The competition currently runs between March and August each year, and consists of ten team based in Christchurch. There are 18 round where the teams play each other twice. The winner of the league has the option to play in the Mainland Football Federation Playoff, a two-leg home and away series against the winner of Nelson Bays Premiership. The winner of Mainland Football Federation Playoff, plays the winner of Southern Premiership in the Southern League Playoff, a two-leg home and away series. The winner of the Southern League Playoff will be promoted to the Southern League, assuming they will have the correct club licensing before the season starts.
In 2000, after the final season of the Southern League, the breakaway competition became the Federation 6 (Mainland) Premier League,[2] the league was expanded to 11 teams, with two team outside of Christchurch; Marlborough United and Nelson Suburbs Reserves.[3] The following season the league expanded to 12 teams, the additional team was Mid-Canterbury United, with Nelson Suburbs Reserves dropping out with Nelson Suburbs First team replacing them after withdrawing from the 2001 New Zealand National Soccer League, as they were unable to have two team from the same club compete in the Premier league.[4]
In March 2021, New Zealand Football announced a change to the structure of both the premiership and the top regional leagues around the country. The Mainland Premier League and the FootballSouth Premier League will be the new Southern League. These leagues would allow local clubs to qualify for the premiership season (now known as the National League Championship), with the top 4 teams from the Northern League, the top 3 teams from the Central League, and the top 2 teams from the Southern League making up the competition, alongside the Wellington Phoenix Reserve side. All teams that qualify plus the Phoenix Reserves, would then play a single round-robin competition between September and December.[5] For the Southern League, the two existing competitions run in the South Island (Mainland Premier League and FootballSouth Premier League) play their original league seasons for the teams to then qualify for a place in the newly formed competition.[6] Five teams from Mainland Premier League, which covers the top of the South Island to Christchurch and three teams from FootballSouth Premier League, covering from below Christchurch to the bottom of the South Island, will qualify.[6] The competition started on the 17 July 2021.[6] During that time, the bottom three teams played in a qualifying league with the top two teams in the Canterbury Championship league, with the top two finishers promoted to the 2022 Southern League.
In 2022, the league rebranded to become the Canterbury Premiership League (CPL), as there was no need to travel to Nelson to play a Nelson team.
FC Twenty 11 won the inaugural season of CPL, then played Southern Football's runners-up Roslyn-Wakari in the Southern League playoffs, as Dunedin City Royals reserve team won the league and were ineligible for promotion. FC Twenty 11 won 5–2 on aggregate.
In 2023, University of Canterbury won the league and played off against Nelson Bays' premiership winners FC Nelson, winning 5–3 win on aggregate. They then faced Southern Football's runners-up Roslyn-Wakari, as Mosgiel declined participation in the playoffs. Drawing 2–2 on aggregate, University of Canterbury won 6–5 on penalties after extra time.[7][8]
In 2024, Waimakariri United won the league and played off against Nelson Bays' premiership's 3rd placed FC Nelson, as Rangers declined to participate and second-placed Nelson Suburbs Reserves are ineligible to participate, drawing 6–6 on aggregate, and won 4–3 on penalties after extra time. They then faced Southern Football's runners-up Wanaka, as Mosgiel declined participation in the playoffs. Wanaka won 9–3 on aggregate.[9][10]
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