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<\/p>\nFinn McKenlay chats to Jonno Ross to discuss his football career so far, his recent experience at the FIFA U20\u2019s World Cup in Chile, and his future goals with Auckland FC.<\/p>\n
WHERE IT ALL BEGAN<\/p>\n
McKenlay, born in Wimbledon, England, spent his first two years in the UK. He first got into football through his father. His whole dad\u2019s side of the family is big into football, and with the family being from Leicester, football was always big in the household. <\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I can remember, I\u2019ve always been playing football. It was since the age of four, or even younger than that.\u201d<\/p>\n
He played his junior club football at East Coast Bays, then Auckland United, before playing first team men\u2019s football at Birkenhead. He then moved onto Eastern Suburbs first team.\u00a0<\/p>\n
HOW AUCKLAND FC CAME KNOCKING<\/p>\n
After having a successful season in the Northern League with Eastern Suburbs and qualifying for the National League, McKenlay was informed by his coach, Kane Wintersgill, that Auckland FC were interested in signing him. <\/p>\n
Being a regular starter in the midfield in the National League at the age of just 18 couldn\u2019t be ignored by AFC\u2019s Director of Football \u2013 Terry McFlynn. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy dad got a call from Terry, to tell him they (AFC) were interested in offering me a scholarship contract. It was probably one of the best days of my life. I was pretty stoked.<\/p>\n
DEBUT SEASON & TRAINING WITH THE FIRST TEAM<\/p>\n
From playing with non-professional players, and then to be suddenly thrown into a professional environment of an A-League club, certainly impacted the rising star. \u201cThe Northern League season was good, I enjoyed it. It was good to get some game time, and I think the group of guys are really good guys, as well as really high quality players. It\u2019s been good to keep progressing and I\u2019ve really enjoyed it.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraining with the first team was pretty surreal at the start to be honest. You go from the Northern League, to now playing with some of the best players in the league and of course you\u2019ve got someone like Hiroki who\u2019s played at the highest possible level of football, so it\u2019s pretty cool to be in an environment with some unreal players and you learn a lot from them.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFor me personally, I appreciate learning a lot from guys like Cam Howieson, Jake Brimmer, Louis Verstraete, Felipe Gallegos. It\u2019s so good to learn off those type of players \u2013 it helps me improve my game, and obviously I\u2019m competing with them so I feel like I\u2019m getting pushed each day.<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S IT LIKE TO HAVE A SONG THAT\u2019S SUNG FOR YOU BY THE FANS?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s pretty awesome, it\u2019s pretty unreal. It\u2019s a nice feeling. I\u2019ve got a lot to live up to, being called the \u2019Kiwi Iniesta\u2019\u201d, he laughs. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe words to the song are cool, actually. The song was stuck in my head for a while at one point as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
FINN\u2019S DEBUT FOR AUCKLAND FC<\/p>\n
The youngster didn\u2019t have to wait long until Steve Corica saw that McKenlay was ready to kick it with the first team. Round Eight of the A-League came around mid December, against three time Championship winners, and two time Premiership winners, Melbourne City. The game ended in a dramatic 2-2 draw, thanks to a 95th minute equaliser by AFC\u2019s Neyder Moreno.<\/p>\n
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How did he feel about his debut appearance for the club? \u201cI think it was a really good learning opportunity for me. It wasn\u2019t one of my best performances. I always want to do better, but I just took the positives away from it and I really enjoyed it. I feel like since then I\u2019ve been able to just keep developing and improving my game. <\/p>\n
\u201cI took a lot of lessons from that debut and I feel like they\u2019ve helped me \u2013 especially with the under 20\u2019s World Cup I just went to, a lot of those lessons were quite valuable to me and I learned a lot from that game.\u201d<\/p>\n
NEW ZEALAND U20\u2019s CALL UP<\/p>\n
As a kid, McKenlay always had the dream of playing for the country he calls home. At a young age in school, his teacher asked the class to write down on a piece of paper \u2018what they wanted to be when they\u2019re older\u2019. He wrote on his piece of paper \u2018professional football player\u2019. Not only did that dream become reality at club level football, but when the U20\u2019s National team came calling, it was a \u201cpretty cool moment\u201d for him. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe did the Oceania qualifiers in Samoa, and obviously we qualified for the World Cup which was cool. But then to get the call to say that I was going to the World Cup was a pretty great moment for me, because obviously being a footballer in New Zealand, it\u2019s a dream to go and represent the country and go to an Under-20 World Cup.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose opportunities don\u2019t come around that often and it\u2019s a once in a lifetime thing, so to get the call up and confirm that I was actually going to the World Cup, was a cool moment for me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2239061881.jpg\")
Photo Credit \u2013 PhotoSport<\/p>\n
FIFA U20\u2019s WORLD CUP IN CHILE<\/p>\n
After success in the U20 FIFA World Cup Qualifiers in Samoa, McKenlay, alongside teammates teammates Ollie Middleton, Codey Phoenix and Adama Coulibaly, were drawn in Group A against Egypt, Japan, and the host nation \u2013 Chile. <\/p>\n
Despite not getting the result against Chile in the opening fixture, losing the game 2-1 in the 97th minute, nothing could take away from that experience for McKenlay.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was probably my best footballing experience so far. I mean, playing in front of 45,000 people was unreal. I was just a few feet away from my teammates and I couldn\u2019t even speak in my normal tone, I basically had to scream to someone who was right next to me.<\/p>\n
\u201cI knew that it was going to be an unreal game playing the opener, but I couldn\u2019t imagine just how good it actually was. Even though we lost, and in such an unfortunate way, it was still the best experience of my life \u2013 it was just awesome.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mckenlay played every minute at the World Cup and was as a key player in the middle of the park.<\/p>\n
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Photo Credit \u2013 Photo Sport<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt the responsibility to perform \u2013 but I feel I am able to be a pretty consistent player. As a footballer you want to play every minute. Going into it I knew that I could help the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, because of the 3-0 loss to Japan, it\u00a0 meant NZ lost out on qualifying through goal difference. Mckenlay had plenty of positives he could take away from the whole experience.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, it was a once in a lifetime experience and the culture that we had was so good. It was a good group of lads, everyone got along with each other.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/2238362558_6c088d.jpg\")
Photo Credit \u2013 Photo Sport<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like sharing that opportunity with that certain group of lads and the coaching staff is something that I will look back on when I\u2019m older. Even though we didn\u2019t go through to the next round, nothing will take away from the experience we all had.\u201d<\/p>\n
GOALS & AMBITIONS FOR THE UPCOMING SEASON<\/p>\n
Having missed the first few National League games for the U23\u2019s due to his international duties, McKenlay looks to the remainder of the season: \u201cFor me, when it comes to the National League, I just want to be the best player on the park each time I step on.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to keep performing and play the best I can and developing in that side and keep pushing myself. I think we have a good squad and I think it\u2019s a team that can really push a bit in this league\u201d.<\/p>\n
With the A-League starting in just a few days, he wants to be in amongst the game day squad, pushing for as many minutes as he can get: \u201cWhen it comes to the A-League, I want to keep pushing to get in the match day squad, and when I get an opportunity I want to take it and perform well, testing the boys in my position and challenging them, so that\u2019s the main goal for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S NEXT FOR FINN MCKENLAY?<\/p>\n
\u201cI just want to keep progressing and taking each day as it comes, and doing everything I can to be the best footballer I can be. I want to push myself to see how far I can go in the footballing world and I\u2019m really just taking it step by step. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think the A-League is a great league to develop in and I just want to push to get more minutes. I don\u2019t want to look too far in the future, for now I just want to focus on Auckland FC and give myself the best opportunity to go as far as I possibly can.\u201d<\/p>\n