New Zealand Men's National Football Team

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 (Māori: Ōmā).

New Zealand

Nickname(s)	All Whites
Association	New Zealand Football (NZF)
Confederation	OFC (Oceania)
Head coach	Darren Bazeley
Captain	Chris Wood
Most caps	Ivan Vicelich (88)
Top scorer	Chris Wood (34)
Home stadium	Various
FIFA code	NZL
First colours Second colours
FIFA ranking
Current	104 1 (4 April 2024)
Highest	47 (August 2002)
Lowest	161 (April–May 2016)
First international
New Zealand 3–1 Australia  (Dunedin, New Zealand; 17 June 1922)
Biggest win
New Zealand 13–0 Fiji  (Auckland, New Zealand; 16 August 1981)
Biggest defeat
New Zealand 0–10 Australia  (Wellington, New Zealand; 11 July 1936)
World Cup
Appearances	2 (first in 1982)
Best result	Group stage (1982 and 2010)
OFC Nations Cup
Appearances	10 (first in 1973)
Best result	Champions (1973, 1998, 2002, 2008 and 2016)
FIFA Confederations Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1999)
Best result	Group stage (1999, 2003, 2009 and 2017)
Medal record Men's football OFC Nations Cup 1973 New Zealand Team 1998 Australia Team 2002 New Zealand Team 2008 No Host Team 2016 Papua New Guinea Team 2000 Tahiti Team 1996 No Host Team 2004 Australia Team 2012 Solomon Islands Team AFC–OFC Challenge Cup 2003 Iran Team
Website	www.nzfootball.co.nz

The team represented New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup tournaments in 1982 and 2010, and the FIFA Confederations Cup tournaments in 1999, 2003, 2009, and 2017. New Zealand is a five-time OFC Nations Cup champion. New Zealand was the only unbeaten country in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, drawing all three group stage games; nevertheless, they were eliminated in the group stage.

Early years

 

New Zealand's first international football match was played in Dunedin at the old Caledonian Ground on 23 July 1904 against a team representing New South Wales. New Zealand lost by the game's only goal, but drew with the same team 3–3 in a game at Athletic Park, Wellington seven days later. The following year the team played a Wellington representative side on 10 June before embarking on a tour of Australia, during which they played eleven representative sides, including three "test matches" against New South Wales. Of these three matches they won one, lost one, and drew one.

A New Zealand national team did not play again until 1922, when New Zealand played three official full internationals against Australia, played at Carisbrook in Dunedin, Athletic Park in Wellington, and Auckland Domain. The results were two 3–1 wins to New Zealand and a 1–1 draw in Wellington. In 1927, Canada became the second team to play in New Zealand as they played in four official matches with a win and a draw.

New Zealand would become one of the founder members of the Oceania Football Confederation in 1966 which was founded between Charlie Dempsey and his Australian colleague Jim Bayutti in founding the federation.

Success for España '82

 

At the beginning of the 1980s, the All Whites were on a good run of consecutive victories, but with the organisation of the 1980 Oceania Cup in New Caledonia, New Zealand ended up having a very disastrous campaign, losing 1–3 and 0–4 for Tahiti and Fiji respectively, and in the last round without a possible qualification for the final, they beat the Solomon Islands by a large score of 6–1. And mainly due to the not very good campaign in this year's Merdeka Tournament, the team did not have a good reputation, according to Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, up until the 1980s "the high visibility of British migrants in the All Whites, as well as in the game's administration and domestic club scene, attracted negative comments". Even so, the team managed to advance to the final phase of the qualifiers for the 1982 World Cup, having a practically perfect campaign without losing a match, highlighted by the 3–3 draw and the 1–0 victory against their team rival Australia, and a great victory against Fiji by the score of 13–0 in the last round to guarantee a place in the next phase. For the last phase, the All Whites competed hard against China PR, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, and thanks to a large victory against the Saudis (5–0), they had to compete in a play-off match against the Chinese due to the draw of points and on goal difference, and with decisive goals from Steve Wooddin and Wynton Rufer, they won 2–1, and achieved a historic classification for España '82. In their 1982 FIFA World Cup campaign, they lost all three games conceding 12 goals and scoring just 2. Of the 22-man squad, 11 members were born in the United Kingdom, including seven in England alone. This included the captain Steve Sumner and striker Steve Wooddin, who had both played club football in England before immigrating. However, over the following decades the composition of the national squad changed and "the face of football became increasingly Kiwi".

Consolidation in Oceania

 

Since the 1990s, United States college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players. This influence began when former Scotland international Bobby Clark returned to the US after his 1994–96 stint as New Zealand head coach to take the head coaching job at Stanford University (he now holds the same position at Notre Dame). Clark began recruiting in New Zealand, and former New Zealand national players Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott played for him at Stanford. The trend that Clark started has continued to the present; more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I men's programmes in the US. A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPN soccernet journalist Brent Latham speculated in a March 2010 story that New Zealand's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad could have more MLS players than the US squad. However, Latham's speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup. New Zealand formerly competed against Australia for top honours in the OFC. However, after Australia left to join the AFC in 2006, New Zealand were left as the only seeded team in the OFC. New Zealand qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup though exited the competition after the first round despite being the only team not to lose a game during the tournament because they drew 1–1 vs defending champions Italy, Slovakia and 0–0 vs Paraguay while eventual champions Spain lost to Switzerland. New Zealand notably finished above Italy in their group as Italy lost to Slovakia in their final group match and finished with two points compared to New Zealand's three.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	Slovakia	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
3	New Zealand	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
4	Italy	3	0	2	1	4	5	−1	2

Horror in Honiara and failures towards the World Cup

After a very positive cycle for the All Whites, the team competed for the 2012 OFC Nations Cup as big favourites to win the title, doing well in the group stage, winning the first two games by slim scores (1–0 and 2–1), and a 1–1 draw against the Mandates Salomonense, however in the next phase, they faced New Caledonia in the semi-final, where they suffered a shameful defeat by 0–2, with goals from Bertrand Kaï in the 60th minute, and Georges Gope-Fenepej in the 90+2 minute to seal the defeat which was called "Horror in Honiara". Even beating the Solomon Islands in the play-off for third place, this did not prevent the dismissal of the coach at the time Ricki Herbert, where after this embarrassing defeat, they would also be eliminated in the intercontinental play-off for the 2014 World Cup for Mexico by the score of 3–9 on aggregate.

 

In August 2014, Anthony Hudson was appointed manager of the All Whites. Hudson's first game in charge of the national team was a 3–1 defeat away to Uzbekistan in September 2014. As a result of the All Whites playing "just three matches" in the previous year, which was "the least of any country in world football", and having "seven months without a match" the All Whites dropped to 161 in the FIFA world rankings. The All Whites went on to win the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, winning four matches with the final being won via a penalty shootout after a 0–0 draw against Papua New Guinea, conceding only 1 goal, from a penalty, in the process. New Zealand's victory saw them crowned Oceania champions making New Zealand the most successful national team in the competition's history, having won the tournament five times, and also saw them qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The All Whites moved up 54 places in the world rankings in July and achieved 88th in the FIFA world rankings, the highest ranking in three years, on the back of the OFC Nations Cup victory that qualified them for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

After a disappointing tournament at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup where they finished bottom of their group which featured Russia, Mexico and Portugal, the national team fell 27 places to 122nd. In September 2017, New Zealand won the OFC Final against the Solomon Islands with an aggregate score of 8–3 to qualify for the inter-continental play-off qualifier against Peru, the fifth-ranked nation from the South America's qualifiers. After holding Peru off in the first leg, they would go to lose 2–0 in the second leg to be eliminated from competition as Peru became the last team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Failure for the 2022 World Cup

After the All Whites' stoppage for almost two years, they returned to play friendlies (in 2021), obtaining positive results in their three (four counting against Algeria A') games played in that year. With the complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup had to be held in the host country itself, Qatar, where the Kiwis managed to win all the games, as well as breaking artillery records, when the forward Chris Wood, became the All Whites' top scorer, after scoring twice against Fiji, surpassing the previous record holder, Vaughan Coveny.

 

With the continental victory, they qualified for the inter-confederation play-offs, where they disputed the vacancy against Costa Rica. They started by conceding a goal in the 3rd minute of the game to Joel Campbell, but New Zealand began to pressure the game a lot, and in the 39th minute of the game, Chris Wood scored a goal after a bad kick by Yeltsin Tejeda. However, his goal was disallowed when the video assistant referee (VAR) showed that Matthew Garbett had fouled Óscar Duarte before the goal. With the final whistle of the game, the New Zealanders failed to qualify for the cup, which was their third consecutive elimination in the inter-confederation play-offs. They were eliminated by Mexico in 2014, by Peru in 2018, and by Costa Rica in this 2022 edition. After the qualifiers, the All Whites played a home and away series against their rivals Socceroos to mark the 100th anniversary of the first meeting between the two nations, which was first played in Dunedin in 1922.

Kit

New Zealand's traditional home colours are white with a black trim, while its away kits are usually reversed, featuring black with a white trim. This reversal of the colour scheme by New Zealand's football team is due to the fact that black was traditionally reserved for referees by FIFA.

 

Wiki Commons has media related to New Zealand national football team kits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New Zealand's first national kit, 1922

Kit suppliers

Nickname

During the qualification for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, the team appeared for the first time in an all white uniform against Taiwan in 1981. This led a commentator to dub them the "All Whites", a play on the traditional name "All Blacks" used for the national rugby team. The name stuck, and was popularised in the song "Marching off to Spain" with its chant refrain "Kiwis! All Whites!". More recently, the nickname has been scrutinised by New Zealand Football due to its unintended racial overtones.

Rivalries

 

New Zealand's long time rivals are Trans-Tasman neighbours Australia. The two teams' history dates back to 1922, where they first met in both their international debuts. The rivalry between the Socceroos (Australia) and the All Whites (New Zealand) is part of a wider friendly rivalry between the geographical neighbours Australia and New Zealand, which applies not only to sport but to the culture of the two countries. The rivalry was intensified when Australia and New Zealand were both members of the OFC, regularly competing in OFC Nations Cup finals and in FIFA World Cup qualifications, where only one team from the OFC progressed to the World Cup. Since Australia left the OFC to join the AFC in 2006, competition between the two teams has been less frequent. However, the rivalry between the two teams is still strong, with the occasional match receiving much media and public attention. The rivalry extends to club football, with New Zealand's only fully professional team, the Wellington Phoenix, playing in the Australian A-League.

Supporters

 

The main supporters group of the New Zealand national team are known as the 'White Noise'. White Noise was formed in November 2007 with the supporters group of the Wellington Phoenix, 'Yellow Fever', rebranding themselves when the national sides play.

Home stadium

New Zealand does not have a dedicated national stadium, instead the team plays at different venues throughout the country for exhibition or tournament purposes. In recent years, major international matches have usually been rotated around various large grounds, including Sky Stadium in Wellington and North Harbour Stadium in Auckland. International matches have also been played at the Mount Smart Stadium and Eden Park in Auckland.

The following is a list of match results in the last 12 months, as well as any future matches that have been scheduled.

  Win   Draw   Loss   Fixture

2023

Sweden   v   New Zealand

16 June Friendly	Sweden	4–1	New Zealand	Solna, Sweden
19:00 UTC+1	Karlsson   39, 45' Quaison   44' Elanga   90+2'	Report	McCowatt   7'	Stadium: Friends Arena Attendance: 20,528 Referee: Craig Pawson (England)

Qatar   v   New Zealand

19 June Friendly	Qatar	0–1 (Abandoned)	New Zealand	Ritzing, Austria
		Report	Stamenic   17'	Stadium: Sonnensee Stadium
Note: Match was abandoned at halftime after Qatar winger, Yusuf Abdurisag, was alleged to have racially abused New Zealand centre-back, Michael Boxall.

New Zealand   v   DR Congo

13 October Friendly	New Zealand	1–1	DR Congo	Murcia, Spain
18:00 UTC+1	Wood   90+1' (pen.)	Report	Bakambu   46'	Stadium: Estadio Nueva Condomina

Australia   v   New Zealand

17 October Soccer Ashes	Australia	2–0	New Zealand	London, England
19:45 UTC+1	Souttar   13' Irvine   76'	Report		Stadium: Brentford Community Stadium Attendance: 5,761 Referee: Stuart Attwell (England)

Greece   v   New Zealand

17 November Friendly	Greece	2–0	New Zealand	Athens, Greece
19:00 UTC+2	Konstantelias   10' Giakoumakis   29'	Report		Stadium: Georgios Kamaras Stadium Attendance: 0 (behind closed doors) Referee: Luca Cibelli (Switzerland)

Republic of Ireland   v   New Zealand

21 November Friendly	Republic of Ireland	1–1	New Zealand	Dublin, Ireland
19:45 UTC+1	Idah   28'	Report	Garbett   59'	Stadium: Aviva Stadium Attendance: 26,517 Referee: Urs Schnyder (Switzerland)

2024

Egypt   v   New Zealand

22 March 2024 FIFA Series	Egypt	1–0	New Zealand	New Administrative Capital, Egypt
22:00 UTC+2	Mohamed   29' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: New Administrative Capital Stadium Attendance: 30,200 Referee: Clement Franklin Kpan (Ivory Coast)

New Zealand   v   Tunisia

26 March 2024 FIFA Series	New Zealand	0–0 (2–4 p)	Tunisia	Cairo, Egypt
22:00 UTC+2		Report		Stadium: Cairo International Stadium Referee: Ahmed El Ghandour (Egypt)
	Penalties
	Waine   Barbarouses   Just   Rufer		Ben Romdhane   Laïdouni   Abdi   Ghram

New Zealand   v   New Caledonia

15 June 2024 OFC Nations Cup	New Zealand	v	New Caledonia	Port Vila, Vanuatu
15:00 (UTC+11)				Stadium: VFF Freshwater Stadium

New Zealand   v   Solomon Islands

18 June 2024 OFC Nations Cup	New Zealand	v	Solomon Islands	Port Vila, Vanuatu
15:00 (UTC+11)				Stadium: VFF Freshwater Stadium

Vanuatu   v   New Zealand

21 June 2024 OFC Nations Cup	Vanuatu	v	New Zealand	Port Vila, Vanuatu
15:00 (UTC+11)				Stadium: VFF Freshwater Stadium

Mexico   v   New Zealand

7 September Friendly	Mexico	v	New Zealand	Pasadena, United States
				Stadium: Rose Bowl

New Zealand   v  

October 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	New Zealand	v		TBD
				Stadium: TBD

New Zealand   v  

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	New Zealand	v		TBD
				Stadium: TBD

New Zealand   v  

November 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification	New Zealand	v		TBD
				Stadium: TBD

For all past and present players who have appeared for the national team, see New Zealand men's national team players.

Current squad

The following is the squad for the FIFA Series between 22 and 26 March 2024.

Caps and goals updated as of 26 March 2024 after the match against the Tunisia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
1	1GK	Max Crocombe	(1993-08-12) 12 August 1993 (age 30)	6	0	Burton Albion
12	1GK	Alex Paulsen	(2002-07-04) 4 July 2002 (age 21)	0	0	Wellington Phoenix
22	1GK	Oliver Sail	(1996-01-13) 13 January 1996 (age 28)	9	0	Perth Glory
2	2DF	Dane Ingham	(1999-09-08) 8 September 1999 (age 24)	14	0	Newcastle Jets
3	2DF	Lukas Kelly-Heald	(2005-03-18) 18 March 2005 (age 19)	0	0	Wellington Phoenix
4	2DF	Nando Pijnaker	(1999-02-25) 25 February 1999 (age 25)	18	0	Sligo Rovers
5	2DF	Michael Boxall	(1988-08-18) 18 August 1988 (age 35)	48	0	Minnesota United
13	2DF	Liberato Cacace	(2000-09-27) 27 September 2000 (age 23)	21	1	Empoli
15	2DF	Tommy Smith	(1990-03-31) 31 March 1990 (age 34)	52	2	Macarthur FC
16	2DF	Finn Surman	(2003-08-23) 23 August 2003 (age 20)	1	0	Wellington Phoenix
18	2DF	Tyler Bindon	(2005-01-27) 27 January 2005 (age 19)	6	0	Reading
6	3MF	Alex Rufer	(1996-06-12) 12 June 1996 (age 27)	9	0	Wellington Phoenix
7	3MF	Matthew Garbett	(2002-04-13) 13 April 2002 (age 22)	21	3	NAC Breda
8	3MF	Marko Stamenić	(2002-02-19) 19 February 2002 (age 22)	20	1	Red Star Belgrade
9	3MF	Clayton Lewis	(1997-02-12) 12 February 1997 (age 27)	27	1	Macarthur FC
10	3MF	Sarpreet Singh	(1999-02-20) 20 February 1999 (age 25)	14	1	Hansa Rostock
14	3MF	Ben Old	(2002-08-13) 13 August 2002 (age 21)	3	0	Wellington Phoenix
20	3MF	Callum McCowatt	(1999-04-30) 30 April 1999 (age 24)	18	2	Silkeborg
11	4FW	Elijah Just	(2000-05-01) 1 May 2000 (age 23)	22	1	Horsens
17	3MF	Kosta Barbarouses	(1990-02-19) 19 February 1990 (age 34)	56	4	Wellington Phoenix
19	4FW	Ben Waine	(2001-06-11) 11 June 2001 (age 22)	13	1	Plymouth Argyle
21	4FW	Max Mata	(2000-07-10) 10 July 2000 (age 23)	9	0	Sligo Rovers

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up within the last 12 months and remain eligible for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Michael Woud	(1999-01-16) 16 January 1999 (age 25)	6	0	unattached	v.   Republic of Ireland, 21 November 2023
GK	Nik Tzanev	(1996-12-23) 23 December 1996 (age 27)	2	0	AFC Wimbledon	v.   Australia, 17 October 2023
GK	Henry Gray	(2005-03-29) 29 March 2005 (age 19)	0	0	Ipswich Town	v.   Australia, 17 October 2023
GK	Stefan Marinovic	(1991-10-07) 7 October 1991 (age 32)	30	0	unattached	v.   China, 26 March 2023
GK	Kees Sims	(2003-03-27) 27 March 2003 (age 21)	0	0	GAIS	v.   China, 26 March 2023
DF	Tim Payne	(1994-01-10) 10 January 1994 (age 30)	35	2	Wellington Phoenix	v.   Egypt, 22 March 2024INJ
DF	James McGarry	(1998-04-09) 9 April 1998 (age 26)	1	0	Aberdeen	v.   DR Congo, 13 October 2023INJ
DF	Bill Tuiloma	(1995-03-27) 27 March 1995 (age 29)	39	4	Charlotte FC	v.   Australia, 17 October 2023
DF	Niko Kirwan	(1995-09-04) 4 September 1995 (age 28)	8	1	Padova	v.   Australia, 17 October 2023
DF	Francis de Vries	(1994-11-28) 28 November 1994 (age 29)	6	0	Eastern Suburbs	v.   Sweden, 17 June 2023
DF	Callan Elliot	(1999-07-07) 7 July 1999 (age 24)	3	0	Motherwell	v.   Sweden, 17 June 2023
DF	Deklan Wynne	(1996-11-20) 20 November 1996 (age 27)	15	0	unattached	v.   China, 26 March 2023
DF	Kyle Adams	(1996-11-20) 20 November 1996 (age 27)	1	0	Louisville City	v.   China, 26 March 2023
MF	Joe Bell	(1999-04-27) 27 April 1999 (age 24)	17	1	Viking	v.   Egypt, 22 March 2024INJ
MF	Matt Dibley-Dias	(2003-10-29) 29 October 2003 (age 20)	0	0	Fulham	v.   DR Congo, 13 October 2023INJ
MF	Marco Rojas	(1991-11-05) 5 November 1991 (age 32)	45	5	Brisbane Roar	v.   Sweden, 17 June 2023
MF	Cameron Howieson	(1994-12-22) 22 December 1994 (age 29)	16	0	Auckland City	v.   China, 26 March 2023
FW	Chris Wood	(1991-12-07) 7 December 1991 (age 32)	74	34	Nottingham Forest	v.   Egypt, 22 March 2024INJ
INJ Withdrew due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Retired from the national team SUS Serving suspension WD Player withdrew from the squad due to non-injury issue.

As of 21 November 2023
Players in bold are still active with New Zealand.

Most appearances

 

Top goalscorers

 

Most clean sheets

Centuriate goals

Rank	Date	Scorer	Opponent	Score
1st	17 June 1922	Ted Cook	Australia	3–1
100th	7 September 1958	unknown	New Caledonia	5–1
200th	20 March 1977	Keith Nelson	Taiwan	6–0
300th	14 December 1981	Wynton Rufer	Kuwait	2–2
400th	11 December 1988	Danny Halligan	Chinese Taipei	4–0
500th	11 June 2001	Chris Jackson	Solomon Islands	5–1
600th	4 June 2010	Rory Fallon	Slovenia	1–3
700th	30 March 2022	Chris Wood	Solomon Islands	5–0