NZF were rewarded for a memorable 2010, with the All Whites picking up the Team of the Year and Supreme Halberg Award while Ricki Herbert earned Coach of the Year and Winston Reid’s stoppage time equaliser against Slovakia at the FIFA World Cup won the public vote for Favourite Sporting Moment of the year.
President Chung believes NZF and Ricki Herbert’s All Whites are well deserving of the recognition.
“On behalf of the OFC Executive Committee I would like to congratulate New Zealand Football for winning these awards,” said President Chung.
“New Zealand Football continue to be successful both on and off the field thanks in large part to the exemplary leadership of Chairman Frank van Hattum, Fred de Jong, Michael Glading and others. The recent achievements by the All Whites have had a positive impact on OFC as a Confederation, providing inspiration to other New Zealand teams and Pacific Island nations to have similar success on the world stage,” he said.
“This impressive haul at the prestigious Halberg Awards night is a credit to all those who have worked hard on the field and behind the scenes so I congratulate again the Chairman, CEO, staff, coaches, management, sponsors, partners, players and volunteers.”
President Chung says there is still plenty of football to look forward to in 2011 with New Zealand’s U-17 team the Young All Whites having booked their place at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Mexico. Meanwhile the OFC Beach Soccer Championship (February), OFC U-20 Championship (April), O-League Final (April) and OFC Futsal Championship (May) will provide further opportunities for Oceania teams to qualify for FIFA World Cup Finals.
The road to the 2014 FIFA World Cup also begins this year with the Pacific Games in New Caledonia (August/September) acting as the first stage of qualifying for Brazil.