Flying Kiwis – June 24
Tim Payne – Club Olimpia (Paraguayan Primera División)
The saying goes “No Payne, No Gain” therefore by logical extension Much Payne must equal Much Gain. Two years of contracted Tim Payne is a lot of Payne so when the biggest club in Paraguay, Club Olimpia, agreed a transfer for Tim Payne after the World Cup we can assume that there will be some pretty sweet Gain for the Wellington Phoenix bank account. Subject to a medical (which may be easier said than done after gassing himself out at the World Cup), compensated by an undisclosed fee (understood to be around NZ$500k), and it’s not clear how long of a contract he’ll get.
Club Olimpia are the most successful team in Paraguayan football. They’ve got one of those leagues that is split into Apertura and Clausura phases (opening and closing) and they just won the Apertura phase for 2026 – the 48th domestic championship in the club’s 123 year history. They also topped a Copa Sudamericano (the second tier continental cup) group that included Vasco da Gama (Brazil, Audax Italiano (Chile), and Barracas Central (Argentina)... meaning that T-Payne will have continental football to look forward to. Gonna assume that the three finger salute in the picture above is a reference to Olimpia having won the Copa Libertadores (South American Champions League) on three occasions, most recently in 2002 – and by winning the Apertura they’ve qualified back to the Copa Libs for next season.
This move has come about because of a bit of social media madness rather than pristine visionary scouting but the bottom line is that Tim Payne is going to be playing some elite footy in South America. That Scarso bloke must feel like the guy who discovered the Beatles about now.
Tim Payne: “I’ve always pushed myself to be the best footballer I can be. To test myself at the very top of South American football, the Copa Libertadores and the Copa Sudamericana, is one of the most incredible opportunities I could have asked for as a professional. Club Olimpia is one of the biggest clubs in South America, with an incredible history, passionate supporters and ambitions that match its stature. I am looking forward to rising to that challenge. Estoy listo. For our family, this is something really special. For my son, Brooklyn, growing up speaking Spanish like his mum did, immersing ourselves in my partner’s culture and her family’s world, that’s what makes this so much more than just a football move. Opportunities like this don’t come around often, and we’re not taking it for granted.”
In a completely beneficial coincidence, Payne’s partner has a Costa Rican mother and grew up speaking Spanish, hence this truly is a special opportunity for him and his family - he’s not just saying that because he’s got a social media manager now. The fact that he’s got that extra connection to football in the Americas – which Old Mate El Scarso could never have known – makes this even more providential. And while there is still some gimmickry involved in this move, with the Olimpia bossman already frothing at the commercial prospects, the opportunity for T-Payne is completely real. Olimpia are a club that’ll embrace a marketing ploy but they’re also not about to risk their ongoing success so we can trust that Olimpia have a plan for Payne beyond the social media buzz.
(Unlike the Argentinian club that tried to sign him: Deportivo Riestra admitted they were interested and it would have fitted their modus operandi because two years ago they club got in trouble when they registered a Twitch streamer and picked him to start a top division game, then subbed him off inside the first minute, all as a publicity stunt).
Rodrigo Nogués, Olimpia club president: “Obviously for us, we're not going to hide it, we're not going to deny it, the signing plays a significant role in our global brand consolidation strategy. The idea is to strengthen our brand globally.”
More from Señor Nogues: “We had been following everything that was happening around Tim Payne globally. We searched the internet for the contact of his agent at Transfermarkt, we sent him an email and he responded in less than 24 hours. When I spoke to [Payne], he had already done his research [on Club Olimpia]. The truth is that we didn’t need to convince him about Olimpia, though he did catch up on the club's current affairs. Luckily it was a quick process. We’ve already had a lot of impact in terms of brands. Sponsors of the club contacted us as well as new brands with whom we already have initial conversations. The brand exposure for Club Olimpia has been gigantic in terms of media and that will allow us to monetise. But while this is a signing that has an important marketing impact, it was analysed together with the sports management because we know that this transfer can give us a lot on the field.”
There were also clubs in Mexico and Uruguay reportedly after him, might have even had a bidding war for her services. You can see why Olimpia was the most attractive offer though. Payne will be the first New Zealander to play professionally in Paraguay and the first to feature (should he do so) in the Copa Sudamericana. Not the first to play Copa Libertadores, mind you. If he’s still around for that campaign then he’ll be following in the footsteps of his long-time All Whites teammate Marco Rojas who made two appearances for Colo-Colo of Chile in that competition a couple years ago. Played against Monagas (Venezuela) and Boca Juniors (Argentina).
Random fact: Club Olimpia have had very few players through the years who weren’t from the Americas but they did sign the Togo legend Emmanuel Adebayor back in 2020. He only played three games for them though. Got red carded in his third appearance for karate kicking a fella in the face and then never went back once covid hit.
Up Next: Let’s not lose focus on the World Cup, aye?
Gabi Rennie - Eskilstuna United (Swedish Damallsvenskan)
One of the things that stood out during the recent Football Ferns tour (where they lost to Haiti but drew with Morocco) was the lack of goals at club level within the squad. Katie Kitching was an exception but with Pia Vlok and Kelli Brown unavailable that didn’t leave much else (at least not at a pro level – Maggie Jenkins has been going nuts with the amateur goals, to be fair). Gabi Rennie had plenty of goals an assists last season as Eskilstuna United stormed their way to promotion in Sweden but since reaching the top flight she’s found her production limited against more talented opponents. Nine games without a goal or an assist to begin the season.
That’s to be expected, there’s always going to be an adjustment. The most valuable thing was that she continued to start games throughout that run – picked in the line-up for seven of those nine games and getting at least half an hour off the bench in the other two. Also valuable is that her team won three of their first four games to earn themselves some breathing room in the Damallsvenskan. They returned from the international break with a 1-1 draw against Malmö in which Rennie played 72 minutes and got a yellow card, extending their winless run to four games. But then they shrugged that off with a 2-0 victory against Piteå and would you look just who scored the second...
Was she shooting or crossing? Doesn’t really matter if it ends up in the net. One thing about Rennie’s season thus far is that she’s been unlucky, regularly swinging in crosses that her teammates haven’t been converting. So to stab one of those over the keeper and into the top far corner to get herself on the board, well she’s earned a bit of fortune like that off the back of her efforts. Michaela van den Bulk had scored earlier for Eskilstuna Utd and from there they saw it out for the win. Rennie played the full ninety and nearly scored another in the second half as a goalkeeping rebound flashed past her in the six yard box. That win takes Eskilstuna Utd up to fifth place with five wins, two draws, and three defeats upon their return to the top division. Very healthy stuff.
Four points adrift of them are Vittsjö GIK following a 2-1 win away against Brommapojkarna. Milly Clegg wasn’t involved in the first game back after internationals, sitting out a 1-1 draw with Kristianstads. She’d only gotten about a dozen minutes combined in her previous three substitute appearances before that too... but they gave her more than half an hour against BP and she was out there while both goals were scored in the comeback victory. Other than helping drag some defensive attention away from the penalty area for the second goal, there was nothing major about her involvements. But it’s good to see her getting a decent run and to see her team doing well while she’s out there. Clegg’s still looking for her first Damallsvenskan goal... though it’s not like she’s had much room having not even played 100 minutes yet. Positive signs from this game that she’s working her way into the equation.
Up Next: Thursday at 5am, AIK vs Eskilstuna (NZT)
Luis Toomey - Vancouver FC (Canadian Premier League)
Luis Toomey has had a strange career thus far. Hailing out of the Hawke’s Bay, he made some waves at the Wellington Phoenix Academy but couldn’t get into the first team. Went overseas for a quick bit in Finland and did alright, then returned to play for Eastern Suburbs and absolutely tore it up at National League level. That led to him signing with Auckland FC and he did appear a few games during their first year but aged out of his scholarship deal and then kinda disappeared for a bit.
Eventually he popped back up with Vancouver FC in Canada where he was straight into the team for some Concacaf Champions Cup action earlier in the year... but he’s taken some time to settle since the Canadian Premier League began. In and out of the team over the first ten games. Only starting two of them, only appearing in six of them... perhaps dealing with an injury or two along the way. But he should go alright after serving up some of this...
Off the bench for the last twenty, injected into a 1-1 game, and he scored the winning goal via some classic Luis Toomey action with the dribbling and the shimmies and the crunching finish. First goal in Canadian footy for Tooms to give his team a 2-1 win over Pacific. Only their third win of the campaign. That’s got Vancouver on the rise and in range of the playoffs again (still a long way to go but you don’t wanna fall too far behind).
As soon as that happened, there was a two-week break in the CPL so gotta bottle that momentum for later. Tooms is one of three NZers in Canada’s top league this year with Jay Herdman (Cavalry) and Finn Linder (Halifax) the others... those two used to be teammates in the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS Next Pro squad a couple years ago but have ended up in the CPL.
Herdman won this thing with Cavalry in his first season but last year was a weird one that ended with him being loaned out. Now he’s back with them and has appeared in six of ten games for the second-placed team. Three starts, three bench appearances, three unused sub days, and once where he wasn’t in the squad at all. Does have two assists though. Linder is much more prominent, having only played six minutes across the first two games but started eight in a row since then... albeit for a team that’s only won one of those eight starts. Herdman’s had more of a run recently so with luck all three are moving in the right direction.
Up Next: Forge vs Vancouver at 5am on Thursday 2 July (NZT)
Malia Steinmetz & Grace Wisnewski – FC Nordsjælland (Danish A-Liga)
It came down to the final round of the season. Fortuna Hjørring vs FC Nordsjælland with one point separating them as they battled for third place and the lone Europa Cup qualifying spot in the A-Liga (the two Champions League spots were already out of reach). FCN were the chasing team so they needed to win to get back into continental footy for another year... and they did not. A frustrating end to the season culminated in a 1-0 defeat as Nordsjælland’s near-complete dominance in the last hour of this game was unable to overcome Josefine Valvik’s 13th minute goal for the home side.
Malia Steinmetz played the second half in midfield and kept the ball moving around, completing 31 passes in 45 minutes, trying to get her team rolling... but it wasn’t to be. Grace Wisnewski was an unused substitute after having started the last nine league games in a row dating back to November. Looks like that was a mistake. Fourth place for FCN and no extra-curricular activities coming their way. Their last four games were: a 4-1 loss to HB Køge in the cup final (HBK did the double as league champs too), a 0-0 draw with AGF, a 2-2 draw with Brøndby, and this 1-0 loss to Fortuna. Gutting how it can all slip away at the end of a long season.
Steinmetz’s return is partly why Wiz missed out in that last game... but that was still a weird one. Wiz played in 35/40 games across the season and started most of those, usually in the midfield although she had a spell at the start of 2026 where she filled in at centre-back. Three goals and an assist. Steinmetz only came back into the team (in a playing capacity) in late-March, subbed on in the Danish Cup semi, though managed to appear off the bench in each of the final seven league games too. That includes 45 minutes in two of the last three matches. Recalled to the Football Ferns in between those games (albeit didn’t play against Haiti or Morocco). Wisnewski has two more years under contract with FCN while Steinmetz’s deal isn’t clear but they’ve announced a couple departures already and she wasn’t one of them. Ally Green has also been promoted with FC København so she’ll be back in the A-Liga next season too.
Up Next: The 2026-27 season kicks off in August
Helena Errington – FH Hafnarfjörður (Icelandic Besta Deild)
FH lost their winning streak this morning when they unable to find a second goal against Valur, having to settle for a 1-1 draw. Errington had seven shots in that game with four of them saved. Sadly the oppo keeper had a bit of a blinder – those were four of a whopping 13 saves that Tinna Brá Magnúsdóttir made during the match. Errington did get a yellow card though, that’s something.
That’s an annoying result for FH because with Breiðablik winning their own fixture it means those two sides swap atop the Besta Dielden table. FH back down to second (by a single point) after nine matches. They also got knocked out of the Icelandic Cup by ÍBV recently, losing 3-2 after extra time in the quarter-finals. Couple stumbles in the past week for FH Hafnarfjörður... but they’re still going along nicely on a seven-game unbeaten run in the league with Errington starting all the time as a second striker and getting heavily involved in all these games. She’s got two goals and an assist in nine league matches, plus another a goal and two assists during their cup activities. And with the amount of shots she’s consistently getting there’s room for that goal tally to multiply pretty quickly for the 20yo.
Up Next: FH vs Þór/KA at 6am on Tuesday (NZT)
Riley Bidois – Monterey Bay (American USL Championship)
He’s done it again, the bloke is undeniable. Winning goal with ten to go against Sporting Jacksonville, denied by the keeper at the first time but then boom back of the net on the rebound. That made it four consecutive games in which he has scored for Monterey Bay... and the streak is still active because unfortunately he has missed their two games since then. Assuming he’s injured since there’s no way he could be dropped in this form. Monterey lost 2-0 to Tulsa and won 1-0 vs El Paso without him. That El Paso win was their first all year without Bidois in the starting side.
Monterey Bay in the USL Championship when Riley Bidois starts:
3 W - 0 D - 1 L
8 goals scored in 4 games
2.25 points per game
Monterey Bay in the USCL when Bidois doesn't start:
1 W - 2 D - 7 L
6 goals in 10 games
0.40 points per game
There are only three NZers in the USL Championship this year. Riley Bidois is doing his thing with four goals in six appearances for Monterey Bay, joining a couple games late but really making his mark more recently. His team is still last in the Western Conference but with the way it’s structured and how close the standings are they’re also only two points out of the playoffs. Not even halfway through the campaign yet.
Kyle Adams has been doing his thing captaining Racing Louisville for a while now so hopefully this is the year they finally win it all. Adams has played all 14 games and even scored a goal in a win against Rhode Island back in March. RL had a slump with four defeats in a row during May but still sit third in the Eastern Conference. They’re doing fine.
Then there’s Alex Greive at San Antonio FC... except that he hasn’t made a single appearance this year. Plagued by injury since he arrived at the club. He’s been on the injury report for months with some sort of “lower body” issue. No word on when he might return. That means zero football for AG but he has been drinking plenty of coffee...
Up Next: San Antonio vs Monterey Bay at 1pm on Sunday 5 July (NZT)
Troy Putt - Minnesota United 2 (American MLS Next Pro)
First we’ve got a bit of this, with Troy Putt getting his first goal for Minnesota United in Next Pro...
Then a couple games later he dished up an assist with this delicious little flick-on...
Putt joined MNU2 last year from Birkenhead United and was part of NZ’s U20 World Cup squad. Played a lot in 2025 but was mostly used as a wide defender... so he came back in 2026 and trained the house down with the extended MLS squad during preseason – getting the highest finish on the beep test – and even earning a couple of MLS matchday squad call-ups to begin the season, including a debut against Austin in February. Had a couple of injuries that slowed him down after returning to the reserves but has now started seven games in a row and has goal contributions in two of the last three. Getting to play much more often in the attacking positions now as well, although he was at right-back in the most recent match.
Once again, there are three kiwis in this league. Putt has made 10 appearances for MNU2 with a goal and an assist. Thomas Raimbault was dishing out assists left, right, and centre for Carolina Core for a while there, albeit with nothing recently – he’s got one goal and five assists in 16 matches. Then there’s Codey Phoenix at Tacoma Defiance where he’s got one assist in 14 matches as the team’s first choice left-back. Putt and Phoenix are with MLS development teams but Raimbault’s club is unaffiliated with a Major League Soccer team.
Up Next: Thursday at 2pm, LAFC2 vs MNUFC2 (NZT)
Rebecca Lake - Thai Nguyen T&T (Vietnamese National League)
Four weeks after their Vietnamese Cup quest ended with bronze medals, Thai Nguyen will be a tad peeved that they only drew 1-1 at home against Phong Phú Hà Nam in the opening round of the National League. The Tea Tigers worked way too hard to finally take the lead on 73’ through Ngọc Minh Chuyên... only to leak an equaliser less than three minutes later. At least the goal they conceded was a wicked shot from distance. Rebecca Lake had a big chance to score when she got up for a header from a corner late first half but was denied by the keeper at close range.
Both Ho Chi Minh and Ha Noi won their opening games by big margins (5-0 and 5-1 respectively), those are the two favourites for the title and Thai Nguyen will be attempting to put themselves in that company having finished fourth in 2025. It’s not a long season – only ten games playing home and away against the other five clubs. All the more reason why a draw first up is a bit pesky.
Up Next: Than KSVN vs Thai Nguyen T&T at 9pm on Thursday (NZT)
Ollie Whyte - FC Haka (Finnish Ykkösliiga)
Must be time to check in with Ollie Whyte who has returned to FC Haka this season to help get them promoted back into the top tier in Finland and... so far so good. They’re second on the ladder with six wins and three draws from their 11 matches, four points behind leaders KTP. Only the top team gets promoted automatically but second place does earn a playoff. Haka are trending upwards too. They only won one of their first four matches but since then have won 5/7 including a 2-0 win over KTP earlier in the month to close the gap and then a 2-0 win over SJK most recently, with Ollie Whyte’s ball-winning hustle and precision crossing assisting Kevin Nurmi for the first goal...
Choice. Whyte missed a couple of those early games however he’s been a staple in the starting eleven since returning to action. Hasn’t scored in the Ykkösliiga yet but has got a couple goals in the cup competitions. Good form at the right time because Haka have a rematch with KTP on the weekend with the chance to move within one point of top spot if they win.
Up Next: Haka vs KTP at 1am on Sunday (NZT)
Hannah Blake & Michaela Foster – Durham FC (English Super League 2)
Not long after the season ended, Durham announced that they were “seeking investors” in order to keep the club alive. Durham is one of the few independent women’s football clubs in the top two English divisions, everyone else has an equivalent men’s team to lean upon financially except for London City Lionesses who have gigantic quantities of Michele Kang money. With growing professionalism at this level, their humble local funding wasn’t going to cut it and if they couldn’t find outside investment then it was going be game over. They put a three-week timeline on the plea. They managed to find someone after two weeks. Phew.
This isn’t like Sunderland’s women getting bought out by NWSL club Bay FC. That’s a deal that puts Sunderland into a higher realm of resource. In contrast, Durham have been rescued by the geezer who co-owns South Shields FC (from the men’s sixth tier) with additional financing from one of the SSFC minority investors. It’s great news and it’ll keep them around... but it won’t mean they can go around signing superstars and buying themselves promotion. But that’s okay, we just want them to keep employing New Zealanders.
All the other teams have done their released/retained lists but Durham were a bit busy trying to figure out if they would even have a team next season so there’s been no word on whether Hannah Blake and Mickey Foster will be back for 2026-27. Hopefully this means they can get around to housekeeping stuff that now. Foster’s been a regular for two years there. Blake has had spells in and out of the first eleven but she finished last season strongly under the new manager.
Note that Kate Taylor’s Dijon FCO in France is going through something similar except that they do have a men’s team and the club’s current ownership has decided the men’s team is all they can afford to bother with so the women’s team is on the search for a sale. There was some positive rumbling recently but Taylor is out of contract and has already said she’d prefer to leave amidst the uncertainty. Several other players already have.
Up Next: Pay the bills
Katie Kitching - Sunderland (English Super League 2)
Not just any contract but a two year contract extension for Katie Kitching, those multi-year deals can be rare in women’s footy (outside the very top leagues). After a couple of superb seasons with the Black Cats there might have been some thought of KK seeking out a move upwards in the English pyramid but exciting new ownership and her very established spot in the Sunderland squad (heading into a World Cup year with New Zealand) probably tipped the scales towards the status quo. Kitching has scored 17 goals in 77 games for Sunderland with a similar amount of assists. She was Sunderland’s Player of the Year the season before last. She was their equal-top scorer in WSL2 in the season just gone.
Sunderland Head Coach Mel Reay: “Keeping Katie at the Club is fantastic news for us. She’s a player who brings real quality in attacking areas and has an eye for goal that can make the difference in big moments. We’re delighted that she will continue to play an important role for Sunderland moving forward.”
This follows a pretty clear effort to consolidate their best talent with Kitching’s new contract following soon after Natasha Fenton, Emily Scarr, Mary Corbyn, Katy Watson, and Brianna Westrup all signed new deals. It remains to be seen what calibre of signings they’re able to make as part of the Bay Collective multi-club ownership umbrella (for now the multi-club umbrella only includes Bay FC and Sunderland... though they intend to add a few more to the portfolio). Either way, they’ll be hoping to push for promotion now that everything’s nice and stable. Sunderland last competed in the WSL back in 2017.
Up Next: Onwards into a new era
Matt Dibley-Dias - Fulham (English Premier League)
There was no sign of Matt Dibley-Dias on the Fulham FC released list which confirms that he’s still got another year on his contract with the Premier League club. This upcoming season will be a crucial one for him. Gotta stay fit. Gotta make an impression wherever he ends up on loan. Doubt that he’ll stay at Fulham beyond this year, particularly with coach Marco Silva having left to take the Benfica job, but he needs to show he’s physically prepared for senior football somewhere.
We already knew that Chris Wood and Tyler Bindon remain under contract at Nottingham Forest. Woodsy’s two-year extension, signed in the middle of his 20-goal season, will expire after this next campaign so there could be movement on a new deal at some stage given his emphatic return to fitness and his very obvious importance to the team since Vitor Pereira linked up as coach. Bindon has two more years on his deal so or him it’s about showing that he’s ready for the Premier League right here, right now. The case for him sticking around at CB has been helped by Willy Boly’s release.
Alex Paulsen is on the retained list for Bournemouth as he enters the third year of his four year contract. They’ve offered Fraser Forster a new deal to keep him on board as a veteran reserve keeper behind Djorde Petrovic but that doesn’t matter because AP’s not quite ready for that level anyway. The intention is to loan him out again. Hopefully he lands in a more embracing situation he did than last time.
Ipswich Town have been promoted back to the Premier League and have picked up the option on Henry Gray’s reserve team contract. If it’s anything like the last few years, the plan will be to keep him around the first team for the first half of the season then loan him out for senior footy in the second half. He’s gone up a division each time he’s done that with last season’s loan being to Harrogate Town in League Two. They do have a few goalies ahead of him but Gray is someone they seem to have really invested in with the opportunities he’s been given. As it stands, that gives us five kiwis on the books of Premier League clubs... although at least three if not four of them will be seeking loans.
Freshly relegated from the Prem, Burnley have decided not to offer Marley Leuluai a new deal, making him a free agent. He’s only 19yo so he could have stuck it out another year or two at U21s level – though he’ll probably want to aim for a first team gig now that he’s leaving. Leuluai spent a short time on loan at non-league Marine FC last season as an introduction to senior football. Well-regarded as a young’un in the Man City academy prior to joining Burnley, captained NZ at the U17 World Cup but then even didn’t get selected for the U20 World Cup. Fair to say he’s stalled a little bit so it’s a good time to step out on his own.
We’re also yet to hear anything about whether Nik Tzanev is staying at Huddersfield or not after they were “in negotiations” over a possible extension when they did their released/retained. His current contract expires on 30 June (as do all of the free agents), hence that’s probably when we’ll get an update. Could be contingent on other moves as well.
Up Next: Et cetera, et cetera
The Niche Cache is fully independent and dedicated to kiwi sports so if you rate what we do, please help us out on Patreon, Substack, or Buy Me A Coffee
Also helps to whack an ad, tell your mates about us, and also try do a bit of all that likes, comments, shares stuff for those pesky algorithms