The All Whites will have two farewell matches here ahead of the 2026 Fifa World Cup. Photo / Photosport
The All Whites will get a Fifa World Cup farewell on home soil after all.
It had been expected that the team wouldn’t play in New Zealand again before next June’s mega-tournament – but that is now not the case.
Ahead of Saturday’s draw ceremony in Washington DC, New Zealand Football has confirmed the All Whites will play two matches here next March, as part of a four-team international tournament, with all games to be staged in Auckland.
It’s an unexpected bonus, as the original plan for that period was to play in Europe or North America, to maximise the chances of top-quality opposition – but now the All Whites will be seen in front of their local fans.
The opportunity has arisen as a chapter of the Fifa series, an initiative that began in 2024 which brings teams together in mini-tournaments for meaningful cross-confederation matches. New Zealand participated in one of the first events last year in Egypt, alongside Tunisia, Croatia and the host nation.
The arrangement is a fillip for New Zealand Football, who have traditionally struggled to bring top nations to this part of the world, unless it is part of a double-header with Australia.
“This is massive, we know how excited people are for the Fifa World Cup 2026 already, and to have two final games at home against strong international opposition and properly see the team off is huge,” New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said in a statement on Wednesday.
“We would have loved to play in two cities but one of the requirements of hosting is ensuring all games are played in one location to maximise training time.
“We have already committed to bringing the team home again after the tournament, where we are looking to play at least one game in the South Island.”
Competing teams have yet to be locked in but it is believed they will all be ranked higher than New Zealand (No 85).
The All Whites have four possible matches ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off on June 11. There is room for two in the March window (March 23-31) and another couple in early June (June 1-9).
Any March decision came with an opportunity cost. Typically, playing in Europe allows easier assembly and widens the range of opponents. Playing in North America replicates World Cup conditions and has logistical advantages. Playing in New Zealand is usually tricky – in terms of travel for the squad and bringing teams here – but this was an opportunity too good to pass up, especially as matches here would be invaluable for so many other reasons, especially given the pre-World Cup interest.
“We have weighed things up but the team has played quite a lot in North America and given the June matches are almost definitely to be played there, between one of the three host countries, we felt that home was something we needed to look at,” Pragnell had told the Herald on Tuesday afternoon, indicating he was confident that it would happen, but there was still “a lot of water to go under the bridge”.
Pragnell and All Whites coach Darren Bazeley depart for Washington on Wednesday, ahead of a busy schedule of pre- and post-draw meetings and workshops for the competing teams around logistics, facilities, communications, marketing and ticketing.
New Zealand will know their three World Cup pool opponents at about 8am (NZT) on Saturday morning, after the ceremony at the Kennedy Centre, with the match schedule expected to be finalised a day later.
From that point, the All Whites delegation will need to assess base camps, dependent on where their fixtures are located. Each nation gets to nominate a preferred list of five options before Fifa allocate the locations, with higher-ranked nations getting preference if multiple countries have similar choices.
“We might not get our first pick,” Pragnell said. “We’ll obviously put our best foot forward to get the best camp, but we’ll also adapt to what we’re given.”
But the immediate focus is on the draw, though Pragnell didn’t want to speculate on possible best-case and worst-case scenarios.
“It’ll be what it’ll be and I don’t want to jinx it,” Pragnell said. “Every team in there is tough.”
For his part, Bazeley was also pragmatic. He was excited about playing a “big, big team” from all the seeds in pot one but said whoever came out was going to be “an exciting challenge”. Overall, he didn’t have any preferences, though he admitted that avoiding a South American team would be a bonus: “The standard of all of them are really high.”
He added that being drawn with a Asian team or squad from Concacaf “could potentially be good”, although he pointed out that some of those representatives are as good as the lesser European teams. The pot-three opponents will be critical and Bazeley agreed with most pundits, who see Erling Haaland’s Norway as a team to avoid.
“They are dangerous out of that pot,” Bazeley said.
Perhaps equally as important is where the All Whites end up playing their three matches, with Pragnell admitting that West Coast options (Vancouver, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles) have a lot of upside. Not only are they easier for travelling fans but the climate and conditions are likely to be more temperate than the Midwest cities and the East Coast, where teams baked during this year’s Fifa Club World Cup.
“We’ll prepare to play anywhere and the team will perform anywhere,” Pragnell said. “But definitely the West Coast has some advantages.”
Bazeley and Pragnall will stay on in the United States for three days following the day, returning to New Zealand on December 11.
Pot 1: Canada, Mexico, USA, Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium, Germany
Pot 2: Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria, Australia
Pot 3: Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Africa
Pot 4: Jordan, Cabo Verde, Ghana, Curacao, Haiti, New Zealand, Uefa Playoff Team 1 (Italy, Wales, Bosnia and Herzegovina or Northern Ireland), Uefa Playoff Team 2 (Denmark, Czechia, Ireland or North Macedonia), Uefa Playoff Team 3 (Turkiye, Slovakia, Kosovo or Romania), Uefa Playoff Team 4 (Ukraine, Poland, Albania or Sweden), IC Playoff Team 1 (Democratic Republic of the Congo, New Caledonia or Jamaica), IC Playoff Team 2 (Iraq, Bolivia or Suriname)
Michael Burgess has been a Sports Journalist for the New Zealand Herald since 2005, covering the Olympics, Fifa World Cups, and America’s Cup campaigns. He is a co-host of the Big League podcast.