I'm happy to see that media releases involving the Ferns have become a lot more professional of late. No more partying etc. BS. Replaced with actual training, dedication, and pride in the shirt sort of thing now. well done.
Supporter world's best and worst football teams: Waikato/WaiBop, Kingz, Knights, Phoenix, The Argyle, The Whites & the All Whites
We’re far from crisis territory. But we might need to nip a few things in the bud to make sure it stays that way. For example: hiring a coach, picking their best players, and actually playing some games of football.
that's the story of NZ football, our top teams never get enough quality games.
theprof
that's the story of NZ football, our top teams never get enough quality games.
(Not replying to the Niche Cache article, just this point) I think the rhetoric that our national teams are never playing enough games is a hangover from when our teams really weren't playing enough games, times has changed but the rhetoric hasn't. The Ferns intended to play 9/12 of the previous international windows since the Women's World Cup. The All Whites have played in 10/11 available windows since 2023. Yes you could say a few of the windows were against OFC opposition, sort of have to do that to qualify for a World Cup. When we weren't obligated to play in OFC we've taken games elsewhere against good teams.
(Although I agree with the article that the Ferns need more games and to confirm a coach ASAP - other teams around the world are now 2 years into preparation for the next World Cup and we're behind again)
Football Ferns International Windows: April '25- Chinese Taipei (cancelled beyond their control) February '25- Costa Rica x2 November '24 - No games October 24 - No games (or coach) July 24 - Olympics + 1 friendly vs Zambia June 24 - Japan x2 April 24 - Thailand x2 February 24 - Women's Olympic Qualifiers December 23 - Colombia x2 October 23 - No games September 23 - Chile x2 July 23 - Women's World Cup + 2 friendlies
All Whites International Windows March 25 - OFC World Cup Qualifiers November 24 - OFC World Cup Qualifiers October 24 - OFC World Cup Qualifiers + friendly vs Malaysia September 24 - USA and Mexico June 24 - OFC Nations Cup March 24 - Tunisia & Egypt November 23 - Greece & Ireland October 23 - Congo & Australia September 23 - No games June 23 - Sweden & Qatar March 23 - China x 2
It's not an ideal hiatus for the Ferns. But they can have few complaints when you look at say the last 15 odd years overall.
Chris Wood - AWs debut 2009. 82 caps to date Ali Riley - Ferns debut 2007. 163 caps to date
Note the above numbers are taken from Wiki, so may not be exact. But there are 10 caps centurions for the Ferns, and still none for the AWs.
Sure the Ferns qualify for every Olympics and World Cup which means they automatically play more often than the men. And Wood has missed games due to injury, plus 2016 (left part way through) & 2024 OFC Nations Cups.
But the Ferns have on average, had a very generous playing programme in comparison to their male counterparts. There were some years in the eras of Hudson, Schmid & Hay when the All Whites barely played a game.
Hopefully it is just a temporary thing for the FFs, and all our international teams can have full programmes going forward. Especially with FIFA's generous payouts for WC qualification (both mens & womens)
After welcoming her son Tyler, Ford Football Fern Liv Chance has returned to professional football in Norway - proving that with the right environment and support, anything is possible 🌿
With Tyler now part of her new team’s family, Liv is embracing her new normal as a player… pic.twitter.com/AQIIQq7H9f
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 10, 2025
Just months after giving birth to her son Nói, Ford Football Fern Betsy Hassett is back playing pro football in Iceland - balancing training, studying, and motherhood with inspiring resilience 🤍 pic.twitter.com/kf3AL0MIxs
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 10, 2025
Read her story and stories from mothers across the beautiful game on our websitehttps://t.co/aBLCnxpNif
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 10, 2025
Slovenia x2 (June) and Panama x2 (July) to play Australia in Western Australia.
Do NZF talk to Football Australia, about who the FA are looking to invite to Aussie for Matildas friendlies? Any opportunties for both countries to host the same teams in a FIFA window?
I thought the 2023 WWC was ushering in a new era of Trans Tasman football co-operation.
Though to be fair it does look like the Western Australian State Govt might be bank rolling these 4 Tilies games.
Since the 2023 HOME WC, the Ferns have played 2 games in NZ. The Matildas have played TWELVE in aus with NINE more planned. do better NZF ! https://t.co/SZp8sI3gQR
New Zealand Football have been confirmed as the host member association for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ 2027 – Oceania Qualifiers semis and final, set to be played in April 2026.
The matches will take place in Aotearoa New Zealand between 7 – 18 April, with host cities and venues to be announced in due course, where the winning side will automatically qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ 2027 in Brazil.
[…]
Prior to the finals, group games will be played in the February – March international window, currently set to be hosted in Fiji and Solomon Islands, with the top two sides in each pool qualifying for the semi-finals.
It's something, but a full strength Ferns will win both their semi and the final by likely near double figure scorelines. It's not really what fans of the Ferns want to watch at home..
Women's football in the Islands remains very weak.
Auckland United have won their pool games at the OFC Womens Champions by scorelines of 11-0, 2-1 & 11-0. Hekari Womens FC who Auckland U only beat 2-1 are a de facto PNG national team, plus 2 Fijian internationals.
Ferns won their Olympics OFC qualifying tourney early last year with finals scorelines of 7-1 (semi) 10-1 (final). And those tourneys are both in the heat of the Islands, on the usual bumpy tracks.
Gonna be honest about this - good to be playing at home but don't appreciate the spin from NZF about it being like the All Whites playoffs to reach the WC.
It's not the same, the Ferns haven't lost or drawn to island nations in the past like the All Whites had and the games are usually much more one-sided. The island sides aren't anywhere remotely near the professional level that most of our players are at.
Also, the guys hadn't qualified since 2010 and the Ferns have gone to every edition from 2007 onwards.
Do they think this is going to grow support for the Ferns? Or are they just ticking a box re. home games.
The Ford Football Ferns squad to face Venezuela next month in Spain has been named, with interim head coach Michael Mayne making five changes to the side he assembled for April’s Taiwan tour.
Calgary Wild’s Ally Green, Newcastle Jets’ Deven Jackson, Wellington Phoenix’s Grace Jale, and Melbourne City’s Rebekah Stott all return, as Mayne continues to examine a range of players in the team environment to build depth across the pitch ahead of the next FIFA Women’s World Cup cycle.
157-cap midfielder Betsy Hassett is also named in the squad for the first time since giving birth in 2024, and will travel to Spain with her son and partner.
The team will be looking to build on their good performances in 2024, after opening the year with a win and draw against Costa Rica before being unable to play in the April window due to pitch safety concerns in Taiwan.
The full 24-player squad is:
Liz Anton (21 caps/0 goals) Kolbotn IL, Norway Kelli Brown (2/0) Perth Glory, Australia Claudia Bunge (33/0) Melbourne Victory, Australia Milly Clegg (13/1) Halifax Tides, Canada Manaia Elliott (1/0) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Victoria Esson (26/0) Rangers, Scotland Michaela Foster (24/1) Durham FC, England Ally Green (17/2) Calgary Wild, Canada Maya Hahn (2/1) FFC Turbine Potsdam, Germany Jacqui Hand (33/8) Sheffield United, England Betsy Hassett (157/15) Stjarnan FC, Iceland Deven Jackson (1/0) Newcastle Jets, Australia Grace Jale (34/8) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Claudia Jenkins (0/0) Adelaide United, Australia Katie Kitching (16/5) Sunderland AFC, England Annalie Longo (138/15) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand Meikayla Moore (69/4) Calgary Wild, Canada Ruby Nathan (5/1) Canberra United, Australia Grace Neville (12/0) London City Lionesses, England Emma Pijnenburg (1/0) Feyenoord Rotterdam, Netherlands Alina Santos (0/0) University of Denver, USA Rebekah Stott (106/4) Melbourne City, Australia Kate Taylor (23/2) Dijon FCO, France Grace Wisnewski (3/0) Lexington SC, USA
Of players named in Ford Football Ferns squads in the last year, CJ Bott, Katie Bowen, Macey Fraser, Anna Leat, Malia Steinmetz, Jana Radosavljević, Indiah-Paige Riley, and Ali Riley were not available for selection due to injury concerns or return to play considerations.
Interim Ford Football Ferns head coach Michael Mayne said:
“It’s another exciting squad to name, with good consistency and lots of motivation to reassemble in Spain and get back to work, especially as we weren’t able to get our performance out on the pitch in the last international window due to issues outside of our control.
“As with previous windows, the priority for us at this stage of the cycle is building competition in the squad ahead of the next FIFA Women’s World Cup, so it is good to welcome back some players who weren’t in squad in the last or last few windows.
“Following her return to football and her progress, it's great to call Betsy back into the Ford Football Ferns whānau after giving birth to her son Nói last year, and we look forward to the whole family joining us in camp.
“Venezuela will be a good challenge for us at this point in the cycle, so I’m looking forward to working with the team to continue implementing our new playing model and seeing some strong individual performances to promote a dominant team performance in Spain.”
The Ford Football Ferns face Venezuela on Sunday 1 June 2025 at 4am NZT (31 May 2025 at 6pm local) and Wednesday 4 June 2025 at 4am NZT (3 June 2025 at 6pm local).
The first game will be played at the Marbella Football Center in San Pedro de Alcántara, Spain.
The second will take place at Estadio Nuevo Mirador in Algeciras, Spain. Both games are set to be available live and free on FIFA Plus.
This is the kind of thing we need from NZF - Panama are also playing the Tillies in Bunbury of all places, so if Aus can manage that surely we can get a home game.
Edit: Dammit, that was supposed to start with the promo image for the Matildas games against Panama and Slovenia in Perth late June / early July, but the forum doesn’t want to display it.
This is the kind of thing we need from NZF - Panama are also playing the Tillies in Bunbury of all places, so if Aus can manage that surely we can get a home game.
It does look like the the WA Govt is bank rolling those 4 upcoming Matildas games. Having the world's largest iron ore deposits, allows alot of largesse
Nice accolade for Claudia Jenkins. She could end being a quality pickup for the Ferns.
Named in the Ford Football Ferns squad ✅ Named in the A-Leagues PFA Team of the Season ✅
Congratulations to Rebekah Stott, Claudia Jenkins and Annalie Longo on their inclusion in the @aleaguewomen PFA Team of the Season 👏 pic.twitter.com/MsP4zqfaqU
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 14, 2025
Probably. It'd be pretty rude to announce someone else just before he heads away with the team. If it was going to be someone else you'd think they would wait till after these next games.
Probably. It'd be pretty rude to announce someone else just before he heads away with the team. If it was going to be someone else you'd think they would wait till after these next games.
It does make the most sense to be fair. Would've made it bloody awkward if they'd gone with someone else. 😅
Anyway, Mayne confirmed by NZF just a few minutes ago.
Michael Mayne has been named Ford Football Ferns head coach for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 cycle, becoming the first New Zealand-born Ferns coach in over 20 years 🇳🇿 pic.twitter.com/eBrmLJTSnM
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 22, 2025
Don't know much about Mayne. But wish him the best. I just hope this means that CJ Bott and Katie Bowen don't continue to be on the outer. Although it has been good to see him bring in some fresh faces lately to build some depth.
The low risk appointment. Hopefully under his tutelage, all we hear about is how the Ferns are performing on the field. No more talk of player revolts etc.
Note Tom Sermanni is still the Matilda's interim coach, after Tony Gustavsson left post the Paris Olympics. Football Australia finding it tough to find a Gustavsson replacement. And the Tillies gig is far more attractive, and well paid compared to being Ferns coach.
Don't know much about Mayne. But wish him the best. I just hope this means that CJ Bott and Katie Bowen don't continue to be on the outer. Although it has been good to see him bring in some fresh faces lately to build some depth.
Sounds like Bott & Bowen would have been picked for the Venezuela games if not injured or just returning from injury.
Think it will help that Mayne has some well respected assistants in Jenny Bindon (Tyler's mum) and Sam Wilkinson.
If he continues to play a 3-5-2. I'd like to see Clegg and Brown up front. Both big mobile forwards. Brown being good at shooting from distance with accuracy offers something other contenders do not. So gives us an added dimension up front.
Brianna Edwards has been called up to the Ford Football Ferns squad to face Venezuela, replacing Claudia Jenkins who has been rested as an injury precaution. pic.twitter.com/4NWuOD6nRy
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 27, 2025
— New Zealand Football 🇳🇿 (@NZ_Football) May 27, 2025
Re: "Anna Leat seems to be taking a break from serious football"
I was going to comment that the NRFL is pretty serious, but then I remembered her game last Friday night was postponed because the wrong sized goals had been placed on the field !!!
Leat is also playing as an outfield player for Hibiscus Coast??
Seems like she is very much having a bit a sabbatical before hopefully joining Auckland's new ALW team.
But reading Stuff article today, cash strapped APL struggling to find the funds to finance the extra travel and accommodation costs of having an Auckland team in the ALW.
The first match against Venezuela is on Sunday at 4am NZT (31 May 2025 at 6pm local), with the second next Wednesday also at 4am NZT (3 June 2025 at 6pm local).
Apparently is about half a million expat Venezuelans in Spain, so they will have a bit of crowd support if it's not closed doors. Also a number of Venezuelan team play in Spain.
