https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_Football_Championship#Clubs There's no documentation of this that I've found yet. I'll search for some when I have time. Not sure what "slot protection" is. Thought maybe it meant a relegated club would be replaced by a club of that same general area, thus preserving that geographical "slot" Anyone from down there know what's going on? Also, I thought the regional league systems had seasons opposite to the NZFC. Is this incorrect? Is it being changed? This is all intriguing, though my understanding is pro/rel every 4 years, which almost seems pointless.
I'm guessing that "slot protection" means that there are more clubs than protected slots, so each area is guaranteed a club and could have more. The areas that have more can be changed by promotion and relegation. The analogy would be to a Champions League where each country gets at least one club, the best have more than one, and coefficients change how many clubs each country gets. I'm not saying that's how New Zealand will do it, but that's my guess.
And actually, so is the whole NZFC. It is being replaced by the new NZNL from '21 forward. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_National_League
Yes, this is a cheaper and more affordable tier system. All clubs are already in a tier competition in the winter season in their respective federation (there are seven federation in NZ that administrates provincial system) league and provincial lower leagues within the federation. And the top winter clubs from the federations can be promoted into a three regional leagues of either Southern, Central and Northern League. In each of the three regional leagues, the top clubs of those regional winter leagues qualifies for the National League Championship (NLC) that is played two weeks after the winter season are finished until the summer season. Currently, the NLC is limited to a one leg round robin and not a two leg (home and away) round robin before determining a National League Champion for the OFC Champion League. The other NZ Champion spot in the OFC Champion league will be taken by the Winners of the Chatham Cup (NZ's version of the FA cup). Currently this is the Football Club Pyramid of the New Zealand Amateur Football which is a regional-based league system which has a promotion and relegation at the end of the winter season for the following winter season in all tiers, except for the top placed regional clubs plus the Wellington Phoenix Reserve (which is a fully professional club made for A-league), of the three regional leagues that qualifies for the National League Championship phase in an extended season. To spell it out further . . . Top tier: 1.) NZ National League Championship (starts after regional league qualification phase) - qualification by top placement in the three regional leagues; includes Wellington Phoenix Reserves (only professional club that plays in the Central League) and semi-professional clubs in the Southern League (top two placed clubs), the Central League (top three placed clubs besides the Wellington Phoenix Reserves) and the Northern League (top four placed clubs). 2nd Tier: Larger Regional Leagues (and qualification phase for the National League Championship) 1.) Southern League (co-administered by FootballSouth and Mainland Football Federations) 2.) Central League (co-administered by Captial Football and Central Football Federations) 3.) Northern League (co-administered by Northern Region, Auckland, and Bay of Plenty/Waikato Federations as NRFL) 3rd Tier: Smaller Regional/Local Premier Leagues 1a.) FootballSouth Premier League 1b.) Mainland Premier League 2a.) Central Federation League 2b.) Captial Premier League 3a.) Northern Regional Football League (NRFL) Division One 4th Tier All are Community-based Divisional Leagues except for NRFL Division Two and the Central Federation League is split between Western Premiership and Eastern Premiership. 5th Tier All are Community-based Divisional Leagues except for NRFL is split between Northern Region Federation/Auckland Federation League and Bay of Plenty/Waikato Federation League. 6th Tier All are Community-based Divisional Leagues except for Northern Region, Auckland, Bay of Plenty and the Waikato regions are in their own federation leagues. 7th Tier and lower tiers. All Federations are Community Divisional Leagues.
The NZ and Oceania Club Champions Auckland City concedes 3 goals in the 1st half against the star-studded Al-Ittihad in the FIFA Club World Cup. Al-Ittihad vs Auckland City Fifa Club World Cup result: Auckland City far from disgraced against Karim Benzema’s all-star Saudi club (msn.com)