Canterbury Championship League#Canterbury Championship League teams
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2024}}
{{Use New Zealand English|date=October 2024}}
{{Infobox football league
| name = Canterbury Championship League
| image =
| pixels =
| organiser = Mainland Football
| country = New Zealand
| founded = 2016
| teams = 10
| promotion = Canterbury Premiership League
| relegation = Canterbury Senior Men's Division 1
| levels = 4
| league_cup = English Cup
Whero Cup
| domest_cup = Chatham Cup
| champions = University of Canterbury 2nd XI (1st title)
| season = 2024
| most successful club = Western (2 titles)
| website = [http://www.mff.nz/ Mainland Football]
| current = 2024 Canterbury Championship League
}}
The Canterbury Championship League, also known as New World Canterbury Championship League for sponsorship reasons, is a league competition run by Mainland Football for association football clubs located in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is at the fourth tier of New Zealand Football, below the Canterbury Premiership League and above the Canterbury Senior Men's Division 1.
The competition currently runs between March and August each year, and consists of ten team based in Christchurch. There are 18 round where the teams play each other twice. The winner of the league is promoted to the Canterbury Premiership League and last place is relegated to Canterbury Senior Men's Division 1.
History
In March 2021, after New Zealand Football announced the changes to the structure of both the premiership and the top regional leagues around the country, Mainland Football changed the Canterbury Championship League for the 2022 season. The change was, 3 pools of six team, consisting of six Canterbury Southern League U20 Reserve teams, five Canterbury Premiership Reserve teams, six Division 1 teams, and one first team. The winners of; pool A were Selwyn United U20 Reserves,{{Cite web|url=https://www.fijifootball.com.fj/competition-list/senior-mens-division-12-(pool-a)-2058564748/ |title=Senior Mens Division 1/2 (Pool A) |website=Fiji Football Association |access-date=21 October 2024}} pool B were Christchurch United U20 Academy,{{Cite web|url=https://www.fijifootball.com.fj/competition-list/senior-mens-division-12-(pool-b)-2058564712/ |title=Senior Mens Division 1/2 (Pool B) |website=Fiji Football Association |access-date=21 October 2024}} and pool C were Coastal Spirit U20 Reserves.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fijifootball.com.fj/competition-list/senior-mens-division-12-(pool-c)-2058616359/ |title=Senior Mens Division 1/2 (Pool C) |website=Fiji Football Association |access-date=21 October 2024}} The top 3 teams from each pool plus Halswell United Reserves, played a 9 game Senior Men's Division 1 Championship with Cashmere Technical U20 Reserves winning.{{Cite web|url=https://www.fijifootball.com.fj/competition-list/senior-mens-division-1-championship-2179617834/ |title=Senior Men's Division 1 Championship |website=Fiji Football Association |access-date=21 October 2024}}
In 2023, 2022 Senior Men's Division 1 Championship winners Cashmere Technical U20 Reserves and runners-up Nomads United U20 Reserves were both promoted to the Canterbury Premiership League. Seven of the ten teams were promoted to Canterbury Championship, followed by the addiction of Ferrymead Bays Keen Lads, University of Canterbury 3rd XI and Waimakariri United Reserves. Christchurch United U20 Academy won the 2023 league thus being promoted to the Premiership, followed by Ferrymead Bays U20 Reserves and Selwyn United U20 Reserves for the following season.
In 2024, Cashmere Technical U20 Reserves and Nomads United U20 Reserves both returned to the league following the success of having a reserve team in the Premiership, they were invited to add a team to the Championship. They also welcomed Selwyn United Turkeys with the success of winning Senior Men's Division 1 and 2 in the last two years. On 2 May, 4 matches into the season, Nomads United U20 Reserves were withdrawn from the competition after failing to field a team three games in a row, with one game being a postponement against University of Canterbury 3rd XI and the other two games being defaults against Selwyn United Turkeys and Coastal Spirit U20 Reserves. All wins and game results against Nomads United U20 Reserves have been voided, even Nomads only game against Cashmere Technical U20 Reserves, 0–8 win for Cashmere Technical.
Canterbury Championship League teams
{{Asof|2025}} season.{{Cite web|url=https://www.mff.nz/COMPETITIONS-2/Senior-Competitions/new-world-championship-mens |title = New World Championship}}
| class="wikitable sortable"
!Team!!Home Ground!!Location!!2024 season |
| Cashmere Technical (U)
|Garrick Memorial Park |align="center"|5th |
| Coastal Spirit (U)
|Linfield Park |align="center"|9th |
| FC Twenty 11 (U)
|Avonhead Park |align="center"|8th |
| Ferrymead Bays Keen Lads
|Ferrymead Park |align="center"|3rd |
| Halswell United (R)
|Halswell Domain |align="center"|6th |
| Oxford
|Pearsons Park |align="center"|1st in Division 1 (promoted) |
| Parklands United
|Parklands Reserve |align="center"|10th in Premiership (relegated) |
| Selwyn United Turkeys
|Foster Park |align="center"|2nd |
| University of Canterbury (T)
|Ilam Field |Ilam |align="center"|4th |
| Waimakariri United (R)
|Kendal Park |align="center"|7th |
:(R) — Denotes club's Reserve team
:(T) — Denotes club's Third team
:(U) — Denotes club's Under 20 Reserve team
{{notes}}
Winners
Canterbury Champions League:
;2016–21
{{colbegin|colwidth=15em}}
- 2016 - Nomads United{{Cite web|url=https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=10e1e1da-8bc9-4419-b6ef-26ff46fb9ca6 |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2016 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
- 2017 - Selwyn United{{Cite web|url=https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=2e20e49e-075b-4d9c-b232-37bd81ed9979 |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2017 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
- 2018 - Western{{Cite web|url=https://www.mff.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=071af501-1ad1-49cd-b681-42f9524b662f |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2018 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
- 2019 - Christchurch United{{Cite web|url=https://www.mff.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=a14b77cf-f8ca-45d6-902f-27f4b4a04230 |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2019 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
- 2020 - Halswell United{{Cite web|url=https://www.mff.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=5339cd3e-8ebb-4025-9a8d-9051c7a97600 |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2020 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
- 2021 - Western{{Cite web|url=https://www.sporty.co.nz/asset/downloadasset?id=4a1c8d0b-8f13-436f-92a3-4f40d3c1de05 |title=ANNUAL REPORT 2021 |access-date=21 October 2024}}
{{colend}}
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Club
! Number of Titles ! Year(s) Won |
|---|
| align="center"| Western
|align="center"| 2 | 2018, 2021 |
| align="center"| Nomads United
|align="center"| 1 | 2016 |
| align="center"| Selwyn United
|align="center"| 1 |2017 |
| align="center"| Christchurch United
|align="center"| 1 | 2019 |
| align="center"| Halswell United
|align="center"| 1 | 2020 |
;2023–
{{colbegin|colwidth=15em}}
{{colend}}
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Club
! Number of Titles ! Year(s) Won |
|---|
| align="center"| Christchurch United U20
|align="center"| 1 | 2023 |
| align="center"| University of Canterbury 2nd
|align="center"| 1 | 2024 |
Whero Cup
The Whero Cup, is an annual Mainland Football knockout football competition for Canterbury Championship League, Senior Men's Division 1 and Canterbury Premiership League's Reserve teams. First played during the 2023 season. It is currently known as City Mission Whero Cup after its charity, [https://www.citymission.org.nz/ Christchurch City Mission], this is the first season of City Mission being the charity. The cup has been previously known as the Ronald McDonald House Whero Cup after its charity [https://rmhc.org.nz/ Ronald McDonald House South Island] for the 2023 to 2024 season. There are three other men's cups that run at the same time for the lower Senior Men's Divisions.
;Whero Cup Winners-
{{colbegin|colwidth=15em}}
{{colend}}
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Club
! Number of Titles ! Year(s) Won |
|---|
| align="center"| Christchurch United U20
|align="center"| 1 | 2023 |
| align="center"| University of Canterbury 3rd
|align="center"| 1 | 2024 |