New Zealand Football spring surprises with national coaching appointments

Des Buckingham. Photo / Getty

Des Buckingham and José Figueira have been appointed as the New Zealand Under-20 and Under-17 head coaches respectively.

They are both curious appointments, given their history.

Buckingham was sacked as interim Phoenix coach at the end of last season, while Figueira was previously Under-17 head coach before being relieved of his duties before the 2015 Under-17 World Cup, though that was mostly driven by former All Whites coach Anthony Hudson.

Buckingham and Figueira have also been appointed as assistant coaches for the All Whites, even though the head coach has yet to be announced.

Buckingham will partner with his former Phoenix assistant Chris Greenacre to guide the New Zealand U-20s to the next FIFA World Cup in 2019.

Buckingham is currently a reserve team coach at Stoke City in the English Premier League.

He arrived at the Phoenix as a part time goal keeping coach, before being appointed as one of the assistants to Ernie Merrick.

He gained the top job after Merrick's departure, though Buckingham and Greenacre were unsucessful in their stint and let go at the end of the 2016-2017 season.

His coaching CV at first team level is far from extensive, but he does hold the UEFA Pro Licence, which NZF has signalled is a high priority.

Figueira, has built a strong domestic record, with back-to-back national titles with Team Wellington, will resume the role as the New Zealand U-17 head coach alongside former assistant Paul Temple, who is the Academy director at the Wellington Phoenix.

"We are really excited to have Des and José as our U-20 and U-17 coaches for the next World Cup cycle," said New Zealand Football Technical director Andreas Heraf.

"They both bring a huge amount of high level coaching experience and the challenge for them is simple — to get our age group teams winning on the world stage, and get our best young players ready for the national team."

In their statement NZF also said they are currently forming a short-list for the head coach role, with the intention that the All Whites play in the international window in March.

New Zealand Football - High Performance Positions:
New Zealand U-20 Head Coach – Des Buckingham
New Zealand U-20 Assistant Coach – Chris Greenacre
New Zealand U-17 Head Coach – José Figueira
New Zealand U-17 Assistant Coach – Paul Temple
New Zealand Football Head of Strength and Conditioning - Juan Roman
New Zealand Football Head of Performance Analysis - Gary Connell
Future Ferns Development Programme (FFDP) Assistant Manager – Gemma Lewis