The New Zealand World Cup 2026 will be the first to take part since 2010.
New Zealand qualified for World Cup 2026 thanks to a flawless OFC qualification campaign in which they scored 19 times and conceded only once in the group stage, seeing off Fiji and New Zealand to seal their World Cup return.
They'll be among the least experienced squads in the tournament in World Cup finals terms. Four years ago, the All Whites won their group in similarly emphatic fashion but lost out to CONCACAF opponents Costa Rica in the inter-confederation play-off. New Zealand won't be one of the favourites but the expanded tournament has already done them a solid.
While New Caledonia were unable to make it through the play-offs, New Zealand have been able to prepare for the tournament proper, the third World Cup in their history. They lost all three games in the first and drew all three in the second, so it’s all set to be a nine-point group stage this time around.
The New Zealand squad is typically populated by a mix of players from clubs in the A-League, in Australia as well as Auckland and Wellington, and exported players plugging away in an eclectic assortment of global football hotspots including England, Scotland and Wales.
New Zealand will face Belgium, Egypt and Iran this summer and the size of the task has been highlighted by their results since they secured their qualification by winning the OFC final against New Caledonia in March.
The All Whites beat Ivory Coast but then lost seven of their next eight fixtures, drawing only with fellow World Cup qualifiers Norway in October. After the last of those defeats, New Zealand picked up a thumping 4-1 win against Chile at the end of March.
Squad
New Zealand World Cup 2026 squad: the March selection
- GK: Max Crocombe (Millwall)
- GK: Alex Paulsen (Lechia Gdańsk)
- GK: Michael Woud (Auckland FC)
- DF: Tim Payne (Wellington Phoenix)
- DF: Francis de Vries (Auckland FC)
- DF: Tyler Bindon (Sheffield United)
- DF: James McGarry (Brisbane Roar)
- DF: Finn Surman (Portland Timbers)
- DF: Bill Tuiloma (Wellington Phoenix)
- DF: Callan Elliot (Auckland FC)
- MF: Joe Bell (Viking)
- MF: Marko Stamenić (Swansea City)
- MF: Lachlan Bayliss (Newcastle Jets)
- MF: Elijah Just (Motherwell)
- MF: Alex Rufer (Wellington Phoenix)
- MF: Ben Old (Saint-Étienne)
- MF: Callum McCowatt (Silkeborg)
- MF: Ryan Thomas (PEC Zwolle)
- FW: Logan Rogerson (Auckland FC)
- FW: Jesse Randall (Auckland FC)
- FW: Kosta Barbarouses (Western Sydney Wanderers)
- FW: Ben Waine (Port Vale)
- FW: Andre de Jong (Orlando Pirates)
Fixtures
- June 06, 2026: England vs New Zealand, Raymond James Stadium, Tampa Bay, Unites States
- June 15, 2026: Iran vs New Zealand, SoFi Stadium, Inglewood, United States
- June 21, 2026: New Zealand vs Egypt, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada
- June 26, 2026: New Zealand vs Belgium, BC Place, Vancouver, Canada
Recent Results
- March 30, 2026: New Zealand 4-1 Chile, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
- March 27, 2026: New Zealand 0-2 Finland, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
- November 19, 2025: Ecuador 2-0 New Zealand, Estadio Rodrigo Paz Delgado, Quito, Ecuador
- November 16, 2025: Colombia 2-1 New Zealand, Estadio El Campín, Bogotá, Colombia
- October 14, 2025: Norway 1-1 New Zealand, Ullevaal Stadion, Oslo, Norway
- October 09, 2025: Poland 1-0 New Zealand, Stadion Narodowy, Warsaw, Poland
- September 09, 2025: New Zealand 1-3 Australia, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
- September 05, 2025: Australia 1-0 New Zealand, Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane, Australia
- June 10, 2025: New Zealand 1-2 Ukraine, Stadion Miejski, Wrocław, Poland
- June 08, 2025: New Zealand 1-0 Ivory Coast, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
- March 24, 2025: New Caledonia 0-3 New Zealand, Eden Park, Auckland, New Zealand
- March 21, 2025: New Zealand 7-0 Fiji, Wellington Regional Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand
Manager
Who is New Zealand's manager?
New Zealand’s head coach since 2023 has been former Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall defender Darren Bazeley, who finished his playing career with two New Zealand clubs.
Bazeley is part of the furniture at New Zealand’s FA, where he first worked in 2009 and has held several coaching roles at various age groups and was a natural choice to succeed former Walsall teammate Danny Hay.
The Northampton-born coach has won all of his World Cup qualifiers by at least three goals but results outside the OFC show just how tall a task he’s facing in the United States, Canada and Mexico in the summer.
Star player
Who is New Zealand's star player?
By the time the All Whites arrive at the World Cup in 2026, Chris Wood will stand alone as his country’s captain, most capped player and record goalscorer. At 33, the striker is still doing the business for club and country.
Wood scored nine times in qualifying, more than twice as many as the second-highest scorer. He found the net 20 times in the Premier League in 2024-25, helping Nottingham Forest qualify for European football.
Now established by some distance as his country’s best-ever footballer, Wood will be eager to make his mark on what’s likely to be his last World Cup. He was a substitute in all three games as a teenager in South Africa 16 years ago. Now it’s his turn.
