The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in the country, including the National Soccer League, the National Summer Soccer League and the New Zealand Superclub League. The league was contested by ten teams in a franchise system. For sponsorship reasons, the competition was known as the ISPS Handa Men's Premiership. From the 2021-22 season, it was replaced by the New Zealand National League. The seasons used to run from October through to April, and consist of an eighteen-round regular season followed by a playoff series involving the four highest-placed teams, culminating in a Grand Final. Each season, two clubs would gain qualification to the OFC Champions League, the continental competition for the Oceania region. The league does not use a system of promotion and relegation. Auckland City were the most successful side since the competition's inception, with twelve premierships and seven championship titles. A youth competition, called the National Youth League, ran parallel to the regular season from October to December – the final champions were also Auckland City, winning the final season of the competition in 2019. Competition format There were two stages to the competition: the regular season, in which each team played each other twice for a total of 18 games; and the playoffs, in which the top four teams in the league play knockout matches in order to determine the champion. Regular season Each team played each other team twice: once at home, and once away. Teams score three points for a win, one for a draw, and no points for a loss. At the end of the regular season, the top four teams progress to the playoffs. For the first four seasons, the regular season had the teams play each other three times. This was changed to a home-and-away system in 2008, due to financial difficulties affecting some clubs. Playoffs The playoffs consist of three matches; there were two semi-final matches, and the winners of each progress to a one-match Grand Final. In the inaugural season, three teams took part in the playoffs. The Minor Premier (the winner of the regular season) received automatic entry to the grand final as well as hosting rights, while the second and third placed teams played a