The WSANZ Knockout Cup has been contested since 1994, and is women's soccer's national club knockout competition, which effectively determines the premier women's soccer club in the country. Because of New Zealand's geographic spread, the competition has, to date, been played on a regionalised basis right up to the final. Two Northern Region teams play each other in one semi-final, while the Central Region winner plays their equivalent from the Southern Region in the other semi. The final is played on the last weekend in September as part of a double-header, with the Chatham Cup Final, the equivalent competition for men's club teams in New Zealand, following it, as part of the traditional ending to the New Zealand soccer season. Because the strength of the game in New Zealand lies very much in the Northern Region, this part of the country has largely dominated the competition to date, but the only team from the area to enter the competition in its inaugural season was Waikato Unicol. Christchurch's Nomads United were the inaugural winners, beating Unicol in the final. The following year would see the Waikato club pick up the silverware, before the start of the Auckland-based dominance, initially at the expense of Wellington club Petone.

In four consecutive finals from 1995, they were the beaten finalists. Come 1999, however, the capital’s leading club team was beaten in the quarter-finals by Wairarapa United, who have subsequently succeeded Petone in the role of competition bridesmaids. Lynn-Avon United were the first team from the Queen City to win the cup, their 1996 triumph emulated a year later by Three Kings United, who went on to retain the most prestigious honour in New Zealand women's club soccer in 1998, and recorded a "three-peat" in 1999. The trophy returned to Lynn-Avon’s cabinet at the end of the 2000 season, as they notched a record cup final victory, 6-0 over Wairarapa United at North Harbour Stadium. SWANZ international Amanda Crawford became the third player to score a hat-trick in the final in that match, following in the footsteps of Three Kings’ Beth Clark and Petone’s Maureen Jacobson, who both achieved the feat in the 1997 extravaganza, the only year the WSANZ Knockout Cup Final has featured on television, in the form of a ten-minute highlights package shown a fortnight after the event.

In 2001, Lynn-Avon’s grip on the trophy was prised loose by Ellerslie. In the first all-Auckland final, following the move to make the semi-finals an open draw affair in light of the one-sidedness of the showpiece of the previous season, the debutant finalists upset the holders 1-0. The only two-time winner of the final’s Most Valuable Player honour, Maia Jackman, collected an unprecedented fourth winner’s medal from as many appearances in the final of the competition with this result, having been a member of Lynn-Avon’s first cup-winning side in 1996, before helping Three Kings to victory in both the 1998 and 1999 finals. The 2002 affair was a cracking contest, again featuring Ellerslie and Lynn-Avon. This time, it was United's turn to savour the silverware, for the third time in the competition's history, after one of the best scoreless draws you could wish to see. United won 5-3 on penalties, with both finalists going through the entire competition without conceding a goal.

Year	Winners	Score	Runners-up	Most Valuable Player
1994	Nomads United (4-3 on pens)	0-0	Waikato Unicol
1995	Waikato Unicol	3-1	Petone
1996	Lynn-Avon United	4-2	Petone	Maia Jackman (Lynn-Avon United)
1997	Three Kings United	7-5	Petone	Maria Wilkie (Three Kings United)
1998	Three Kings United	4-2	Petone	Maia Jackman (Three Kings United)
1999	Three Kings United	3-2	Wairarapa United	Nicky Smith (Wairarapa United)
2000	Lynn-Avon United	6-0	Wairarapa United	Amanda Crawford (Lynn-Avon United)
2001	Ellerslie	1-0	Lynn-Avon United	Priscilla Duncan (Ellerslie)
2002	Lynn-Avon United (5-3 on pens)	0-0	Ellerslie	Yvonne Vale (Lynn-Avon United)