Steve Sumner Trophy

The Steve Sumner Trophy is a New Zealand National League award given to the player of the match in the New Zealand National League Grand Final each year. Introduced in 2018, previously the award was also given to the best player in the New Zealand Football Championship grand final. ^{[1] [2]} The medal is named after Steve Sumner, who played for New Zealand national football team in the 1970s and 1980s and was a member of the New Zealand squad that played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

List of winners

Season/Year	Player	Club	Opponent	Ref
NZFC
2018	Callum McCowatt	Auckland City	Team Wellington	[3]
2019	Callum McCowatt	Eastern Suburbs	Team Wellington	[4]
2020	Cancelled
2021	Andy Bevin	Team Wellington	Auckland City	[5]
National League
2021	Cancelled
2022	Not awarded
2023	Joel Stevens	Wellington Olympic	Auckland City	[6]
2024	Mario Ilich	Auckland City	Birkenhead United	[7]
2025	Haris Zeb	Auckland City	Wellington Olympic	[8]

Multiple winners

Trophies	Player	Team	Seasons
2	Callum McCowatt	Auckland City / Eastern Suburbs	2018, 2019

References

1. "ISPS Handa Premiership – Steve Sumner Trophy to be launched at Final". New Zealand Football . Retrieved 8 March 2021.
2. "New Zealand football great Steve Sumner to be recognised with special trophy for final". Stuff . 29 March 2018. Retrieved 8 March 2021.
3. "ISPS Handa Premiership – McCowatt stoked with Steve Sumner Trophy". New Zealand Football . Retrieved 28 December 2025.
4. Voerman, Andrew (31 March 2019). "Callum McCowatt stars as Eastern Suburbs win national men's football league final". Stuff . Retrieved 8 March 2021.
5. "REPORT | Team Wellington crowned 2020/21 ISPS Handa Men's Premiership champions". New Zealand Football . 21 March 2021. Retrieved 28 December 2025.
6. "Olympic's Joel Stevens wins Steve Sumner Trophy for Grand Final performance". friendsoffootballnz.com. 26 November 2023. Retrieved 27 November 2023.
7. "Congratulations to all the individual awards winners in the Men's National League Championship 2024 🎉". New Zealand Football Instagram. Retrieved 4 December 2024.
8. "Auckland City retain national title after drama-filled National League grand final". friendsoffootballnz.com. 13 December 2025. Retrieved 14 December 2025.