New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell hopes changes to the country’s national leagues will instigate a “cultural shift” among coaches and clubs with regard to youth development and has promised a crackdown on player payments in amateur competitions.
The governing body announced on Tuesday that the ongoing national men’s football league season would be the last under the summer-centric, franchise-based format first implemented in 2004, citing a desire to make youth development and sustainability a priority.
From 2021, the national men’s league will consist of two phases, run from March to December and be contested by existing winter clubs.
The first phase will consist of northern, central, and southern conferences – a rebranding of the existing premier regional winter leagues – with the top teams from each conference advancing to a national championship phase.
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Teams will be required to include two under-20 players in their starting lineups and will only be able to field up to four foreign players plus an additional player from another country in the Oceania Football Confederation.
The top four teams from the northern conference, the top three teams from the central conference, and the top two teams from the southern conference will advance to the national championship phase in 2021, alongside a Wellington Phoenix development side, likely to be aligned to central conference club Lower Hutt City.
There will also be immediate changes to the national women’s league, which will expand from seven teams to eight and be contested by a mixture of clubs and regional federations for the first time, while returning to the double round-robin format used in 2018 and 2019. The top four clubs from the northern winter league will join with federation sides from the rest of the country in 2021.
NZ Football is pledging to invest in the women’s game to build capability across the country and allow a transition to a fully club-based system as soon as the competitive balance of the premier regional winter leagues allows.
Pragnell said he hoped the changes to the national leagues, which he said received “strong in-principle support from clubs across the country,” would help bring about “a cultural shift”.
“This is not about winning, this is about youth development.
“We’re doing a lot of work with our coaching networks across New Zealand to say that if you are involved in this, we want it to be about player development first and foremost.
“Yes, we recognise that winning is always going to be of interest to clubs – we can’t get away from that, but I think we’re seeing a cultural shift and if we can get everyone focused on player development and thinking about the future of the player, rather than their club’s annual success, then New Zealand is going to be winning in 10 years’ time.
“This is as much as anything, a big cultural shift for everyone, and we acknowledge that, but I’d be encouraging people to get on board because that’s where we want to go.”
NZ Football intends to make amateur player agreements compulsory for all players in top-tier competitions from 2021, place caps on the reimbursements players can receive for expenses, and put an integrity and audit programme in place to ensure compliance on regulatory matters.
“We believe that unfortunately player payments also drive player movement and hinder player development,” Pragnell said.
“Those clubs that are committed to player development are actually being undermined by those with larger budgets and this is probably one of the most critical tools we have to prevent the undermining of player development.
“We will absolutely be implementing an auditing program and requiring clubs that enter these competitions to commit to being audited. We know there are many loopholes and many workarounds, but this will be a massive focus for 2021.”
Tuesday’s announcement comes with 11 rounds and the final series still to be played in the existing ISPS Handa Men’s Premiership season, which is due to conclude with a grand final in March.
Of the eight existing clubs, Eastern Suburbs and Hamilton Wanderers already compete in the northern league and will be able to transition smoothly, while Auckland City, Team Wellington, Waitakere United, and the Phoenix all have relationships – some closer than others – with existing northern and central league clubs and there will be discussions to be had as to what they look like going forward.
The return to a winter-centric, club-based competition would appear to mark the end of the line for Canterbury United, a regional team run by Mainland Football, and Hawke’s Bay United, a regional team that has received significant financial support from Central Football in recent years, at least in their current form.
Pragnell said the existing clubs were split down the middle,”four-four” when it came to supporting the plans for change.
“We acknowledge it’s a big change. There’s no doubt about that,” Pragnell said.
“What’s really important for us is that we support the existing franchises to be able to transition in 2021, and we think there’s an opportunity for their survival depending on what form they want that to take.”
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