Soccer in New Zealand

Sport overview
country = New Zealand
sport = Association Football


imagesize = 100x
caption =
union = New Zealand Football
nickname = All Whites
first =
registered =
clubs =
match = 31,853 - (2007)
Wellington Phoenix FC vs Los Angeles Galaxy (exhibition)
21,000 - (1981)
All Whites vs Watford (national team record)
18,345 - (2007)
Wellington Phoenix FC vs Adelaide United (competitive)
league = 11,683 - (2007-08)
Wellington Phoenix FC (average)
128,513 - (2007-08)
Wellington Phoenix FC (cumulative)
national1 = New Zealand Football Championship
club1 = Northern League
club2 = Central League
club3 = Mainland Premier League
club4 = Soccersouth Premier League
country

Soccer, also known as football or Association football, is a popular recreation sport in New Zealand. The sport is administered in New Zealand by the governing body New Zealand Football (NZF). Until 2007, the organisation was known as New Zealand Soccer.

Soccer is the second most popular participation sport for both boys and girls in New Zealand, only exceeded by rugby union and netball, respectively. [cite web|url=http://www.sparc.org.nz/research-policy/research/sparc-facts-97-01/top-sports-and-physical-activities|title=Top sports and physical activities]

Administration

Administration and promotion of the sport is divided into seven regional federations:

*Federation One (United Soccer 1) - Northland, Northern and Western Auckland
*Federation Two (Auckland Football Federation) - Central, Eastern and Western Auckland
*Federation Three (Force3) - Waikato, Bay of Plenty
*Federation Four (Central Football) - Gisborne, Hawke's Bay, Taranaki, Manawatu-Wanganui
*Federation Five (Capital Football) - Wellington
*Federation Six (Mainland Football) - Tasman, Marlborough, Nelson, West Coast, Northern and Central Canterbury
*Federation Seven (SoccerSouth) - Southern Canterbury, Otago, Southland

History and achievements

New Zealand's senior mens side, the All Whites, has only once qualified for the FIFA World Cup, in 1982. The qualification is noted in that New Zealand played more matches (15) and traveled further (55,000 miles) than any other team to qualify [cite web|url=http://www.nzsoccer.com/page/1982_world_cup_team.html|title=1982 World Cup Team] . Grouped with Brazil, Scotland and the USSR, New Zealand did not win any of their matches.

New Zealand hosted the 1999 FIFA U-17 World Championship, with matches played in North Shore City, Napier, Christchurch and Dunedin. New Zealand will also be hosting the inaugural FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008, with matches hosted in North Shore City, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch.

New Zealand's under-23 team, the "Oly-Whites", qualified for their first Olympic Games appearance in 2008 for the Beijing Summer Olympics. The Oly-Whites drew against China and lost against Belgium and Brazil.

The New Zealand's women's team also qualified for their first Olympic appearance, where they drew against Japan and lost to Norway and USA. In addition to this, the Football Ferns have participated in the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup and, more recently, the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. New Zealand won the 1975 AFC Women's Championship, defeating Thailand 3-1 in Hong Kong.

Professional soccer

Fully professional football began in 1999 with the induction of the Auckland-based Football Kingz F.C. into Australia's National Soccer League (NSL). Despite having a record of poor attendances, Auckland was included in the A-League competition when the NSL was scrapped in favour of an eight-franchise A-League. The Kingz were re-branded as New Zealand Knights FC but still only managed to draw small crowds. In their final season, the average attendance for the Knights was 3,014, well below the average of the next lowest attracting team—Perth Glory averaging 7,671.

During the later stages of the 2006-07 season, Football Federation Australia (FFA) removed the New Zealand Knights's (NZK) A-League license due to club's financial and administrative problems and poor on-field performance. After the resignation of the NZK board, the FFA transferred the license to New Zealand Soccer for them to administrate the rest of the club's season before it's subsequent dissolution.

After these events, the FFA granted a provisional competition license for New Zealand Soccer to sub-let to a suitable, New Zealand-based team to take the place left vacant by the defunct Knights. After much delay from both the FFA and NZS, Wellington property magnate Terry Serepisos was selected as the owner of the new franchise. The team, eventually named Wellington Phoenix FC, would be based at Wellington's Westpac Stadium and coached by Ricki Herbert. Herbert also held the responsibility of coaching the New Zealand national team. With only three months to prepare, the Phoenix faced a first season without a proper pre-season and with a much smaller talent pool to recruit from.

The first game in Phoenix history, a 2–2 draw with then-reigning champion Melbourne Victory, set a new national record for attendance at a competitive football fixture at 14,421.Fact|date=May 2008 The cumulative attendance over the first three home matches exceeded that of the Knights entire cumulative attendance from both years of their existence. The national attendance record was later exceeded a second time, with 18,345 turning out for a 1–2 loss against Adelaide United. The Phoenix followed this match with an exhibition friendly against Los Angeles Galaxy, including their marquee player David Beckham. The attendance from this match, 31,853 set a new national record for attendance at any football match.

Wellington finished their first season last in the league on goal differential, having equal points with seventh-placed Perth Glory, and only earnt one more ladder point than the Knights had the previous season. Despite this, the Phoenix were declared the success story of the 2007-08 season by the FFA.Fact|date=May 2008

National competitions

The current national senior men's competition is the New Zealand Football Championship (also known as the NZFC), a semi-professional franchise league founded in 2004. The NZFC, run in the summer, consists of eight teams run co-operatively by winter league clubs in their franchise area - Waitakere United,Auckland City FC, Waikato FC, Hawke's Bay United, YoungHeart Manawatu, Team Wellington, Canterbury United and Otago United. The NZFC provides New Zealand's two representatives to the OFC Champions League, namely the NZFC Season Champion and the highest placing team among the remaining seven. The NZFC does not include Wellington Phoenix, nor did it include the defunct New Zealand Knights.

The NZFC also runs the National Youth League, with eight academy sides affiliated with each NZFC franchise. In addition to these teams are a third Auckland team (Auckland-Manukau FC), run jointly by Auckland City FC and Waitakere United, and a "New Zealand Development Squad".

The National Women's League, unaffiliated with the NZFC, consists of seven Federation Representative teams playing each other once.

Before 2004, the national senior men's football competition was the National Soccer League. The NSL, founded in 1970, consisted of teams belonging to the regional leagues - for example, the inaugural NSL featured three teams from the Northern League, three from the Central League, and four from the now-defunct Southern League (now split into Mainland Premier League and Soccersouth Premier League). The NSL ceased to exist after the 2003 season.

The Chatham Cup is a national knockout competition in the style of England's FA Cup. It is the oldest competition, having been contested since 1923. It is open only to clubs from the regional winter competitions - NZFC sides are not eligible to compete, nor is Wellington Phoenix FC. The competition rubs alongside the winter club seasons, beginning in April and usually concluding in September. The current holder is Auckland-based side Central United.

The 2008 final will be held at North Harbour Stadium on September 6. [cite web|url=http://www.nzsoccerscoreboard.com/id176.htm|title=NZ Soccer Scoreboard]

Regional competition

Premier winter club competition is divided into four regional leagues:
* The Northern League, consisting of teams from Federations Two (Auckland) and Three (Waikato/Bay of Plenty)
* The Central League, consisting of teams from Federations Four (Central North Island) and Five (Greater Wellington)
* The Mainland Premier League, consisting of teams from Federation Six (Northern South Island)
* The Soccersouth Premier League, consisting of teams from Federation Seven (Lower South Island)

Federation One (North Auckland and Northland) withdrew from the Northern League in 2008 with the aim of setting up their own league.

ee also

*New Zealand women's national football team

External links

* [http://www.nzfootball.com New Zealand Football]
* [http://www.nzfc.co.nz New Zealand Football Championship]
* [http://www.wellingtonphoenix.com Wellington Phoenix FC]

References

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