NZ Football confirm their appeal to OFC

New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin. Photo / Greg Bowker.

New Zealand Football confirmed their appeal to the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) was filed on Friday afternoon following the Men's U-23 team disqualification at the Pacific Games earlier this month.

New Zealand Football President Deryck Shaw said the grounds for appeal include both the process undertaken by the OFC, and the rules applied in reaching its decision.

Shaw also stated the FIFA Ethics Committee have confirmed they are not investigating New Zealand Football.

Oceania Football confirmed to the Herald yesterday that they are in the middle of investigating an enquiry into the eligibility of New Zealand players, including members of the U-17 team which qualified for the World Cup.

New Zealand Football CEO Andy Martin said the national body is continuing its detailed review of the internal processes and eligibility information for all players, including members of the Men's U-17 squad - reportedly the subject of a complaint received by OFC earlier this week.

"We are working at pace to complete a review of our internal processes and eligibility information on players," Martin said.

"We are taking a conservative view, and have obtained information from FIFA about the process to apply for exemptions for the small number of players that are potentially affected and we are working with the players concerned to gather the necessary information."

"We intend to have this review and work programme complete in the next two weeks and our focus remains on giving our full support to our players, their families and our coaching and management teams during what has been a distressing time for them."
Given the legal process underway, New Zealand Football will not be commenting further at this time.