Coastal Spirit have filled the final berth for New Zealand Football's National League Championship (NLC).
The Christchurch club grabbed the Southern League's second NLC spot for the first time on Saturday with a 2-1 victory over UC Football at English Park, denying defending champions Christchurch United.
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The three points and qualifying spot were not secured until the 83rd minute when UC Football's Aidan Kirby Vaughan scored an own-goal.
Coastal suffered a set-back early when Pero Forman scored for UC in the first minute, but their leading scorer Alejandro Steinwascher, who finished with 19 goals, equalising in the 14th minute.
After UC's Jacob Killick was red-carded in the 61st minute for a second bookable offence, the winner seemed inevitable for Coastal.
As Christchurch United and Southern League champions Cashmere Technical playing out a 1-1 draw at United Sports Centre in Round 22, it turned out a draw would have been enough for Coastal Spirit to progress.
With just one defeat in 18 matches, Coastal finished just two points behind Cashmere, while United were a further four points back.
Waikato will have no club in the 2025 Northern League after Melville United and Hamilton Wanderers were confirmed for the drop to the NRFL Championship.
Melville fell 3-2 to Northern League champions Auckland City at Hamilton's Gower Park on Saturday, finishing one point behind Manurewa AFC, who lost 7-2 at Bay Olympic, and safety. Wanderers, already assured of relegation, lost 2-1 to Western Springs at Seddon Fields.
Melville and Wanderers will join fellow Waikato clubs Ngaruawahia United and possibly Cambridge next season in the NRFL Championship.
Ngaruawhahia finished third in the Championship, missing promotion to the Northern League by five points, while Cambridge ran away with the NRFL Southern Conference and will play the NRFL Northern Conference champion in a two-leg promotion battle.
Behind City, Western Springs finished runner-up, followed by Eastern Suburbs and Birkenhead United, who had just one win in their last five league matches, while Auckland United missed out on NLC qualification by three points.
Miramar Rangers took out their frustration of failing to qualify for the NLC on relegation-bound Stop Out in the final round of the Central League.
Josh Tollervey, Nicolas Bobadilla and Martin Bueno all scored two goals in a 10-0 victory at David Farrington Park on Saturday. Miramar finished five points outside the top-three but 11 points ahead of the Wellington Phoenix Reserves, who qualify automatically for the NLC.
With just one victory in 18 matches, Stop Out were confirmed to drop back to the Capital Premier competition after two years in the Central League.
Behind runaway four-time champions Wellington Olympic, 5-0 winners over North Wellington on Saturday, Western Suburbs held off Napier City Rovers for second, despite a 2-1 loss at Porirua's Endeavour Park.
Cashmere's Irish striker Garbhan Coughlan easily claimed the Southern League 'Golden Boot', with 26 goals in just nine matches, seven ahead of Steinwascher and United's Joel Stevens.
Napier City's Oscar Faulds took the Central League 'Golden Boot' with 21 goals, six more than Western Suburbs' Lucas Meek. Former Wellington Phoenix striker Hamish Watson, with Olympic, was third with 14 goals.
Suburbs' Jacob Mechell won the Northern League 'Golden Boot' with 19 goals, five ahead of Birkenhead's Monty Patterson and Springs' Emiliano Tade, who scored in his team's first six matches and had 10 goals through eight rounds.
West Coast Rangers' Shannon Henson claimed the NRFL Women's Premier 'Golden Boot' with 16 goals, two more than Auckland United's Charlotte Roche and Hibiscus Coast's Danica Ulrich-Beech.
Eastern Suburbs claimed the final spot in the Women's NLC with a 1-0 victory over West Coast Rangers on Sunday to finish third in the NRFL Women's Premier.
They will join runaway league champions Auckland United, Rangers and Western Springs in spring's national championship, along with Wellington United and Waterside Karori from the Central League, the Wellington Phoenix Academy, Central Football, Mainland Football and Southern United.
Wellington United and Waterside Karori, separated by just one point, will meet on Saturday (kick-off 1pm) at Karori Park to decide the Women's Central League.
The Women's South Island League is still up for grabs after second-placed Cashmere Technical defeated leaders Dunedin City Royals 1-0 on Sunday. Cashmere now face Nelson Suburbs in Stoke in the last match of the season, with a win enough to give them the title on goal difference.
NZF NATIONAL LEAGUE RESULTS
NORTHERN LEAGUE - ROUND 22
Bay Olympic 7 Manurewa 2
Auckland City 3 Melville United 2
East Coast Bays 3 Birkenhead United 0
Auckland United 2 Eastern Suburbs 1
West Coast Rangers 1 Tauranga City 1
Western Springs 2 Hamilton Wanderers 1
CENTRAL LEAGUE - ROUND 18
Wellington Olympic 5 North Wellington 0
Miramar Rangers 10 Stop Out 0
Napier City Rovers 2 Western Suburbs 1
Petone 2 Waterside Karori 1
SOUTHERN LEAGUE - ROUND 18
Selwyn United 5 FC Twenty11 2
Nomads United 3 Ferrymead Bays 1
Coastal Spirit 2 UC Football 1
Christchurch United 1 Cashmere Technical 1
Dunedin City Royals vs Nelson Suburbs postponed
NRFL WOMEN'S PREMIER - ROUND 21
Eastern Suburbs 1 West Coast Rangers 0
Hibiscus Coast 2 Fencibles United 1
Ellerslie 3 Hamilton Wanderers 0
Auckland United 1 Western Springs 0
WOMEN'S CENTRAL LEAGUE - ROUND 14
Petone 3 Victoria University 0
Palmerston North Marist 3 Seatoun 1
Wellington United 6 Taradale 1
WOMEN'S SOUTH ISLAND LEAGUE - ROUND 10
Coastal Spirit 3 Roslyn Wakari 0
Otago University 5 Nelson Suburbs 0
Cashmere Technical 1 Dunedin City Royals 0