Now that OFC have direct entry into world cup and the woman's world cup prize money is going to be equal to the men's come 2027. Could NZ now afford to pay a bit more for someone better? Bit of a gamble but pretty much guaranteed woman's wc money...
Have I missed something? Seems is no guarantee will be equal prize money between the 2 World Cups any time soon.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-11867629/FIFA-want-EQUAL-PAY-mens-womens-World-Cups-2027.html
But yes would be fantastic for NZ Football if it happened. Qatar qualification was worth about $NZ16M?? So combined that's over $NZ30M of extra income on a 4 year cycle!
NZF could do a huge amount with that, and would definitely kill off the move to AFC agrument. Would Australia then want to try switch back to OFC? Maybe but the Aus Football public would hate the idea, they like hosting likes of Japan, Saudi, Korea etc - compared to the OFC minnows. It might reopen a West Asia verus East Asia/OFC split debate.
With the 48 team 2026 WC, the Intercontinental Playoffs have been canned. The 2nd OFC team will go into a 6 team Playoff Tourney, with only 2 teams to qualify. So the Island teams will get a greater chance at qualifying than past World Cups, but is still going to be very very tough for them. The AWs should cakewalk OFC WC qualifying if it is proper H&A qualifying with 2 legged (H&A) final & maybe semifinal.
From Wiki
Playoff tournament
A playoff tournament involving six teams will be held to decide the final two FIFA World Cup berths:[32] the six teams are one team in each confederation except UEFA, and one additional team from the confederation of the host countries (CONCACAF).
Two of the teams will be seeded based on the World Rankings, and they will play-off against the winners of two knockout games between the four unseeded teams for the two FIFA World Cup berths.
The four-game tournament is to be played in one or more of the host countries, and will also be used as a test event for the FIFA World Cup.