Newcastle Zone League One

The Zone League One or just ZL1 (formerly Newcastle Zone Football Premier League or just ZPL 2011–2023) is an Australian football (soccer) league in the North of New South Wales. It is the third tier of football in the Northern New South Wales Football association.

The competition is made up of 12 teams who play each other twice, home and away. This is an amateur football league.

History
In the inaugural 2011 season, New Lambton Eagles FC won the premiership, ahead of Morisset FC by two points. Cooks Hill United FC won the championship, beating Morisset FC 2-1 in the grand final. After finish runners-up in the league and grand final, Morisset FC were relegated to Zone League One in 2012 after finishing last (10th) with one point.

Morisset FC do not currently compete in any of the four Zone Leagues.

After the 2011 season, Thornton Park (now Thornton Redbacks FC) were elected for promotion to Northern NSW State League Division 1.

2015 saw 3 more teams promoted into the Northern NSW State League Division 1 from ZPL as a result of league restructuring. These teams were Cooks Hill United FC, Kahibah FC and Wallsend FC. The applications from Morisset FC and Swansea FC were unsuccessful.

2017 saw another team promoted to State League Division One (now HIT Northern League One) in New Lambton Eagles FC, the same club that won the inaugural Zone Premier League season.

Since 2017, there has been no more promotion to Northern League One.

Although, the Board of Directors that took reign of Northern NSW Football in early 2023 have stated their intention to provide options to establish promotion and relegation in men’s football in Northern NSW, extending from NPL Men’s NNSW to the Zone Premier Leagues.

2023 sees the expansion of the Zone Premier League from 10 to 12 teams among a greater restructure of the Zone Football Leagues, seeing the pyramid reduce from 4 leagues to 3 after the omission of Zone League Three. Newcastle Olympic FC and Minmi Wanderers FC have been promoted from Zone League One. There were no relegated teams.

From 2024 there will be promotion and relegation between Northern NSW State League Division 1 and Zone League One.

Format
The Zone Premier League competition consists of 12 teams, each of whom have a first grade side, reserve grade side and third grade side. The regular season takes place over 22 rounds, with each team playing each other once at home and once away. The team that finishes first at the end of the regulars season is crowned premiers.

The top four teams contest the Finals Series. The format for 2022 included semi finals and finals. 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.

2023 Season Teams

 * Cardiff City FC
 * Dudley Redhead United SFC
 * Hamilton Azzurri FC
 * Kotara South FC
 * Mayfield United SFC
 * Minmi Wanderers FC P
 * Newcastle Olympic FC P
 * Newcastle Suns FC
 * Newcastle University Men's FC P
 * Swansea FC
 * Warners Bay FC
 * Westlakes Wildcats FC

All teams are required to present in 3 grades.

Italics indicate the club has a team in a higher division.

P Promoted.