About New Zealand Football

Translating the huge popularity of the game at youth level to success at the senior level is one of the main goals for New Zealand Football which is set to herald in a newly revamped franchise-based national league in 2004.

The technical direction of the game has been boosted with the arrival of englishman Paul Smalley and from an administrative perspective, the association has been awarded financial assistance under the FIFA goal programme. Coupled with the recent announcement of a lucrative sponsorship deal with sports apparel giants Nike and progress off the field has been tremendous.

The headquarters was at the end of 2003 shifted to their base at North Harbour Stadium where it hosted the Group B Olympic men's qualifiers in January.

After a whirlwind period which saw the national team win the 2002 OFC Nations Cup and qualify for last year's Confederations Cup and AFC-OFC Challenge Cup series, the focus has now shifted back to development and establishing systems and pathways for the next generation of All Whites and women's national representatives to be discovered.

The immediate priority for 2004 is preparing the All Whites for its defence of the OFC Nations Cup and qualification for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Its best players are spread around the globe with the majority based in England and in the USA. New Zealand successfully experimented several promising up and comers against Iran last October and it is also certain some of the U-23 squad will be selected for the All Whites after a confident display in the Olympic qualifying playoff series.

The new national league is designed to improve the standard of football with the smaller number of franchise-based teams. It is hoped the profile of the game will help stem the drain of the country's talent to overseas clubs which has weakened the existing national league.

Grass-roots programmes such as Small Whites has assisted in strengthening youth numbers with high profile internationals such as current All Whites captain Ryan Nelsen used as role models.

New Zealand's best international results since 2002 have been the All Whites win over Australia in Auckland to take out the Nations Cup and draws against Scotland and Australia (U-23 level).

National League Champs
2000: Napier City Rovers
2001: Central United
2002: Miramar Rangers
2003: Miramar Rangers
2004-2005: Auckland City FC
2005-2006: Auckland City FC

2006-2007: Auckland City FC