Zone Football League
The Zone Football League is an Australian amateur soccer league based in Northern New South Wales administered jointly by Newcastle Football, Macquarie Football and Hunter Valley Football; sub-federations respectively of Northern NSW Football. The league is the third tier of football in the NNSWF. First division was known NNSW Interdistrict Division One prior to 2011, NNSW Zone Football Premier League and renamed Zone Football League in 2024.
Covering almost 33,000 square kilometres, across more than 10 Local Government Areas, football clubs are scattered across the Hunter Region.
History
Graded Interdistrict competitions have survived alongside the 2 Premier Divisions of local Northern NSW Football for decades.The 2011 season commenced with 10 teams Cardiff City, Cooks Hill United, Dudley Redhead, Mayfield, Morisset, New Lambton, Swansea, Thornton Park and University in the 1st division competition.
After the 2011 season, Thornton Park were elected for promotion to NSW State League Division 1, Kahibah was relegated with Warners Bay and Plattsburg Maryland taking their places in 2012.
The competition briefly dropped to a 7 team competition in 2020, before resuming to a 10 team competition. 2023 saw the expansion of the Zone League 1 from 10 to 12 teams among a greater restructure of the Zone Football Leagues.
From 2024 there will be promotion and relegation between NNSW State League Division 1 and Zone Football League 1 and promotion and relegation between all Zone Leagues.
In 2025 expressions of interest were sought for a women's Zone Football League to be established.
Format
Teams have a first grade side, reserve grade side and third grade side. The regular season takes place, with each team playing each other once at home and once away. The team that finishes first at the end of the regular season is crowned premiers and promoted, the team who finishes last are relegated.The top four teams contest the Finals Series. For the semi-finals, 1st vs 4th and 2nd vs 3rd. The winner of each semi-final progresses straight to the Grand Final where the winner of that game is crowned champions.