The Southland United Under-16 team claimed the South Island title in Dunedin on Wednesday.
They were competing against eight other teams from across the country and were crowned the champions of the tournament after a 1-0 win over Auckland United.
Football development officer Brandy Brown was proud of the talent and work the girls had put in as it was the first time a Southland team had won the trophy.
"For us, this title is pretty special.
"It was sort of funny ... they weren't thinking they would get much out of this tournament — the expectation was not that high, but we kept telling them to concentrate on each game."
She said they managed to get into the top four which motivated them even more as they had a "tough" pool of teams to play against.
"It was cool that they really got on board with that belief and in the end got pretty excited with the outcome."
Brown believed the result showed how football was growing in the region — especially for women.
The work Southland Football had been carrying out in the region as well this year’s Fifa Women’s Football World Cup were among the driving factors for the increase in the popularity of the sport, she said.
"The World Cup sort of had an influence, you know? The girls were talking about and seeing some role models, like their new idols essentially.
"And then I think it's just that a lot of regions are growing, as well. There seems to be a generation where they've got a lot of talented players from all across Southland which was really special."
While Southland has no girls-only team at this stage, this was something Southland football would love to have soon, she said.
To help with that, they would be launching a programme for girls to learn football skills as well as helping them to develop positive actions such as making new friends, she said.
Brown said The Fantails programme was designed for girls aged 4-12 years, regardless of their ability to try football for the first time or continue playing in a fun way and would run every Friday from October 20 to December 8.
"To have our girls perform against some really big clubs, just shows that we can play football and you don’t have to be living in the big centres to do it.
"So if girls would like to start playing football, we really encourage that."
