The National Pool of Professional & Overseas Based Players (Men's)

Having read through the the 

Well I managed to update it thanks to four hours of having nothing to do at work tonight, so I thought I'd share it here just so people have a better idea of who is floating about.

I just want to add here that I have no affiliation to NZF, and I don't have inside access to any platforms or databases that help set me up to do this other than my own research, scouring online platforms and websites for referencing, and just general knowledge on the subject.

This list is by no means exhaustive ( I do what I can with limited resource, but I try and make sure it's as accurate as possible) and I'm sure there are many other names that can be added to this list given the big, and increasing kiwi expat populations in the USA, UK, Europe and Australia.

As always, feel free to add to the list (this also helps me!) And contest, query and question names as you please. It's basically just an evolving mess of names that will grow and contract as players move around and/or drop out of the game/retire.

This is a current list as of 1/9/26.

Just to note
• Updated list of NPL players based on the latest transfer windows closing. Have delved a little in to state leagues, but it will take me more time to go over it in depth, so I've added some of the more prominent names that I recognize.
• '*' denotes players that I am unsure on contractually, or haven't fully committed to New Zealand.
• Some contracted players - Alex Rufer, Kosta Barbarouses for example - Are missing, they are out of contract currently but it is just as easy to update this when contract details are finalized or a move eventuates for example.
• OFC Pro League players have not been included in this unless it has been specifically stated they will be staying on past 2026 - Otto Ingham & Owen Smith are the only ones confirmed in this instance - I have a list of the players who where named in squads for the inaugural season, so if people want it, I can post that up too.

Enjoy.

Australia
Sam Sutton - Perth Glory
Liam Gillion - Western Sydney Wanderers
Ricky Fransen - Western Sydney Wanderers
Storm Roux - Central Coast Mariners
Ben Gibson - Macarthur FC*
Ethan Dyer - Sydney FC
Jackson O'Reilly - Brisbane Roar (U20's)
Keigo Shimokawa - Melbourne Victory (U16s)
Ruben Argent - Perth Glory (NPL)
Max Argent - Perth Glory (NPL)
Dominic Onley - Sydney FC (U16's)
Justin Cardozo - Macarthur FC (NPL)
Davi Valle Dos Santos - Macarthur FC (U16's)
Aidan Adams - Western United (U23's)
John Woldegiorgis - Western United (U23's)
Jacob Buchanan - Western United (U18's)
Jackson Skinner - Brisbane City (U16's)
Preston Fava - Queensland State (FQ Academy)
Miles Brokenshire - SD Raiders FC (U16's)
Lewis Miccio - St George City*
Seth Clark - Sydney Olympic
Zac Zoricich - Sydney Olympic
Anton Isaako - Sydney Olympic
Liam Wood - University of NSW
Wan Gatkek - University of NSW
Jerson Lagos - Queensland Lions FC*
Will Martin - Queensland Lions FC
Matt Ridenton - Eastern Suburbs FC
Jackson Simpkin - Olympic FC
Ty Cobb - Olympic FC
Henry Aitken - Magic TFA
David Yoo - South Melbourne FC
Joseph Lee - Heidelberg United
Nathan Simes - Green Gully
Kingsley Sinclair - Oakleigh Cannons
Campbell Strong - Oakleigh Cannons
Lachlan Candy - Oakleigh Cannons (U23's)
Amanuel Woldegiorgis - Melbourne Knights (U23's)
Harry Casci - Northcote City
Zander Guy - Dandenong City*
Taylor Schrijvers - Hume City FC
Scott Hilliar - Bentleigh Greens
George Ott - Avondale FC
Emlyn Wellsmore - Avondale FC
Dan Atkinson - White City Woodville
Xavier Pratt - Playford City
Josh Tollervey - Devonport Strikers
Isaac Bates - Devonport Strikers
Flynn Whitaker - Ulverstone SC (U23's)
Jeremy George - Glenorchy Knights
Nicholas Milicich - Clarence Zebras
Jarrod McKechnie - Edgeworth Eagles
Ryan Feutz - Bankstown Lions
Oliver Duncan - Brisbane Strikers
Dan Champness - Brisbane Strikers
Stef Cordwell - Sunshine Coast Wanderers
Kaea Rangihaeata - Robina City
Sam Field - Robina City
Blake Koitka - Caboolture FC
Ivan Fowler - St George Willawong FC
Muse Abrahaberhe - Logan Lightning

New Zealand
Francis de Vries - Auckland FC
Lachlan Bayliss - Auckland FC
Luka Vicelich - Auckland FC
Cam Howieson - Auckland FC
Logan Rogerson - Auckland FC
Michael Woud - Auckland FC
Nando Pijnaker - Auckland FC
Callan Elliot - Auckland FC
Oliver Middleton - Auckland FC
Jonty Bidois - Auckland FC
Oli Sail - Auckland FC
Ronan Wynne - Auckland FC
Isa Prins - Auckland FC
Van Fitzharris - Auckland FC
Joe Knowles - Auckland FC
Aaron Cartwright - Auckland FC
Marley Leuluai - Auckland FC*
Eamonn McCarron - Wellington Phoenix
Bill Tuiloma - Wellington Phoenix
James McGarry - Wellington Phoenix
Matt Sheridan - Wellington Phoenix
Isaac Hughes - Wellington Phoenix
Nathan Walker - Wellington Phoenix
Fin Roa Conchie - Wellington Phoenix
Alby Kelly-Heald - Wellington Phoenix
Lukas Kelly-Heald - Wellington Phoenix
Tze-Xuan Loke - Wellington Phoenix
Corban Piper - Wellington Phoenix
Anaru Cassidy - Wellington Phoenix
Jayden Smith - Wellington Phoenix
Alex Rufer - Wellington Phoenix
Henry Gray - Wellington Phoenix (on loan from Ipswich Town)
Riley Bidois - Wellington Phoenix (on loan from Monterey Bay FC)
 
Argentina
Joaquin Reinoso - Velez Sarsfield (U16's)*

Belgium
Victor Barbosa - RWDM Molenbeek
Bryce McMillen - KFC Putte

Cambodia
Moses Dyer - Phnom Penh Crown FC
Myer Bevan - Boeung Ket
Aarun Lim - Boeung Ket*
Ashnarvy Mustapha - Boeung Ket*

Canada
Luis Toomey - Vancouver FC
Finn Linder - Halifax Wanderers
Jay Herdman - Cavalry FC

Croatia
Stipe Ukich - NK Istra
Oliver Edwards - HNK Slaveb Trogir

Denmark
Callum McCowatt - AGF
Dalton Wilkins - SonderjyskE

England
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest
Tyler Bindon - Charlton Athletic (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
Max Crocombe - Millwall FC
Matt Garbett - Peterborough United
Ben Waine - Port Vale FC
Joe Wallis - West Bromwich Albion
Noah DuPont - West Bromwich Albion
Luke Brooke-Smith - Portsmouth FC
Nik Tzanev - Huddersfield Town
Jose Casa-Grande - Bristol City
Jacob Borgnis - Aldershot Town
Matt Gould - Yeovil Town
Zac Jones - AFC Fylde
Luke Supyk - Gateshead FC
Tommy Smith - Bury Town FC
Jack Perniskie - MK Dons (Development)
Alex Lienard - Sunderland AFC (Youth)
Tobi Borgnis - Reading FC (Youth)
Oliver Anderson - Brighton and Hove Albion (U16's)
Lachlan McIntyre - Brentford FC (U16's)
Zane Donaghy - Bristol Rovers (U16's)
Jacob Rowe - Leyton Orient (U16's)
Brendan Schneider - Mickleover FC
Joe Jeremiah - Taunton Town FC
Nicholas Ferguson - Maghull FC

Estonia
Jacob Kleinsmith - FC Elva

Finland
Ollie Whyte - FC Haka

France
Ben Old - AS Saint-Étienne

Germany
Johnny Martin - FC Kempten
Vadym Patkevych - CSC 03 Kassel
Connor Smith - Bonner SC (U20's)

Indonesia
Jay Herdman - Bali United

Ireland
Max Mata - St Pat's Atheltic
Jago Godden - Drogheda United
Norman Garbett - Dundalk FC
Finn McKenlay - Finn Harps
Zac Thomas - Bohemians FC

Italy
Niko Kirwan - Potenza Calcio
Alessandro Scimia - San Gregorio
Luca Scimia - Santegidiese

Japan
Marco Lorenz - Gainare Tottori

Jordan
Anas Zara - Al-Salt*

Lithuania
Kyle Aidan Mendes - FC Hegelmann

Malaysia
Dane Ingham - Sabah FC

Netherlands
Ryan Thomas - PEC Zwolle

North Macedonia
Konstantino Gorgiovski - Vardar Negotino

Norway
Joe Bell - Viking FK
Kees Sims - FK Haugesund (on loan from GAIS - Sweden)

Paraguay
Tim Payne - Club Olimpia

Poland
Zhubin Rahbarian - Polonia 1908 Marcinki Kępno
Nate Camplin - Pogoń Staszów

Portugal
Sarpreet Singh - SC Farense
Alejandro Stolberg - CF Unidos*

Philippines
Anton Ganas - Aguilas

Qatar
Yamaan Jarrar - Umm Salal*

Scotland
Alex Paulsen - Motherwell (on loan from AFC Bournemouth)
Jesse Randall - Dundee United FC
George Stanger - Kilmarnock FC
Oliver Colloty - Elgin City FC
Matthew Warbrick - Ayr United*
Lawton Green - Alloa Athletic FC
Jake Williams - Cumbernauld Colts
Ashton Pellow - Carluke Rovers

South Africa
Andrew de Jong - Orlando Pirates
Dublin Boon - Orlando Pirates
Nathan Garrow - Stellenbosch FC

Spain
Riley Peach - Elche CF
Ruben Dray - Unión Deportiva Vall de Uxó

Sweden
Owen Parker-Price - Örgryte
Cameron Hogg - Ljungskile SK
Dominic Wooldridge - Torslanda IK
Sean Bright - Torslanda IK
Harry Edge - Torslanda IK

Switzerland
Till Estermann - SV Muttenz*
Mathieu Vonnez - Meyrin FC

United States of America
Finn Surman - Portland Timbers
Michael Boxall - Minnesota United
Kyle Adams - Louisville City
Alex Greive - San Antonio FC
James Musa - Fort Wayne FC
Codey Phoenix - Tacoma Defiance
Troy Putt - Minnesota United 2
Thomas Raimbault - Carolina Core
Brendan Schneider - Tampa Bay Rowdies (U20's)
Max Carmichael - Seattle Sounders (U16's)

Vanuatu
Otto Ingham - Vanuatu United
Owen Smith - Vanuatu United

Wales
Marko Stamenic - Swansea City
Elijah Just - Swansea City
Liberato Cacace - Wrexham AFC
Matt Dibley-Dias - Newport County AFC (on loan from Fulham FC)
Bailey Gaughan - Cardiff Met FC
Isaac Dudding - Pontardawe Town

Amazing list! 

Zander Guy I'm pretty sure is eligible for NZ plays for Dandenong City

Also Luca Scimia is at L'Aquila 1927 in Serie D

Nice one. 

You're an absolute legend YH, we're so lucky to have people like you contributing and posting on this forum.

Keep doing what you're doing. :)

Thanks for this fantastic effort!
Great to have all our best and most promising players listed in one place!
An English commentator said during the All Whites World Cup commentary the other day that NZ only has 60 pro players.
Not all the players on your list are by any means full time pros.
But I suspect that we actually have a bit more than sixty if you add up the Kiwis in our two men's A-League sides, the Aussie A-League sides, plus the OFC Pro League sides (who are pros while contracted, though not when released to their winter clubs as South Island United do), and the Kiwi pros playing in the UK, Europe, Asia and North America.
I wonder how many full time pro players we actually have?

No problem at all.

By my count the total pro pool sits at about 85 going off that list. The great thing is this that there will be several more movements and contract confirmations that kick in before 26/27 kicks off, so there will be several more additions to that list yet.

I will also try and update this list on a semi regular basis.

Still in the pool, but that's pretty decent for the Auckland born kid.

Believe he was provisionally included in the NZ squad for the OFC U16 Championships, so I can see why he wasn't included in the final squad.

U17 WC potential for us if he doesn't get across the line with Argentina.

U20 WC Training Games coming up soon. Might be a few new faces there maybe?

From memory his Mum stayed in NZ (higher wages than Argentina??) whilst he returned to Argentina with his Dad, for the youngster's football.
 
Hopefully that family sacrifice hopefully pays off for them.

Argentina have only missed qualifying for the U17 World Cup on four occasions. Even if he doesn't make it to the 2026 edition later this year, he could well be in the frame for them for the 2027 and possibly even the 2028 edition.

Long road until it reaches that point though, but every chance he gets immersed in the Argentinian setup in the meantime though.

Few from his club Velez Sarsfield named in the Argy U15 squad. One of the better club academy systems? Nixieboys will know.

Watched the Hurricanes play Jaguares in a Super Rugby at Velez's stadium (western Buenos Aires burbs) in 2018.

The Pumas play alot of rugby internationals there as well.

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Fingers crossed he ends up very good, but not quite good enough (for Argentina of course!).

More for the list! Nobody major in here, but some interesting players, particularly Zara for me. Have left out guys with no obvious shot of making any career progression (e.g. some older fellas in English lower leagues)

Portugal
Alejandro Stolberg (CF Unidos)*

Belgium
Bryce McMillen (KFC Putte)

Cambodia
Aarun Lim (Boeung Ket)*
Ashnarvy Mustapha (Boeung Ket)*

Italy
Alessandro Scimia (San Gregorio)
Luca Scimia (L'Aquila)
Fabio Pedrini (Poggio Mirteto, though I think he may have moved back to Canterbury)

Jordan
Anas Zara (Al-Salt)*

Malta
Brendan Schneider (Zurrieq)

Philippines
Anton Ganas (Aguilas)

Qatar
Yamaan Jarrar (Umm Salal)*

Scotland
Ashton Pellow (Cumbernauld Colts)

Sweden
Jesper Sanderson (Gamla Upsala)

Indeed Velez are one of the stronger player development clubs in Argentina.. The club’s youth system ("La Fábrica") has a long history of churning out top-tier professionals and international stars. Notable academy graduates include Diego Simeone, Nicolás Otamendi, and more recent talents like Maximo Parrone.

Although they’re not as strong in developing like River Plate, Argentinos Juniors & Rosario Central, they’re good at bringing players into the first team. 

Club Atletico Velez Sarsfield is one of the most successful clubs in Argentina. They have won 15 trophies in the last 30 years: 10 league titles and 5 international cups.… they’re considered a medium level club in terms of fans, from the lower-middle class of society usually.

Have updated the list on the original post to include names mentioned in this thread. I have also updated based on what I have received from my contacts in the game - These include from agents and coaches - as well as my own further research.

I have taken some liberty with the Auckland guys as well given they have yet to be formally announced. I've also made changes based on last club locations as well as social media posts identifying a players current location.

Updates this round.
Australia
Aidan Adams - Western United (U23's)
John Woldegiorgis - Western United (U23's)
Jacob Buchanan - Western United (U18's)
Amanuel Woldegiorgis - Melbourne Knights (U23's)
Harry Casci - Northcote City
Zander Guy - Dandenong City*
Ryan Feutz - Bankstown Lions

New Zealand
Oli Sail - Auckland FC
Ronan Wynne - Auckland FC
Isa Prins - Auckland FC
Bailey Ferguson - Auckland FC*

Portugal
Alejandro Stolberg (CF Unidos)*

Cambodia
Aarun Lim (Boeung Ket)*
Ashnarvy Mustapha (Boeung Ket)*

Italy
Alessandro Scimia - San Gregorio
Luca Scimia - L'Aquila 1927

Jordan
Anas Zara - Al-Salt*

Philippines
Anton Ganas - Aguilas

Qatar
Yamaan Jarrar (Umm Salal)*

Scotland
Ashton Pellow - Carluke Rovers

United States of America
Brendan Schneider - Tampa Bay Rowdies (U20's)

Poland
Zhubin Rahbarian - MLKS Unia Gniewkowo 1933*

Spain
Ruben Dray - UD Puçol*

The last two entries for Zhubin and Ruben are provisional as that is where they played club football for the 25/26 seasons - low levels, but they are both 20 year old goalkeepers trying to make it in the game.

Sorry to mrsmiis as well - Jesper Sanderson doesn't make the cut as he no longer appears in the publicly accessible svenskfotboll player database search.

An extra for your list in Australia:
Lewis Miccio - St George City

Updated to amend/include the following

Alex Paulsen - Motherwell (on loan from AFC Bournemouth)
 
Lawton Green - Alloa FC 

Jack Perniskie - MK Dons (Development)

Nathan Garrow - Stellenbosch FC

Sarpreet Singh - SC Farense

Lewis Miccio - St George City*

Recent changes

New Zealand
Henry Gray - Wellington Phoenix (on loan from Ipswich Town)
Van Fitzharris - Auckland FC (new entrant)

Spain
Ruben Dray - Unión Deportiva Vall de Uxó (moving up a tier from UD Puçol)

Isa Prins and Bailey Ferguson were already included in my initial list.
 

Recent changes

Australia
Ethan Dyer - Sydney FC (scholarship terms)

New Zealand
Joe Knowles - Auckland FC 
Aaron Cartwright - Auckland FC (moves from Melbourne City's NPL setup)

England
Luke Supyk - Gateshead FC (returns after being a free agent)

Wales
Elijah Just - Swansea City (moves from Motherwell FC - Scotland)

Took a few passes with Claude to add some datapoints (couldn't find all - also not entirely fact-checked), including Age, Opta Club / League rankings of the clubs players are signed with.

There's a static page here, sorted by the current Opta League rankings (oddly the ECL has recently dropped to 10). But encouraging to see 16 NZ eligible players signed to clubs in top 10 leagues (hopefully more before the transfer window closes).

(Downloadable CSV for the nerds)

To be fair, those opta rankings look quite untrustworthy. No way is the Croatian league better than the Eredivisie.

The Argentine league has also fallen off recently, no way is it better than than the Championship.

But great work! I was actually working on a spreadsheet for it too but you’ve saved me a lot of time.

Maybe a bit low in the system, (same level as Estermann) but dual Swiss/NZ national 19yo Mathieu Vonnez is at Meyrin FC in Switzerland

Excellent work.

I had a spreadsheet going back a year or so with far more detail, but ended up smashing my phone and couldn't recover any of it so I've just slowly been plugging away at it.

I have the DOB's for the current NZ U17's too, so if I get around to finding it in all my documents I'll flick the details to you in DM.

Recent Updates and findings.

New Zealand
Alex Rufer - Wellington Phoenix 

• Re-entry having been off contract until his recent extension.

Australia
Oliver Duncan - Brisbane Strikers
Dan Champness - Brisbane Strikers
Stef Cordwell - Sunshine Coast Wanderers
Kaea Rangihaeata - Robina City
Sam Field - Robina City
Blake Koitka - Caboolture FC
Ivan Fowler - St George Willawong FC
Muse Abrahaberhe - Logan Lightning

• All these are finds from the level below QLD NPL.

England
Luke Brooke-Smith - Portsmouth FC

• Follows his transfer from Wellington Phoenix earlier this week.

Switzerland
Mathieu Vonnez - Meyrin FC

Wales
Bailey Gaughan - Cardiff Met FC
 

Thanks for the research mate. It was a great laugh. 

These Opta Rankings are even worse than the FIFA rankings. They super bias on European leagues particularly on some of the 2nd division leagues. 

My new standard:

75% of South Africa's Bafana Bafana were from the PSL and that super average team got to the second round of the WC. 

Can the Finnish League do it? How about the Scottish League? The Irish League? The A-League can do it. 

So that tells me there is a few sprinkles of lettuce on a whole lot of garbage. 

This was just a rough attempt to add a few more datapoints to the pool, so feel free take it or leave it.

As I mentioned, the Opta rankings aren’t gospel, so take with several grains of salt, but also '75% of Bafana made the last 32' isn’t a serious way to measure  leagues either. South Africa having a good tournament proves Bafana had a good tournament, not that the PSL is stronger than Scotland, Finland or the A-League etc.

You right mate, I was just messing around. But there are nuggets in the jest. 

The Finnish League is the English Conference League. It is getting better with more investment but it's a major reason Finland has not qualified for a major tournament in a long time. 

Fans should not be fooled by the "European tag". When it comes to Bafana, they were a super average team, which probably says more about the group. Yes, there were big reasons for it. Like poor preparation over a four year period and the coach not selecting better players based in Europe and MLS. 

As for the Scottish League, I'm with Ian Wright, the coaching for the last 15 years has been shite.

They were at the Euros only five years ago.

Apologies to Finland. You right mate. I just checked. Euro 2020 was the first time they qualified for a major tournament in their history (if Chat can be believed)

Not to say I rate the Finnish league over the PSL, I definitely don’t. But, in Finland’s defence Inter Turku did just go undefeated against Istanbul Başakşehir and knock them out of European competitions.

To open a very subjective can of worms, Applying Opta rankings to our national pool like this doesn’t have much merit to it. There are players that are listed that are barely (or not even) involved in the first team at higher levels and likely won’t get any meaningful game time.

If we’re also focusing on players from the NPL then we might as well include the 100+ players we’ve got in the domestic league.

Don’t get me wrong I think it’s cool to have a list of our players based overseas, but we can’t look too much into it when so many factors are up to interpretation. With the exception of Tommy Smith, we’re past the days of needing to call up semi-pro or amateur players. As far as I’m concerned if they’re not a pro they’re irrelevant to the national team picture.

Shortened down the quote to reply directly. I've also changed the name of the thread to 'National Pool of Professional & Overseas Based Players (Men's).

While I did ponder a list covering both domestic & international, it is far easier to track the overseas guys as the #'s aren't so changeable. National League may be in the vicinity of 400-500 across squads week to week - Too much effort, not enough time.

As for NPL level guys, it's a step in the right direction in terms of trying to further careers through exposure, as well as getting paid - It's as close to professionalism as it comes, just with the semi pro tag. And it isn't everything, but the money pisses all over what players take home here in the NL (several times over), the Oceania Pro League and even what the scholarship guys at both the Nix & AFC would he on. The younger cohort coming through - Bayliss, Ferguson, Fransen, Dyer, Cartwright have all come through the NPL pathway too.

Latest update.

Croatia
Oliver Edwards - HNK Slaveb Trogir

Denmark
Callum McCowatt - AGF

England
Tyler Bindon - Charlton Athletic (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
Brendan Schneider - Mickleover FC
Tommy Smith - Bury Town FC
Joe Jeremiah - Taunton Town FC
Nicholas Ferguson - Maghull FC
Lachlan McIntyre - Brentford FC

Indonesia
Jay Herdman - Bali United

Italy
Luca Scimia - Santegidiese

New Zealand
Riley Bidois - Wellington Phoenix (on loan from Monterey Bay FC)

Poland
Zhubin Rahbarian - Polonia 1908 Marcinki Kępno
Nate Camplin - Pogoń Staszów

Republic of Ireland
Finn McKenlay - Finn Harps
Zac Thomas - Bohemians FC

Scotland
Jake Williams - Cumbernauld Colts

South Africa
Dublin Boon - Orlando Pirates

This is a fantastic list! Any chance this thread can be pinned so it appears at the top of the Kiwis Players Elsewhere?