The New Zealand national football team represents New Zealand in international association football. The team is controlled by the governing body for football in New Zealand New Zealand Football (NZF), which is currently a member of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). The team's official nickname is the All Whites.
New Zealand is a five-time OFC champion. 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.
Because most New Zealand football clubs are semi-professional rather than fully professional, most top New Zealand footballers play abroad for clubs in Europe, the United States, Canada and in the Australian A-League.
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History
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 1921, 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.
Recent success
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 U.S. 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 programs in the U.S. A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPNsoccernet 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 U.S. 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. The tournament also featured one of New Zealand's most notable results, a 1-1 draw with the then world champions Italy. New Zealand drew their other two pool games with Slovakia and Paraguay and inevitably finished above Italy, who placed last, in the group. New Zealand drew all three games and finished third in their group.
2018 FIFA World Cup qualification
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. The All Whites record since that time is 8 wins, 5 draws and 4 losses. This includes defeating Oman, who were ranked 67 places higher at 92nd place in the FIFA World Rankings, in a 1-0 victory.
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 sees 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 sees 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 88 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.
The All Whites Ranked 95th in the world headed into 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup as the lowest ranked team in the tournament. The All Whites were beaten 2-0 by hosts Russia, before 2-1 defeat at the hands of Mexico and 4-0 loss to Portugal. New Zealand also succumbed to 1-0 defeats against both Northern Ireland and Belarus as part of their preparations for the tournament. New Zealand fell 27 places to 122nd in the FIFA rankings after finishing the Confederations Cup.
Supporters
The supporters of the New Zealand national team are known as the 'White Noise', a play on the All Whites nickname.
Rivalries
New Zealand's long time rivals are Trans-Tasman neighbors 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.
New Zealand Soccer Video
Coaching staff
Players
For all past and present players who have appeared for the national team, see New Zealand national team players.
Current squad
The following 16 players were called up for the World Cup qualifying match vs Solomon Islands on 5 September 2017.
Caps and goals updated as of 5 September 2017 after the game against Solomon Islands.
Recent call-ups
The following players have also been called up to represent New Zealand in the last 12 months:
Results and fixtures
For all past match results of the national team, see the team's 1922-69 results page, 1970-99 results page and 2000-present results page.
2016
2017
Records
Most capped players
Caps and goals updated as June 24, 2017.
Top goalscorers
Players in bold still active at international level.
Competitive record
For the all-time record of the national team against opposing nations, see the team's all-time record page.
FIFA World Cup
FIFA Confederations Cup
OFC Nations Cup
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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