Cambridge F.C. is a soccer club based in Cambridge, New Zealand. It currently plays in the NRFL Division 2, a semi-professional football league in that country. In 2019, they finished 5th in the league. The club had won promotion to the league in 2017 after a two-legged play-off series against Auckland's Beachlands Maraetai FC. They were the 2017 and 2015 champions of the WaiBOP Premiership, run by the Waikato/Bay of Plenty Football Federation. Cambridge has five senior men's teams and one women's teams competing in the Bay of Plenty and Waikato regions. Men's teams play in the WaiBOP Championship, and in the Waikato 3rd and 4th divisions. The women's team plays in the Waikato Women's League. The club also fields boys' and girls' youth teams and has more than 500 junior team players.
Club history
The club was founded in 1948 and has played at John Kerkhof Park, Cambridge, New Zealand, since 1967. The teams play in red and white, a legacy of the club's first president Vic Butler's support of Arsenal F.C..
Playing record
The club achieved its first significant success at senior level, winning the Northern League's 4th Division in 1984 and again in 1986. In 1989, it won the Northern League 3rd division title. Cambridge reached new heights in 1993, winning the Northern League 2nd division without losing a game. In 1995, it won the first division and earned promotion to the Northern League's premier division, the highest level the club has played in its history. After only one season, the club was relegated and a year later was relegated again, dropping to the 2nd division. After almost 40 years in the Northern League, Cambridge was relegated from the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2 in 2011 after finishing 12th and losing the challenger series playoff vs Manukau City AFC. The club elected to drop two divisions into the Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Division Two to rebuild under coach Karl Dagnall and won promotion in 2012 to Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Division One. In 2014, the club finished runners-up in Waikato Bay of Plenty Football Federation Division One and won the WaiBOP Federation Challenge Shield. In 2015, the club won the WaiBOP Premiership and qualified for play-offs to win promotion to the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Division 2 but lost the two-match series to Auckland champions Waitemata FC. The club were runners-up in the 2016 WaiBOP Premiership. In 2017, Cambridge won the WaiBOP Premiership and the WaiBOP Championship, the Waikato/Bay of Plenty's top competitions. The club also retained the WaiBOP Challenge Shield, as well as winning the Waikato Women's League. Cambridge's U-19 youth team won the 2017 Satellite Final of the National Youth Tournament in Napier.
