2001 New Zealand National Soccer League

The 2001 New Zealand National Club Championship, also known, due to naming-rights sponsorship, as the Qantas National Club Championship was the second season of a nationwide club competition in New Zealand football. The competition was won by Central United.

The league was played during winter, with matches played from April to September, and was run in two stages. In the first stage, each team in the ten-team league played every other team home and away. In the second stage, the top four teams entered a knockout competition, with third place playing fourth place in one match and first playing second in the other, with home advantage being decided by final league position. The winners of the first against second match progressed straight through to the final; the losers of that match met the winners of the other match to decide the other finalist.[1]

The bonus point system used during the 2000 season was not used for the 2001 and subsequent seasons.

Promotion and relegation

Ten teams took part in the 2001 league. Eight of these remained from the previous season. Nelson Suburbs withdrew from the competition, and Metro were relegated and had to play in a play-off series with the winners of a competition between the northern, central, and southern regional competition winners for a place in the 2001 league. The play-off games between the three regional champions were played at Palmerston North during September 2000; the match between Metro and the winner of this series was played the following month at North Shore as the curtain-raiser to the 2000 league final.[2]

Team 1 Score Team 2
Caversham3 – 3Havelock North Wanderers
Tauranga City1 – 3Caversham
Havelock North Wanderers1 – 4Tauranga City
Metro3– 2Caversham

Metro thus retained their league place. Controversially, when Nelson Suburbs wwithdrew from the league, their place was offered not to Caversham, but to Tauranga City United, a new team formed by the merger of Tauranga City and Mount Maunganui.

Metro again finished last in 2001, but withdrew from the play-off series with the winners of the northern, central, and southern regional leagues.

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Miramar Rangers 18 13 4 1 53 24+29 43 2001 National Soccer League Finals
2 Central United (C) 18 10 5 3 49 27+22 35 2001 National Soccer League Champions
3 Manawatu 18 11 1 6 37 28+9 34 2001 National Soccer League Finals
4 University-Mount Wellington 18 10 4 4 30 24+6 34
5 Napier City Rovers 18 8 4 6 41 410 28
6 Waitakere City 18 7 4 7 46 37+9 25
7 Tauranga City United 18 6 2 10 33 39−6 20
8 Dunedin Technical 18 6 2 10 32 40−8 20
9 Christchurch City 18 2 5 11 21 39−18 11
10 Metro (R) 18 1 1 16 15 58−43 4 Relegated to the 2002 Northern Zone

Source: [1]
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Finals

Play-offs

August 19, 2001
Manawatu 4 – 0 University-Mount Wellington
Eaton, Field, Sandbrook, Lochhead

August 26, 2001
Central United 5 – 2 Manawatu
Ridenton 3, Aliaga, Eie Jeremy Brown, Cunniliffe

Final

September 3, 2001
Miramar Rangers 2 – 3 Central United
Brown 2 Eie 3
North Harbour Stadium, North Shore City
Referee: Bruce Grimshaw

Records and statistics

Biggest winning margin
Highest aggregate score

References

  1. 1 2 3 4
  2. ↑
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