Founded 1891 OFC affiliation 1966 Website nzfootball.co.nz | FIFA affiliation 1948 President Deryck Shaw | |
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New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the national junior and women's teams (nicknamed the "Football Ferns"), the men's and women's National League (the men's league is known as the Stirling Sports Premiership, with a number of tournaments, including the Chatham Cup. The Stirling Sports Premiership is played in the New Zealand summer between eight teams. A New Zealand team, Wellington Phoenix FC, play in the Australian A-League.
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History
It was founded in 1891, as New Zealand Soccer Association and became officially affiliated with FIFA in 1948. In May 2007, the organisation was renamed New Zealand Football (NZF), replacing the word "soccer" with "football" in line with the common usage in most of the world outside North America.
In September 2007, the New Zealand female football teams were re-branded. The women's national team changed its name from "SWANZ" to "Football Ferns", the female under-20 team to the "Junior Football Ferns" and the under-17 team became the "Young Football Ferns"
In the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, New Zealand achieved their best result in their team's history when they had a 1–1 draw with reigning World champions Italy. Shane Smeltz scored in the 7th minute marking the first time New Zealand had ever led a match at the World Cup. They went on to become the only unbeaten team in the tournament.
Moving to South American confederation
In January 2013, members of the FIFA Executive Committee met in a private meeting convened by Joseph Blatter to discuss the possibilities of moving the New Zealand Football Federation for the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) in order to enhance the sport in the country. After the meeting, Blatter said the idea was "ratified" but needed some adjustments. This fact provided the New Zealand success in the idea of movement, requiring only a formal request by the association.
Controversies
In 2015, New Zealand was ruled to have forfeited its place in the 2016 Olympic tournament after fielding an ineligible player in its men's Under-23 team; NZF decided not to appeal the decision. It was subsequently reported that up to 16 ineligible players had been fielded in the men's Under-23, Under-20 and Under-17 teams between 2011 and 2015.
Grassroots
In 2015, football is the most popular team sport in New Zealand with 6.3 percent of the adult population participating in our game (via Sport NZ). Since the introduction of the award-winning Whole of Football Plan in 2011, New Zealand Football has established the country’s leading community sport system and is achieving great results: a. 71 percent of boys and 52 percent of girls participate in football (via Sport NZ) b. Junior and Youth participation has grown 26 percent and 27 percent c. Over 135,000 registered participants across all strands d. Since inception of Whole of Football Plan, women’s affiliated player numbers grown 20 percent to almost 19,000 e. Futsal is growing rapidly, particularly in junior, youth and secondary school brackets, with over 20,000 registered players f. Registered referee and match official network of more than 1,000
International Stage
In recent time, New Zealand Football has enjoyed good success on the international stage. The All Whites overcame Papua New Guinea in the OFC Nations Cup Final by winning 4-2 on penalties in the final. It was their fifth title in the OFC Nations Cup and it secured their place in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
In 2015, the Football Ferns reached their highest ever ranking (16), beating Brazil for the second time and qualifying for the Rio Olympics. The Men’s U-20 and U-17 sides qualified out of their groups at their respective FIFA World Cup tournaments in 2015. New Zealand were one of only five countries in the same cycle to achieve this. The remaining four were Germany, Brazil, Mali, Nigeria