All Whites name strong squad heading for OFC Nations Cup

New Zealand’s head coach Darren Bazeley has named his All Whites squad to compete at the OFC Nations Cup, set to take place in Fiji and Vanuatu from 15 June 2024. 

For the first time, players have been selected from both New Zealand’s professional A-League Men sides, with four called up from the newly formed Auckland FC and ten who took part in Wellington Phoenix’s hugely successful 2023/2024 season. Fourteen players return from the last All Whites squad selected to face Egypt and Tunisia in March.

With an eye on July’s Summer Olympics, Bazeley has called up ten U-23 players who are eligible for Paris 2024, including four (Wellington Phoenix trio Fin Conchie, Sam Sutton and Oskar van Hattum as well as Auckland FC’s Jesse Randall) selected for the first time. 

Head coach Darren Bazeley highlighted the importance of the tournament to his side this year and the opportunities it provides for players to test themselves at international level: “This tournament is a really important competition for us and forms part of a big year starting with the OFC Nations Cup, followed by the Olympics and the start of FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifiers. The timing of this Nations Cup has made it quite difficult to select this final squad.  Over the last month, I have spoken to all of the players around their personal situations, with some of our potential players still mid-season, some coming off the back of long European seasons, and some in various personal or contract situations.  With the Olympics also being so close to the Nations Cup, with them being pretty much back-to-back tournaments, we have had to take that into consideration as well, managing player club and country commitments. This is a strong All Whites squad, with a large number of young U-23 players who will be part of the Olympic campaign, so having this time together is a real benefit leading into Paris 2024.  We now regularly monitor over 60 professional players who are all in the All Whites mix showing the strength in depth we are building, so for this Nations Cup squad we have delved into our depth and it is an opportunity for players to push themselves forward and stake a claim for regular selection. It is really exciting to see some of our younger players receive their first call up, it is a great opportunity for them to taste senior international football. What we need is to be playing as many games as possible which is why this competition, with challenging international games in quick succession, is great for our development“, said the head coach to NZF.

The top profile included in Bazeley’s list are arguably Empoli’s full-back Liberato Cacace, that might be the captain of the national team as he weared the armband in the previous friendly matches of the New Zealand side. Cacace is only of the few European-based players called-up by Bazeley, alongside Reading’s Tyler Bindon, Burton Albion’s Max Crocombe, Plymouth Argyle’s Ben Waine – all England-based. Complete the list Dundee United’s Alex Greive, based in Scotland, and Horsens’ Eli Just, based in Denmark. Alex Paulsen, recently signed by AFC Bournemouth coming from Phoenix, is also in the list. You can check the full All Whites call-up by clicking here.

The All Whites enter the tournament as the defending champions after lifting the trophy in 2016 and the 2020 edition being cancelled due to COVID-19. New Zealand has been drawn in Group A at the tournament alongside New Caledonia, Solomon Islands and co-hosts Vanuatu, and will play all group games at VFF Freshwater Stadium in Port Vila, Vanuatu.