Palmerston North will host the final of the Chatham Cup for the first time after Memorial Park was selected as the venue for the showdown between Napier City Rovers and Wairarapa United at the end of the month.
The 84th final of the 89-year-old knockout football competition became an all Central League affair after Napier City qualified for their sixth final by beating Dunedin's Caversham 2-1 at home and Wairarapa notched an upset 1-nil semi final win over Bay Olympic in Auckland to extend the club's best-ever cup run.
Those results confirmed that the Chatham Cup final would be hosted outside Auckland for just the second time in a decade and New Zealand Football Grant McKavanagh says a neutral venue in the Manawatu is the logical choice.
The final will be played on Sunday August 28th.