The 1965 Chatham Cup was the 38th annual nationwide knockout football competition in New Zealand. The competition was run on a regional basis, with 18 regional associations holding separate qualification rounds. The winners of each of these qualification tournaments, along with the second-placed team from Auckland, qualified for the competition proper. In all, 104 teams took part in the competition, 33 from the South Island and 71 from the North Island. Note: Different sources record different numbers for the rounds of this competition, with some confusion caused by differing numbers of rounds in regional qualification.