Among New Zealand adults in 2000, it was the 12th most participated in sport, at seven percent.[2] Among boys ages 5–17, it was the most participated in sport, with a 17 percent participation rate; among girls, it ranks fifth in popularity at six percent, behind swimming, netball, horse riding, and tennis.[2]
Administration
Six regional federations participate in the administration and promotion of the sport in New Zealand:
The first Chatham Cup final was played in October 1923, when Seacliff from Otago defeated Wellington YMCA 4–0. The Chatham Cup has become New Zealand football's longest-running club competition.[3]
New Zealand's senior men's side, the All Whites, has qualified twice for the FIFA World Cup. In 1982 the qualification was notable in that New Zealand played more matches (15) and traveled further (55,000 miles) than any other team to qualify.[8] Grouped with Brazil, Scotland and the USSR, New Zealand did not win any of their matches.[9] They also qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa[10] having far more success on the field than in 1982. The All Whites drew 1–1 with Slovakia and defending championItaly and had a 0–0 draw with Paraguay. They were the only team to remain undefeated in the competition.[11]
New Zealand also participated in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, also in South Africa. They were placed in Group A with Iraq, South Africa, and Spain. New Zealand lost their opening match 0–5 against Spain before losing 0–2 to South Africa.[12] However, the team earned New Zealand's first competition point at a FIFA Confederations Cup after drawing 0–0 with Iraq.[13]
New Zealand's under-23 team, the "Oly-Whites", qualified for their first Olympic Games appearance in 2008 for the Beijing Summer Olympics. The team have then gone on to also play at the 2012 and 2020 Summer Olympics.
The New Zealand's women's team, nicknamed the Football Ferns, also qualified for their first Olympic appearance in 2008 and at each games since in 2012, 2016 and 2020. In addition to this, the Football Ferns have participated in the FIFA Women's World Cup qualifying for the first one in 1991. Then again in 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. They will jointly host the 2023 with Australia. New Zealand won the 1975 AFC Women's Championship, defeating Thailand 3–1 in Hong Kong.
Wellington Phoenix vs Melbourne Victory game at the Westpac Trust Stadium in August 2007.
Fully professional football began in 1999 with the induction of the Auckland-based Football Kingz FC into Australia's National Soccer League (NSL). Despite having a record of poor attendances, Auckland was included in the A-League competition when the NSL was scrapped in favour of an eight-franchise A-League. The Kingz were re-branded as New Zealand Knights FC but still only managed to draw small crowds. In their final season, the average attendance for the Knights was 3,014, well below the average of the next lowest attracting team—Perth Glory averaging 7,671.
During the later stages of the 2006–07 season, Football Federation Australia (FFA) removed the New Zealand Knights's (NZK) A-League licence due to the club's financial and administrative problems and poor on-field performance. After the resignation of the NZK board, the FFA transferred the licence to New Zealand Soccer for them to administrate the rest of the club's season before its subsequent dissolution.
After these events, the FFA granted a provisional competition licence for New Zealand Soccer to sub-let to a suitable, New Zealand-based team to take the place left vacant by the defunct Knights. After much delay from both the FFA and NZS, Wellington property magnate Terry Serepisos was selected as the owner of the new franchise. The team, eventually named Wellington Phoenix FC, would be based at Wellington's Westpac Stadium and coached by Ricki Herbert. Herbert also held the responsibility of coaching the New Zealand national team. With only three months to prepare, the Phoenix faced a first season without a proper pre-season and with a much smaller talent pool to recruit from.
The first game in Phoenix history, a 2–2 draw with then-reigning champion Melbourne Victory, set a new national record for attendance at a competitive football fixture at 14,421.[citation needed] The cumulative attendance over the first three home matches exceeded that of the Knights entire cumulative attendance from both years of their existence. The national attendance record was later exceeded a second time, with 18,345 turning out for a 1–2 loss against Adelaide United. The Phoenix followed this match with an exhibition friendly against Los Angeles Galaxy, including their marquee player David Beckham. The attendance from this match of 31,853 set a new national record for attendance at any football match which was only broken by the game the national team played with Bahrain to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.[16]
Wellington finished its first season last in the league on goal differential, having equal points with seventh-placed Perth Glory, and only earned one more ladder point than the Knights had the previous season. Despite this, Phoenix was declared the success story of the 2007–08 season by the FFA.[citation needed]
On 7 March 2010 a new attendance record for a club football fixture was set in Wellington during play-off match against Newcastle Jets. Phoenix won 3–1 in the extra time in front of 32,792 fans.
The current national senior men's competition is the New Zealand National League which is a club based competition. The competition is contested by ten teams, with teams qualifying from their regional leagues. Four teams qualify from the Northern League, three qualify from the Central League, two qualify from the Southern League and the Wellington Phoenix Reserves are automatically given a spot each year.[17][18][19] The regional leagues runs from March through to September, with each league having a varying number of games. The Championship phase runs after the completion of the regional phase, with each team playing each other once, followed by a grand final. Each season, two clubs gain qualification to the OFC Champions League, the continental competition for the Oceania region.
The originally national senior men's football competition was the National Soccer League. The NSL was founded in 1970 and consisted of club based teams qualifying from their regional leagues. The NSL ceased to exist after the 2003 season, being replaced by the ISPS Handa Premiership, a professional/semi-professional franchise league which ran from 2004 to 2021.
The Women's National League was founded in 2004 and, unlike its male counterpart, the teams were run by the different regional federations. It has a brief hiatus in 2008 before returning in 2009 and including not only the regional federations but different team New Zealand Football Development teams run by New Zealand Football. In 2021, it went through another change, moving slowly to club based like the men's competition, starting with a Northern League where four club teams will qualify and play off with the regional federations representing Central, Capital, Mainland and Southern.
The Chatham Cup is a national knockout competition in the style of England's FA Cup. It is the oldest competition, having been contested since 1923. It is open only to clubs from the regional winter competitions - Wellington Phoenix FC are not eligible to compete. The competition runs alongside the winter club seasons, beginning in April and usually concluding in September.[20]
The Kate Sheppard Cup is the women's national club based knockout competition that was first played in 1994. Originally called the Women's Knockout Cup, it changed its name to its current one in 2018.[21]
Regional competition
Premier winter club competition is divided into four regional leagues:
The Northern League, consisting of teams from Federations One (North Harbour/West Auckland), Two (Auckland) and Three (Waikato/Bay of Plenty)
The Central League, consisting of teams from Federations Four (Central North Island) and Five (Greater Wellington)
The Capital Football W-League, is a Women's Football league consisting of teams from Federations Four (Central North Island) and Five (Greater Wellington)
The New Zealand men's national football team represents New Zealand in men's international football competitions. The team is governed by the governing body for football in New Zealand, New Zealand Football (NZF), which is currently a member of FIFA and the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The team's official nickname is the All Whites.
Wellington Regional Stadium is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is 48,000 m2 (520,000 sq ft).
New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand men's national football team, the national junior and women's teams, the men's and women's national Leagues New Zealand National League, National Women's League, and a number of tournaments, including the Chatham Cup and Kate Sheppard Cup. A New Zealand team, Wellington Phoenix FC who plays in the Australian A-League also comes under New Zealand Football jurisdiction.
Jeffrey Campbell is a New Zealand football player, who played for New Zealand and professionally for the Football Kingz. He ended his career in 2017 playing for Takapuna AFC. He has represented his country at U20, U23 and senior levels.
Michael Ryan McGlinchey is a New Zealand international footballer who plays for Weston Bears in the National Premier Leagues.
Eastern Suburbs Association Football Club is an association football club based in the suburb of Kohimarama in Auckland, New Zealand. The club competes in the Northern League.
Birkenhead United AFC is an amateur football club based in Beach Haven, on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. They currently compete in the Northern League.
Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 season after its formation in March 2007, by New Zealand Football to replace New Zealand Knights as a New Zealand-based club in the Australian A-League competition. Since 2011, the club has been owned by Wellnix Inc, a company itself owned by seven Wellington businessmen.
Konstantinos "Kosta" Barbarouses is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays in Australia's A-League Men for Wellington Phoenix FC.
Roy Krishna is a Fijian professional footballer who plays as a striker for Indian Super League club Odisha and the Fiji national team, which he captains. He is the most-capped and highest-scoring Fijian footballer of all time. In 2022, he became the first player to have ever reached 50 caps for the Fiji national team.
Annalie Antonia Longo is an association football player who plays for Wellington Phoenix in the A-League Women and represents New Zealand at international level. She has played for Sydney FC and Melbourne Victory in the Australian W-League. From her time in the W-League with Melbourne Victory, Longo is dubbed the Kiwi Messi by the fans for her ability on the ball and goalscoring prowess.
The National League is the top-level women's football league in New Zealand. The teams were run by regional federations until 2021, when New Zealand Football started to move to club-based football.
The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by women's national teams and organised by FIFA. The tournament, which took place from 20 July to 20 August 2023, was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. It was the first FIFA Women's World Cup with more than one host nation, as well as the first World Cup to be held across multiple confederations, as Australia is in the Asian confederation, while New Zealand is in the Oceanian confederation. It was also the first Women's World Cup to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.
Desmond Buckingham is an English professional football manager who is currently the head coach of League One club Oxford United.
Paige Therese Satchell is a footballer from New Zealand who plays for the London City Lionesses in the Women's Championship. She has played for the New Zealand national team in the under-17, under-20, and senior levels, including at the 2023 World Cup. She was a traveling reserve for the New Zealand team at the 2016 Summer Olympics and was a squad member for New Zealand at the 2020 Summer Olympics.
Liberato Gianpaolo Cacace is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Serie A club Empoli and the New Zealand national team.
Oliver "Oli" Sail is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Perth Glory in the A-League. He also has represented the New Zealand national football team.
Anna Jessica Leat is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for English Women's Super League club Aston Villa and the New Zealand women's national team.
Claudia Mary Bunge is a New Zealand footballer who currently plays for HB Køge. She has represented New Zealand at both age group and senior international level.
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↑ "Playing in the finals". NZ History. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. 18 February 2013. Archived from the original on 8 August 2021. Retrieved 8 August 2021.
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