Season summary

The league kicked off on 15 October 2004, with a 3-1 victory for Auckland City

Auckland City FC

Auckland City Football Club is a football club based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The club competes in the eight-team ASB Premiership which is the highest level of domestic football in the country...

 at Napier City Rovers

Napier City Rovers

Napier City Rovers are an association football team based in Napier, New Zealand. They are currently competing in the Central Premier League.-Club history:The team was founded in 1973 via a merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City....

 and it soon became clear that Auckland City, along with Waitakere United

Waitakere United

Waitakere United is a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They are one of the franchises in the ASB Premiership. They play their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeu.-History:...

, were the class teams in the championship. Auckland lost only three games all year en route to be the first winners of the New Zealand Football Championship

New Zealand Football Championship

The New Zealand Football Championship is the national association football league in New Zealand. It is a professional/semi-professional status Association football sports Franchise league that is operated by New Zealand Football...

. Even though they were runners-up in both the regular season and Grand Final, Waitakere lost four times to Auckland City, including the thrilling 3-2 final in front of 3,800 spectators at Auckland City's home field, Kiwitea Street

Kiwitea Street

Kiwitea Street, also known as Freyberg Field, is a multi-purpose stadium in Auckland, New Zealand with a capacity of 3,500. It is currently used for football matches and is the home stadium of both Auckland City FC and Central United....

, where Auckland came back from 2-1 down to win in the last minutes of the game.

Waikato FC came out best of the rest to take the final playoff position in third, despite making a slow start to the season. Notables among the other teams were Napier City Rovers, who also came back from a slow start to have a chance of making the playoffs in the final week of the season. Otago United won five games all year, but did not win any of their last twelve games.

Final league table

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	For	Against	Points
Auckland City Auckland City FC Auckland City Football Club is a football club based in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The club competes in the eight-team ASB Premiership which is the highest level of domestic football in the country...	21	14	4	3	53	24	46
Waitakere United Waitakere United Waitakere United is a football club based in Waitakere City, New Zealand. They are one of the franchises in the ASB Premiership. They play their home games at Fred Taylor Park in Kumeu.-History:...	21	12	4	5	39	19	40
Waikato FC Waikato FC Waikato Football Club, currently known as Yardhouse Waikato Football Club due to sponsorship agreements, is a football club based in Hamilton, New Zealand. The club was founded in 2004 and currently play in the ASB Premiership...	21	9	4	8	27	25	31
Canterbury United Canterbury United Canterbury United FC is an association football club from Christchurch, New Zealand. The club plays most of its matches at English Park in Christchurch, though they occasionally play in Nelson...	21	7	6	8	31	38	27
Napier City Rovers Napier City Rovers Napier City Rovers are an association football team based in Napier, New Zealand. They are currently competing in the Central Premier League.-Club history:The team was founded in 1973 via a merger of Napier Rovers and Napier City....	21	7	5	9	39	48	26
Team Wellington Team Wellington Team Wellington are one of the eight franchises in the New Zealand ASB Premiership football competition. They play their home games at Newtown Park, Wellington.- History :...	21	5	8	8	35	40	23
Otago United Otago United Otago United is a soccer club based in Dunedin, New Zealand.It participates in the ASB Premiership. Their previous home stadium is Carisbrook in the South Dunedin suburb of Caversham which is the soon the replaced home of Otago Rugby...	21	5	5	11	26	46	20
YoungHeart Manawatu YoungHeart Manawatu YoungHeart Manawatu is a football club is based in Palmerston North, New Zealand. It participates in the ASB Premiership and their home ground is Memorial Park.- History :...	21	4	6	11	26	36	18

Auckland City qualify for Grand Final.
Waitakere and Waikato play in the Elimination Final, the winner of which plays Auckland in Grand Final.

Oceania Club Championship

By winning the NZFC, Auckland City went on to represent New Zealand in the Oceania Club Championship in Tahiti. Auckland lost their first game to Australian representatives Sydney FC

Sydney FC

Sydney FC is a professional football club based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia and competes in the country's premier football competition, the A-League...

, 3-2 in the dying minutes. Their next game, against tournament hosts AS Pirae

AS Pirae

AS Pirae is a football team from Pirae in Tahiti. They are one of the most successful teams in Tahiti having won the Tahiti Division Fédérale seven times...

 of Tahiti

Tahiti

Tahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...

, was also a loss, this time by 1-0. Auckland City would take some consolation from finishing third in their group after defeating the champions of Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...

, Sobou FC

Sobou FC

Sobou FC is a Papuasian football team playing in the Papua New Guinea National Club Championship. It is based in Lae.- Achievements :*Papua New Guinea Overall Championship: 5* Papua New Guinea National Club Championship : 5...

, by 6-1.

See also

• New Zealand Football Championship
  New Zealand Football Championship
  The New Zealand Football Championship is the national association football league in New Zealand. It is a professional/semi-professional status Association football sports Franchise league that is operated by New Zealand Football...