The 2025 editions of the Chatham Cup and Kate Sheppard Cup are officially underway, with the preliminary round draws held today confirming the first fixtures in both competitions. Matches are scheduled to take place over the weekend of 25–27 April.

The draw was conducted at New Zealand Football headquarters by Kevin Forde (Competitions and Events Manager), Shannon Hewetson (National Competitions and Events Manager), and was overseen by Stephanie Brown (Community Competitions Manager, Northern Region Football).

The Kate Sheppard Cup draw was held first, with 52 teams entering this year’s competition: 25 from the Northern Region, 13 from the Central Region, and 14 from the Southern Region.

A total of 46 teams have received byes into Round 1. According to the competition regulations, in order to have 32 teams remaining in Round 2, New Zealand Football can award byes to certain teams:

“All teams shall be allocated to their respective Regional Group and shall be ranked by the competition by which they are competing in in the current winter season.

In the event that the progressions require the allocation of byes within a Region, byes shall be allocated to teams based on their current winter competition ranking that the team competes in. For example, a bye will be awarded to all the NRFL Premier Women’s competition teams, then all AFF Women Division One competition teams.

If all teams from an entire competition cannot be awarded a bye, then all teams from the respective competition are added to a Pot and the required number of byes are drawn randomly from the Pot.

The remaining teams not drawn for a bye are returned to their region for the round draw proper”.

Just three preliminary round matches will be played in the Kate Sheppard Cup -  two in the Northern Region and one in the Central Region.

Kate Sheppard Cup - Preliminary Round Fixtures


Northern Region

• Hamilton Wanderers v Te Awamutu AFC
• Whakatāne Town v Ngunguru FC

Central Region

• Wairarapa United v Seatoun AFC

On the men’s side, 122 teams will compete in the 2025 Chatham Cup - 59 from the Northern Region, 32 from the Central Region, and 31 from the Southern Region.

Of these, 66 clubs received byes through to Round 1. In order to ensure 64 teams remain in the Chatham Cup at Round 2, New Zealand Football awarded additional byes - following the same criteria as in the Kate Sheppard Cup, as outlined in the regulations.

In total, 28 matches will be played in the preliminary round, and the outcome of the draw is as follows:

Chatham Cup – Preliminary Round Fixtures

Northern Region

• West Auckland v Uni-Mount Bohemian
• Papatoetoe AFC v Matamata Swifts
• Te Puke United v Internationale FC
• AFC Bohemian Celtic v Te Atatu AFC
• Bream Bay United AFC v Colo Boys FC
• Papakura City FC v Te Awamutu AFC
• Otorohanga AFC v Franklin United
• South Auckland Rangers v Albany United
• Oratia United v Waiheke United
• Mangere United v Waikato Unicol
• Plains Rangers v Whakatane Town

Central Region

• Taradale AFC v Palmerston North United
• Whanganui Athletic v Waitara SC
• Western Rangers v FC Western
• Greytown FC v Seatoun FC
• Carterton AFC v Naenae
• Victoria University v Lower Hutt City
• Stokes Valley v Wellington Marist
• Wellington United v Tawa AFC
• Kapiti Coast United v Wainuiomata
• Stop Out v Te Kotahitanga FC

Southern Region

• Motueka AFC v Rangers AFC
• Richmond FC v Wakefield FC
• Central SC v FC Nelson
• Western AFC v FC Twenty 11
• Parklands United v Waimakariri United
• Burwood AFC v Halswell United
• Grants Braes v Green Island

Article added: Wednesday 09 April 2025