New Zealand national football team

New Zealand playing Australia in 1922

New Zealand's first international football match was played in Dunedin at the old Caledonian Ground on 23 July 1904 against a team representing New South Wales. New Zealand lost by the game's only goal, but drew with the same team 3–3 in a game at Athletic Park, Wellington seven days later.[4] The following year the team played a Wellington representative side on 10 June before embarking on a tour of Australia, during which they played eleven representative sides, including three "test matches" against New South Wales. Of these three matches they won one, lost one, and drew one.

New Zealand playing against Israel during the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifiers

A New Zealand national team did not play again until 1922, when New Zealand played three official full internationals against Australia, played at Carisbrook in Dunedin, Athletic Park in Wellington, and Auckland Domain. The results were two 3–1 wins to New Zealand and a 1–1 draw in Wellington.[5][6] In 1927, Canada became the second team to play in New Zealand as they played in four official matches with a win and a draw.[7]

New Zealand would become one of the founder members of the Oceania Football Confederation in 1966 which was founded between Charlie Dempsey and his Australian colleague Jim Bayutti in founding the federation.[8]

According to Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand, up until the 1980s "the high visibility of British migrants in the All Whites, as well as in the game's administration and domestic club scene, attracted negative comments". The All Whites qualified for the 1982 FIFA World Cup, losing all three of its games by multiple goals. Of the 22-man squad, 11 members were born in the United Kingdom, including seven in England alone. This included the captain Steve Sumner and striker Steve Wooddin, who had both played club football in England before immigrating. However, over the following decades the composition of the national squad changed and "the face of football became increasingly Kiwi".[9]

Since the 1990s, United States college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players. This influence began when former Scotland international Bobby Clark returned to the U.S. after his 1994–96 stint as New Zealand head coach to take the head coaching job at Stanford University (he now holds the same position at Notre Dame). Clark began recruiting in New Zealand, and former New Zealand national players Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott played for him at Stanford. The trend that Clark started has continued to the present; more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I men's programs in the U.S.[10] A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPN soccernet journalist Brent Latham speculated in a March 2010 story that New Zealand's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad could have more MLS players than the U.S. squad.[10][11] However, Latham's speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup. New Zealand formerly competed against Australia for top honours in the OFC. However, after Australia left to join the AFC in 2006, New Zealand were left as the only seeded team in the OFC. New Zealand qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup though exited the competition after the first round despite being the only team not to lose a game during the tournament.[12] The tournament also featured one of New Zealand's most notable results, a 1–1 draw with the then world champions Italy. New Zealand drew their other two pool games with Slovakia and Paraguay and ultimately finished above Italy, who placed last, in the group. New Zealand drew all three games and finished third in their group. New Zealand were also the only undefeated team in the entire tournament thanks to Spain's defeat to Switzerland.

New Zealand playing against Portugal in the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.

In August 2014, Anthony Hudson was appointed manager of the All Whites. Hudson's first game in charge of the national team was a 3–1 defeat away to Uzbekistan in September 2014. As a result of the All Whites playing "just three matches" in the previous year, which was "the least of any country in world football",[13] and having "seven months without a match" the All Whites dropped to 161 in the FIFA world rankings.[14][15] The All Whites went on to win the 2016 OFC Nations Cup, winning four matches with the final being won via a penalty shootout after a 0–0 draw against Papua New Guinea, conceding only 1 goal, from a penalty, in the process. New Zealand's victory saw them crowned Oceania champions making New Zealand the most successful national team in the competition's history, having won the tournament five times, and also saw them qualify for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia. The All Whites moved up 54 places in the world rankings in July and achieved 88th in the FIFA world rankings, the highest ranking in three years, on the back of the OFC Nations Cup victory that qualified them for the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup.[16][17]

After a disappointing tournament at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup where they finished bottom of their group which featured Russia, Mexico and Portugal, the national team fell 27 places to 122nd.[18] In September 2017, New Zealand won the OFC Final against the Solomon Islands with an aggregate score of 8–3 to qualify for the inter-continental play-off qualifier against Peru, the fifth-ranked nation from the South America's qualifiers.[19][20] After holding Peru off in the first leg, they would go to lose 2–0 in the second leg to be eliminated from competition as Peru became the last team to qualify for the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[21][22]

The following players were called up for the friendly matches against Gambia, to be played on 16 November 2021.[30]
Caps and goals updated as of 17 November 2021 after the game against The Gambia.

No.	Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club
20	1GK	Stefan Marinovic	(1991-10-07) 7 October 1991	27	0	Hapoel Nof HaGalil
	1GK	Jamie Searle	(2000-11-25) 25 November 2000	0	0	Swansea City
1	1GK	Michael Woud	(1999-01-16) 16 January 1999	3	0	Almere City
5	2DF	Michael Boxall	(1988-08-18) 18 August 1988	35	0	Minnesota United
13	2DF	Liberato Cacace	(2000-09-27) 27 September 2000	6	0	Sint-Truiden
3	2DF	Francis de Vries	(1994-11-28) 28 November 1994	1	0	IFK Värnamo
15	2DF	Kelvin Kalua	(1999-07-10) 10 July 1999	3	0	Eastern Suburbs
17	2DF	Niko Kirwan	(1995-09-04) 4 September 1995	3	1	Padova
4	2DF	Nando Pijnaker	(1999-02-25) 25 February 1999	4	0	Helsingør
2	2DF	Winston Reid (Captain)	(1988-08-18) 18 August 1988	26	1	Unattached
16	2DF	Tommy Smith	(1990-03-31) 31 March 1990	41	2	Colchester United
8	3MF	Joe Bell	(1999-04-27) 27 April 1999	5	0	Viking
19	3MF	Matthew Garbett	(2002-04-13) 13 April 2002	3	0	Torino
10	3MF	Sarpreet Singh	(1999-02-20) 20 February 1999	8	1	Jahn Regensburg
18	3MF	Marko Stamenic	(2002-02-19) 19 February 2002	3	0	HB Køge
11	4FW	Joe Champness	(1997-04-27) 27 April 1997	2	0	Giresunspor
22	4FW	Elliot Collier	(1995-02-22) 22 February 1995	2	0	Unattached
14	4FW	Andre de Jong	(1996-11-02) 2 November 1996	6	1	AmaZulu
7	4FW	Elijah Just	(2000-05-01) 1 May 2000	5	0	Helsingør
12	4FW	Callum McCowatt	(1999-04-30) 30 April 1999	4	1	Helsingør
9	4FW	Chris Wood	(1991-12-07) 7 December 1991	60	27	Burnley

The following players have been called up within the last 12 months and remain eligible for selection.

Pos.	Player	Date of birth (age)	Caps	Goals	Club	Latest call-up
GK	Nik Tzanev	(1996-12-23) 23 December 1996	1	0	AFC Wimbledon	v.  Bahrain, 12 October 2021
DF	Bill Tuiloma	(1995-03-27) 27 March 1995	27	1	Portland Timbers	v.  Gambia, 16 November 2021 INJ
DF	Dalton Wilkins	(1999-04-15) 15 April 1999	0	0	Kolding IF	v.  Bahrain, 12 October 2021 INJ
DF	Nikko Boxall	(1992-02-24) 24 February 1992	4	0	SJK	v.  Bahrain, 12 October 2021