Premier League. In 2012, Woolston Technical and Cashmere Wanderers merged to become Cashmere Technical; they replaced the Woolston side that had finished sixth in the 2011 competition. Recently merged teams Coastal Spirit (Established between New Brighton AFC and Rangers AFC in 2008), and FC Twenty 11 (Established between Avon United and Burnside AFC in 2011) entered the Premier League through promotion from the Division One competition. Mainland Premier League clubs As of 2022 season. Winners 1998 - Christchurch United 1999 - Halswell United 2000 - Halswell United 2001 - Halswell United 2002 - Ferrymead Bays 2003 - Nomads United 2004 - Nelson Suburbs 2005 - Nelson Suburbs 2006 - Ferrymead Bays 2007 - Nomads United 2008 - Nelson Suburbs 2009 - Woolston Technical 2010 - Woolston Technical 2011 - Ferrymead Bays 2012 - Ferrymead Bays 2013 - Cashmere Technical 2014 - Cashmere Technical 2015 - Cashmere Technical 2016 - Cashmere Technical 2017 - Ferrymead Bays 2018 - Cashmere Technical 2019 - Cashmere Technical 2020 - Cashmere Technical 2021 - Cashmere Technical 2022 - FC Twenty 11 Mainland Premier Football League Winners Cashmere Technical's MPL titles in 2009 and 2010 were won by Woolston Technical, which was later merged in 2012. References External