In 1982, it was China. In 2009, it was Bahrain. In 2025, it will (hopefully) be Fiji followed by either Tahiti or New Caledonia. Among the many consequences of FIFA expanding the World Cup from 32 teams to 48 teams is that there’s now room for an automatic entry from Oceania
Michael Boxall, aged 36, is laying down bars in interviews. There’s no stopping the bloke. It only took him two attempts to waltz into an MLS Team of the Week selection and now he’s done it twice in a row
Clearly, this season was one challenge too much for the Wellington Phoenix. In hindsight, there’s no reason to think a team that lost half of its starting line-up, and then struggled with injuries on top of that, should have any hope whatsoever of reclaiming a semi-finals berth
Empoli Football Club had failed to win any of their previous 11 Serie A matches, dropping into the relegation zone as a consequence, when they lined up for a Coppa Italia clash with heavyweights Juventus
After going seven months without any fixtures following the Paris Olympics, a two-match tour of Costa Rica felt very much like the start of a fresh chapter for the Football Ferns
It took a long time for Finn Surman to finally debut for Portland Timbers. He joined them midseason and they allowed him as much room as possible to settle into his surroundings before finally chucking him onto the pitch
For the third time out of three, Auckland FC emerged from the NZ Derby with three points... but this win was not like the others. This win was a dismantling
The latest step in the Auckland FC rollout occurred last week when the club confirmed its inaugural Men’s Reserves squad. This team will be a direct link to the local domestic scene, competing in the Northern and National Leagues of Aotearoa
Nottingham Forest would have expected to breeze past League One’s Exeter City in their FA Cup fourth round tie. If they’re smart they might have even spoken to new recruit Tyler Bindon beforehand, he could have given them a few tips
The headlines from Empoli’s match against AC Milan would have been very different if Liberato Cacace had seen red for his early stop on Kyle Walker’s shins.
Chris Wood didn’t exactly get the celebration game he would have hoped for after his triumphant contract extension last week… but this week he more than made up for that anomaly
It’s been six long months since the Football Ferns last took the pitch. Six months in which a couple of players have retired, some have gotten injured, plenty have had club transfers, and a bunch more have put themselves into the big selection pot
Auckland FC took a risk with how they put this squad together by banking on the quality of players in Aotearoa’s domestic stuff. They only used three local spots on Australians and one of them is currently injured while another has barely even played
There had been links to AC Milan, there had been links to Saudi Arabia, there had been links to Major League Soccer... but those were all mere bargaining as Chris Wood and his agent haggled over an inevitable new deal with Nottingham Forest
The quickest and most accessible path to the pros for a young kiwi footballer these days is the Wellington Phoenix Academy. It’s been steadily brewing for a few years and we’ve now reached the point where every national age grade side, male and female, is saturated with WeeNixers
Chris Wood scored 14 goals last season with Nottm Forest and also in 2019-20 with Burnley so this is the third time he’s reached this mark. It’s also the sixth season in which he’s passed double-figures.
Every year the aim has been finals footy for the Wellington Phoenix women. For the first couple years, that turned out to be an unrealistic target and they ended up with a couple of wooden spoons instead. But in year three the dream wasn’t so far-fetched
Libby Cacace had played 103 league games in Europe prior to this season, split between Belgium and Italy, and from all that he’d mustered zero goals and three assists. Happily, goal contributions have not been a problem for him in the 2024-25 campaign.
Two Sarpreet Singh goals, both stemming from making those good supporting runs into the penalty area. The first was a bit fortunate with the ball ricocheting off his face but hey he was in the right spot at the right time, what can you say?
This was already Tyler Bindon’s favourite time of the year but he probably loves it even more after scoring a bicycle kick winning goal for Reading against Mansfield Town