2019–20 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League

The 2019–20 Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, for sponsorship reasons also known as the Kumul Petroleum National Soccer League,[1] was the 14th edition of the Papua New Guinea National Soccer League, the top-tier football league in Papua New Guinea. The league began on 14 December 2019,[2][3][4] after being postponed three times due to late registration fees,[5][6][7][8][9][10] and finished on 10 October 2020, after almost a five-month hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Papua New Guinea National Soccer League
Season2019–20
Dates14 December 2019 – 10 October 2020
ChampionsLae City
PremiersLae City
2021 OFC Champions LeagueLae City
Hekari United
Matches played94
Best PlayerEmmanuel Simon
Top goalscorerJonathan Allen (12 goals)
← 2019
2020–21 →

Lae City were the defending champions, having won their fifth title with a penalty shoot-out victory over eight-time champions Hekari United in the 2019 edition.[11] The side picked up their sixth title with a 1–0 victory over newcomers Vitiaz United in the Grand Final after topping the regular season table. Hekari United had to settle for third after Vitiaz defeated them on penalties in the semi-finals.[4] Emmanuel Simon of Lae City won the Player of the Season Award, while Jonathan Allen, who spent the first half the season at FC Bougainville and the second half at Vitiaz United, was awarded the Golden Boot after scoring 12 goals in the regular season.[12]

Format

Following the successful management of the previous season, which involved 27 teams spread across all four regions of the country, PNGFA president John Kapi Natto suggested that the following season may be the first to have two connected divisions of football in the nation,[13][14] with six to eight teams in a top-level 'elite' competition, and any number of teams competing in regional divisions a level below.[13][14] Lae City manager Peter Gunemba praised this idea.[15]

In October 2019, it was confirmed that Kapi Natto intended to go ahead with an eight-team National Soccer League, taking place alongside a 'Premier Men's Conference', with four conferences representing the four regions of the country: Northern (Momase), Southern (Papua), Highlands and Islands.[7] The national league was expanded to ten in December 2019,[3] following the cancellation of the conference competition in late November due to lack of interest.[5]

Teams

On 27 November 2019, a new club, FC Kutubu, from Kutubu, were the first team to be officially confirmed ahead of the new season.[16] It was suggested that the side would be the only club representing the Highlands Region in the new season. On 5 December, reigning champions Lae City, eight-time champions Hekari United, and Port Moresby-based FC Bougainville were also confirmed.[17] On 10 December 2019, the remaining six teams were confirmed.[2][3]

This was the first season since 2009–10 that Besta PNG United did not participate in the competition.

Papua New Guinea National Soccer League 2019–20
Team Region Previous Best Other Honours
Hekari United Southern 2006–14: Champions (8x) 2009–10 OFC Champions League: Champions

2017 National Premier League: Champions

2007 Port Moresby Premier League: Champions

Lae City
(name changed from Toti City)		 Northern 2015–19: Champions (5x) 2018, 2019 OFC Champions League: Quarter-Finalists
Morobe United Northern 2009–10: Runners-up 1998 National Club Championship: Runners-Up

2001, 2005 Lae Regional Championship: Champions

Morobe Wawens Northern 2018: 3rd None
Gulf Komara Southern 2015–16: Southern Conference: 4th 2018 National Premier League: Champions
FC Bougainville Southern 2019: Southern Conference: 4th None
Star Mountain Southern 2019: Southern Conference: 7th 1999 North Fly District: Champions
Tusbab Stallions Northern 2019: Northern Conference: 8th None
Vitiaz United Southern N/A 2019 Port Moresby Division One: Champions
FC Kutubu Highlands N/A None

Summary

The season ran relatively smoothly compared to previous seasons, aside from an enforced break of almost five months due to the COVID-19 pandemic which halted the season just after the halfway stage in March. By this time, three contenders for the title had emerged. Newcomers Vitiaz United sat top of the league place, having beaten Lae City 2–1 on 25 January[18][19] and drawn with Hekari, and only having suffered defeat at the hands of FC Bougainville. Reigning champions Lae City sat second after ten games despite manager Peter Gunemba being sacked following their exit from the 2020 OFC Champions League,[20][21] and the resultant mass exodus of players, including international veterans Raymond Gunemba and Nigel Dabinyaba,[22][23] who eventually joined Hekari United. Eight-time champions Hekari United were third, having gone the entire first half of the season unbeaten before suffering a shock 2–1 defeat against Star Mountain in the first game of the second half of the season,[24][25] which saw them slip from first to third. The final playoff spot was held by Tusbab Stallions, who were well off the pace of the top three but had a comfortable points cushion over the chasing pack. The league was halted on 14 March 2020.

Vitiaz kept up the strong pace they had set following the restart on 8 August 2020. They opened with a 2–2 draw with Star Mountain, before new signing from Lae City, Mathew David, scored seven goals in two games[26] – all three in a 3–0 win over Morobe Wawens and four in a 6–3 defeat of Tusbab Stallions – but the final three weeks of the regular season saw them fall to third, with narrow 1–0 defeats to FC Bougainville and Gulf Komara on consecutive weeks[27] followed by a 0–0 draw against eventual Minor Premiers Lae City on the final day. Hekari lost 1–0 to Lae City on 15 August,[28] and were unable to recover the deficit, eventually finishing second in the regular season table behind the reigning champions, who went unbeaten in the second half of the season. The final playoff spot went to Gulf Komara, who leapfrogged a stuttering Tusbab Stallions on the final day with a 5–0 win over Star Mountain.[29]

In the playoffs, Gulf Komara ran Lae City close in the first semi-final before eventually losing 2–1, before Vitiaz United and Hekari United battled out a 2–2 after extra time in the second semi-final, with Vitiaz triumphing on penalties.[4] After Hekari claimed third place after thrashing Gulf Komara 5–0, Lae City won a tight Grand Final with a solitary goal from Obert Bika to claim their sixth successive title.[4]

Regular season

League table
Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification or relegation
1 Lae City (Q) 18 13 4 1 53 15 +38 43 Qualification to OFC Champions League group stage and Playoffs
2 Hekari United (Q) 18 13 3 2 39 10 +29 42 Qualification to Playoffs
3 Vitiaz United (Q) 18 11 4 3 32 17 +15 37
4 Gulf Komara (Q) 18 8 1 9 27 28 −1 25
5 FC Bougainville 18 7 3 8 34 33 +1 24
6 Tusbab Stallions 18 6 4 8 27 28 −1 22
7 Star Mountain 18 5 3 10 25 45 −20 18
8 Morobe United 18 4 5 9 22 32 −10 17
9 Morobe Wawens 18 5 1 12 19 38 −19 16
10 FC Kutubu 18 3 2 13 24 56 −32 11
Source: [4]
(Q) Qualified to the phase indicated.

Results
Home \ Away BOU GUK HEK KUT LAE MOU MOW STM TUS VIT
FC Bougainville — 1–2 1–2 3–1 2–3 3–0 4–1 1–1 1–2 2–0
Gulf Komara 2–3 — 0–2 2–0 0–1 2–1 2–1 2–1 1–2 0–1
Hekari United 2–0 2–0 — 6–0 0–1 3–1 2–1 3–0 2–1 0–0
FC Kutubu 0–0 4–3 1–4 — 1–3 2–3 1–0 3–4 2–2 1–2
Lae City 9–2 5–0 1–1 8–1 — 1–1 2–0 6–1 1–1 1–2
Morobe United 2–2 1–1 0–2 1–0 1–3 — 1–3 3–0 0–0 1–2
Morobe Wawens 3–2 0–4 0–3 4–2 1–5 2–0 — 2–1 0–1 0–1
Star Mountain 3–1 0–5 2–1 2–4 1–2 2–2 3–0 — 0–5 1–3
Tusbab Stallions 0–5 3–0 0–3 5–0 0–1 1–2 1–1 0–1 — 0–2
Vitiaz United 0–1 0–1 1–1 4–1 0–0 3–2 3–0 2–2 6–3 —
Updated to match(es) played on 26 September 2020. Source: [4]
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Playoffs
 
Semi-finalsFinal
 
      
 
3 October –
 
 
Lae City2
 
10 October –
 
Gulf Komara1
 
Lae City1
 
3 October –
 
Vitiaz United0
 
Hekari United2 (3)
 
 
Vitiaz United (a.e.t.) (p)2 (4)
 
Third place match
 
 
10 October –
 
 
Gulf Komara0
 
 
Hekari United5

Semi-finals
Lae City2–1Gulf Komara
Abdias Aguirre  1' (p)
Emmanuel Simon  51'		 Report Rupa Emil  84'
Hekari United2–2 (a.e.t.)Vitiaz United
Ati Kepo  10'
Daniel Joe  81' (p)		 Report Yagi Yasasa  17', 36'
Penalties
 3–4
  • Fugre
  • David
  • Efale
  • Dabinyaba Jr
  • Yasasa
  • Sigit

Third-place playoff
Hekari United5–0Gulf Komara
Michael Foster
Raymond Gumemba
Nigel Dabinyaba 		Report

Grand Final
Lae City1–0Vitiaz United
Obert Bika  53' Report


Season statistics
As of 10 October 2020

Top scorers
Rank Player Club Goals
1 Raymond Gunemba Lae City/Hekari United 13
2 Jonathan Allen FC Bougainville/Vitiaz United 12
3 Stahl Gubag Tusbab Stallions/Lae City 11
4 Mathew David Lae City/Vitiaz United 10
5 Nigel Dabinyaba Lae City/Hekari United 9

References
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  2. Mogi, Jeremy (2019-12-10). "Big Announcements Ahead of NSL Opener". EMTV Online. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  3. "10-Team PNG NSL kicks off this weekend". Oceania Football Center. 2019-12-10. Retrieved 2019-12-10.
  4. "Papua New Guinea 2019/20". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 2019-12-20.
  5. "Planned PNG 'Conference Competition' cancelled due to lack of interest". Oceania Football Center. 2019-11-27. Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  6. "Defending champions to fly in today". Post Courier. 2019-05-30. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  7. "PNGFA adds comps". The National. 2019-10-01. Retrieved 2019-10-01.
  8. "PNG National Soccer League Plans Two-Tier Expansion". Oceania Football Center. 2019-10-13. Retrieved 2019-10-14.
  9. "Twelve Must Become Eight in Delayed Papua New Guinea NSL". Oceania Football Center. 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2019-11-14.
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  11. "Papua New Guinea 2019". www.rsssf.com. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  12. "Lae City Claim Sixth Title After Professional and Polished Performance against Vitiaz". Oceania Football Center. 2020-10-11. Retrieved 2020-10-11.
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  14. "NSL winners to attend OFC Cup". Post Courier. 2019-05-29. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  15. "Sport: Further changes proposed for PNG's National Soccer League". RNZ. 2019-06-08. Retrieved 2019-06-30.
  16. "FC Kutubu is the new franchise in NSL". Post Courier. 2019-11-26. Retrieved 2019-11-29.
  17. "Non submission of registration requirements by franchise clubs cause delay". PNGFootball.com.pg. 2019-12-05. Retrieved 2019-12-05.
  18. Sports, Loop (2020-01-27). "Newcomers hand NSL defending champs their first loss". Loop PNG. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  19. "Champions Lae suffer shock defeat as Hekari score late winner vs Stallions". Oceania Football Center. 2020-01-26. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  20. "Gunemba sacked over OFC exit". The National. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  21. "Lae City sacks Peter Gunemba as Bob Morris takes head coach job". Oceania Football Center. 2020-03-12. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  22. "Core Lae City players to walk out of club with sacked manager Gunemba". Oceania Football Center. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  23. "Lae FC show solidarity following coach Gunemba's termination". Loop PNG. 2020-03-13. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  24. "Star Mountain stun competition leaders Hekari United". PNGFootball.com.pg. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  25. "Percy Mataio and the shocking win of his Star Mountain over Hekari". Oceania Football Center. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
  26. "Who is Mathew David of Vitiaz United?". Oceania Football Center. 2020-08-23. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
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  28. "Lae City smash Hekari". Post Courier. 2020-08-17. Retrieved 2020-09-30.
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