Southern Premier League (New Zealand)
Football league
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The Southern Premier League (known as the ODT Southern Men's Premier League for sponsorship reasons) is a New Zealand association football league competition administered by Southern Football involving clubs from the lower half of the South Island of New Zealand. Five of the clubs are from Dunedin, two from Invercargill and one each are from Mosgiel and Timaru.
| |
| Country |  New Zealand |
|---|---|
| Confederation | OFC (Oceania) |
| Number of clubs | 9 |
| Level on pyramid | 3 |
| Promotion to | Southern League |
| Relegation to | Donald Gray Memorial Cup South Canterbury Division One Fletcher Cup |
| Domestic cup | Chatham Cup |
| Current champions | Northern (1st title) (2025) |
| Most championships | Caversham (15 titles) |
| Website | Southern Football |
The league has also previously included an Otago youth development team. There is currently a U-15 Development League that runs alongside the competition.
Until 2009, the league was known as the SoccerSouth Premier League. Since the inception of the competition, it has been dominated by Dunedin City Royals and the two predecessor teams which merged to form that club, Caversham AFC and Dunedin Technical.
The league was expanded from eight to ten clubs at the start of the 2022 season, with the addition of teams from Timaru and Invercargill.
As of 2022, the winner of the southern premier league has the option to play in the Southern League Playoff, a two-leg home and away series against the Mainland Football Playoff winner, else Southern Football could nominate a club to participate in the playoff series. The winner of the Southern League Playoff will be promoted to the Southern League, assuming they will have the correct club licensing before the season starts.
The team placed last in the Southern Premier League is automatically relegated to its appropriate regional league. The winners of Fletcher Cup (Otago), Donald Gray Memorial Cup (Southland) and South Canterbury Division 1 (South Canterbury) play in a play off for promotion into the Southern Premier League.
Current clubs
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Teams contesting the 2026 season[1]
| Club | Home ground | Location | 2025 season |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dunedin City Royals (2) | Tahuna Park | Dunedin North, Dunedin | 5th |
| Green Island | Sunnyvale Park | Green Island, Dunedin | 7th |
| Mosgiel | Memorial Park Ground | Mosgiel | 3rd |
| Northern (2) | Caledonian Ground | Dunedin North, Dunedin | 1st in Fletcher Cup (promoted) |
| Northern Hearts | Aorangi Park | Timaru | 8th |
| Old Boys | ILT Football Turf | Invercargill | 9th |
| Otago University | Dunedin Artificial Turf | Dunedin North, Dunedin | 2nd |
| Queens Park | ILT Football Turf | Invercargill | 6th |
| Roslyn-Wakari | Ellis Park | Kaikorai Valley, Dunedin | 4th |
(2) — Denotes club's second team, ineligible for promotion to the Southern League
Champions
- 2000 – Caversham
- 2001 – Caversham
- 2002 – Caversham
- 2003 – Roslyn-Wakari
- 2004 – Caversham
- 2005 – Caversham
- 2006 – Caversham
- 2007 – Caversham
- 2008 – Caversham
- 2009 – Caversham
- 2010 – Caversham
- 2011 – Dunedin Technical
- 2012 – Caversham
- 2013 – Dunedin Technical
- 2014 – Caversham
- 2015 – Caversham
- 2016 – Caversham
- 2017 – Caversham
- 2018 – Dunedin Technical
- 2019 – Mosgiel
- 2020 – Green Island
- 2021 – South City Royals[a]
- 2022 – Dunedin City Royals (2)
- 2023 – Mosgiel
- 2024 – Mosgiel
- 2025 – Northern
(2) — Denotes club's second team
| Club | Number of Titles | Year(s) Won |
|---|---|---|
| Caversham | 15 | 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 |
| Dunedin Technical | 3 | 2011, 2013, 2018 |
| Mosgiel | 3 | 2019, 2023, 2024 |
| Dunedin City Royals[b] | 2 | 2021, 2022 |
| Roslyn-Wakari | 1 | 2003 |
| Green Island | 1 | 2020 |
| Northern | 1 | 2025 |
Notes
- Now known as Dunedin City Royals
- First tile as South City Royals, Second title won by the Reserve team.