Ben Waine

Ben Waine

Personal information
Full name	Benjamin Peter Waine [1]
Date of birth	(2001-06-11) 11 June 2001 (age 23) [1]
Place of birth	Wellington, New Zealand
Height	1.79 m (5 ft 10 in) [1]
Position(s)	Forward
Team information
Current team	Mansfield Town (on loan from Plymouth Argyle)
Number	32
Youth career
–2018	Wellington Phoenix
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2017–2020	Wellington Phoenix Reserves	38	(15)
2018–2022	Wellington Phoenix	73	(17)
2023–	Plymouth Argyle	43	(3)
2024–	→ Mansfield Town (loan)	9	(1)
International career‡
2019	New Zealand U20	6	(2)
2019–	New Zealand U23	10	(8)
2022–	New Zealand	22	(8)
Medal record Men's football Representing   New Zealand OFC Nations Cup Winner 2024 Fiji/Vanuatu
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19 November 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 18 November 2024

Benjamin Peter Waine (born 11 June 2001) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a forward for EFL League One side Mansfield Town, on loan from EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle and the New Zealand national team.

Club career

Wellington Phoenix

On 7 August 2018, Waine made his debut for the senior side in their FFA Cup loss to Bentleigh Greens. ^[2]

After his debut for the Phoenix in the FFA, Waine played most of his games for the Wellington Phoenix Reserves in the ISPS Handa Premiership scoring a team high of 8 goals, before getting called up to the senior team again in March 2019 ^[3]

On 30 March 2019, Waine made his professional debut for the Wellington Phoenix coming on as a substitute in their 4–1 win over the Newcastle Jets. ^[4]

On 28 April 2019, Waine made his first start for the Phoenix in a 5–0 loss to the Perth Glory. ^[5]

On 21 June 2019, Waine signed a two-year contract with the Phoenix. The first year being a scholarship deal, with the second year moving him onto a full-time contract. ^[6] Just before the 2019–20 season kicked off, the first year of this contract was upgraded to full-time. ^[7]

On 3 November 2019, Waine scored his first professional goal off the bench in Wellington's 3–2 loss to Melbourne City, passing Liberato Cacace to become the youngest goalscorer in the club's history at 18 years and 145 days. ^[8]

Plymouth Argyle

On 30 December 2022, Waine agreed to join League One leaders Plymouth Argyle for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year deal, the transfer going through on 1 January when the transfer window opened. ^[9]

Mansfield Town (loan)

On 30 August 2024, Waine joined League One side Mansfield Town on a season-long loan in order to gain some more game time, having played as a substitute on 33 of his 43 occasions in the previous season. ^{[10] [11]}

International career

New Zealand U-20s

On 16 April 2019, Waine was selected as one of the 21 players for the New Zealand U-20 who played at the 2019 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Poland. ^[12] He scored a brace in their opening match against Honduras on 24 May. He made two further appearances in the tournament, starting in both New Zealand's 2–0 victory over Norway and the 1–1 loss on penalties to Colombia in the Round of 16.

New Zealand U-23s

In September, Waine was a member of the New Zealand U-23 team, known as the "Oly-Whites", who took part in the 2019 OFC Men's Olympic Qualifying Tournament. ^{[13] [14]} He was second top goal scorer for the tournament with 8 goals including one in the final, helping New Zealand to qualify for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. ^{[15] [16]}

New Zealand

Waine made his international debut on 18 March 2022, including scoring his first international goal for New Zealand in their World Cup qualification match against Papua New Guinea, winning the game 1–0. ^{[17] [18]}

Personal life

Waine attended school at Hutt International Boys' School in Upper Hutt where he was the Junior school captain in 2019. ^[3]

Waine is a dual citizen of New Zealand and the United Kingdom, as his parents are both from England. ^[19]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played 3 November 2024

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			Cup		League Cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Wellington Phoenix Reserves	2017–18 [20]	NZFC	16	0	—		—		—		16	0
	2018–19 [20]		17	8	—		—		—		17	8
	2019–20 [20]		5	7	—		—		—		5	7
	Total		38	15	—		—		—		38	15
Wellington Phoenix	2018–19 [21]	A-League	3	0	1 [a]	0	—		—		4	0
	2019–20 [22]		15	1	1 [a]	0	—		—		16	1
	2020–21 [23]		14	7	—		—		—		14	7
	2021–22 [24]		25	6	4 [a]	2	—		—		29	8
	2022–23 [25]		8	3	1 [a]	0	—		—		9	3
	Total		65	17	7	2	—		—		72	19
Plymouth Argyle	2022–23 [26]	League One	10	1	0	0	0	0	1 [b]	1	11	2
	2023–24 [27]	Championship	32	2	0	0	2	3	0	0	34	5
	2024–25		1	0	0	0	1	1	0	0	2	1
	Total		43	3	0	0	3	4	1	1	47	8
Mansfield Town (loan)	2024–25	League One	5	1	1	1	0	0	1 [b]	0	7	2
	Total		5	1	1	1	0	0	1	0	7	2
Career total			137	36	8	3	1	2	3	2	144	43

1. Appearances in FFA Cup
2. Appearances in EFL Trophy

International

As of match played 18 November 2024.

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National Team	Year	Apps	Goals
New Zealand	2022	7	1
	2023	4	0
	2024	11	7
Total		22	8
Total		30	18

International goals

Scores and results list the New Zealand goal tally first.

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1.	17 March 2022	Qatar SC Stadium, Doha, Qatar	Papua New Guinea	1–0	1–0	2022 FIFA World Cup qualification
2.	18 June 2024	VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu	Solomon Islands	1–0	3–0	2024 OFC Nations Cup
3.				2–0
4.	27 June 2024	VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu	Tahiti	2–0	5–0	2024 OFC Nations Cup
5.				4–0
6.	10 September 2024	TQL Stadium, Cincinnati, United States	United States	1–1	1–1	Friendly
7.	11 October 2024	VFF Freshwater Stadium, Port Vila, Vanuatu	Tahiti	3–0	3–0	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification
8.	18 November 2024	Mount Smart Stadium, Auckland, New Zealand	Samoa	8–0	8–0	2026 FIFA World Cup qualification

Honours

Plymouth Argyle

• EFL League One: 2022–23 ^[28]
• EFL Trophy runner-up: 2022–23 ^[29]

New Zealand

• OFC Nations Cup: 2024

References

1. "Men's Olympic Football Tournament Paris 2024: Squad list" (PDF). FIFA . 24 July 2024. p. 11. Retrieved 25 July 2024.
2. Hyslop, Liam (7 August 2018). "Wellington Phoenix fall to 10-man NPL team Bentleigh Greens in FFA Cup". Stuff.
3. Rollo, Phillip (16 March 2019). "Phoenix coach promotes Wellington schoolboy Ben Waine". Stuff . Retrieved 1 April 2019.
4. Rollo, Phillip (31 March 2019). "Possible season-ending injury to Louis Fenton sours Wellington Phoenix win". Stuff . Retrieved 1 April 2019.
5. Rollo, Phillip (28 April 2019). "Wellington Phoenix suffer biggest defeat under coach Mark Rudan". Stuff . Retrieved 5 October 2019.
6. Rollo, Phillip (21 June 2019). "Wellington Phoenix lock in hometown product Ben Waine on two-year deal". Stuff.
7. Rollo, Phillip (11 October 2019). "Ben Waine earns contract upgrade as Wellington Phoenix hit the magic 20 mark". Stuff.
8. Rollo, Phillip (3 November 2019). "Wellington Phoenix fume over handball howler in Melbourne City defeat". Stuff.
9. "Ben Waine Signs". www.pafc.co.uk. 30 December 2022. Retrieved 31 December 2022.
10. "Ben Waine: Mansfield Town sign Plymouth Argyle forward on loan". BBC Sport. 30 August 2024. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
11. "Ben Waine | Football Stats | Plymouth Argyle | Season 2023/2024 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
12. "Top talent named in U-20 squad". New Zealand Football . Archived from the original on 16 April 2019. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
13. "Ben Waine focussed on fulfilling Olympic dream". Oceania Football Confederation . 3 October 2019. Retrieved 3 October 2019.
14. Voerman, Andrew (18 September 2019). "OlyWhites make late change as Callum McCowatt stays with Wellington Phoenix". Stuff.
15. "New Zealand U-23 secure Olympic qualification". Oceania Football Confederation . Archived from the original on 6 October 2019. Retrieved 5 October 2019.
16. Voerman, Andrew (5 October 2019). "OlyWhites ease past Solomon Islands to book their place at the Tokyo Olympics". Stuff.
17. Rollo, Phillip (18 March 2022). "Ben Waine saves All Whites' blushes with late goal against Papua New Guinea". Stuff .
18. Burgess, Michael. "Untidy All Whites claim first win of World Cup qualifying tournament". NZ Herald.
19. Errington, Chris (3 January 2023). "The story behind Ben Waine and his move to Argyle. In his spare time he enjoys driving monster trucks". PlymouthLive. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
20. "Ben Waine". Soccerway. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
21. "Games played by Ben Waine in 2018–19". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
22. "Games played by Ben Waine in 2019–20". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
23. "Games played by Ben Waine in 2020–21". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 1 March 2021.
24. "Games played by Ben Waine in 2021–22". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
25. "Games played by Ben Waine in 2022–23". Ultimate A-League. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
26. "Ben Waine | Football Stats | Plymouth Argyle | Season 2022/2023 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
27. "Ben Waine | Football Stats | Plymouth Argyle | Age 22 | Soccer Base". www.soccerbase.com. Retrieved 14 August 2023.
28. "Plymouth beat Port Vale to win League One title". BBC Sport. Retrieved 10 May 2023.
29. Pilnick, Brent (2 April 2023). "Bolton crush Plymouth to win Papa Johns Trophy". BBC Sport. Retrieved 4 August 2023.

External links

• Ben Waine at Soccerway