new coach Bev Priestman’s first signing<\/a> since being appointed Phoenix head coach.<\/p>\n“She has played consistently in the WSL, which is a top league, and has experience playing at Olympic Games and World Cups, and I don’t think you can buy that,” said Priestman.<\/p>\n
Bott grew up in the Wellington suburb of Karori and played her club football at Waterside Karori.<\/p>\n
“In terms of her attributes she’s got a big engine, loves defending but also brings some real quality and tempo on the ball including assisting us to get on the scoresheet.<\/p>\n
“To be honest I think CJ could play multiple positions and she’ll allow us to be really adaptable in what we do and when we do it.”<\/p>\n
![\"Bev](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/4K3GFS0_250730_Phoenix_Coach_2_jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\nWellington Phoenix coach Bev Priestman.
\nPhoto: RNZ \/ Samuel Rillstone\n<\/p>\n
Bott said she had wanted to play for the Phoenix since the women’s team was established in 2021.<\/p>\n
“To be able to come back to Wellington and play professionally for the Phoenix in my hometown is really special. I didn’t have that dream when I was a kid. We didn’t have a women’s team to aspire to….I’m proud to be part of the club.<\/p>\n
She said the Phoenix offer came at the right time.<\/p>\n
“I had a few options after leaving Leicester and I looked around a little bit, but after being home for the past two months I didn’t really want to leave. It’s nice for me and my partner to be able to establish some roots and be closer to family and friends.<\/p>\n
“It’s also great to know what I’m doing for the next couple of years leading into the next World Cup.”<\/p>\n
Bott will join the Wellington Phoenix for the start of pre-season early next month, with the A-League season kicking off on October 31.<\/p>\n
Sign up for Ng\u0101 Pitopito K\u014drero<\/a>, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Phoenix signing CJ Bott. Photo: PHOTOSPORT Football Ferns defender CJ Bott is returning home to Wellington signing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":36289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,1590,63,1589,596,44,1591,1588,1586,1587,85],"class_list":["post-36288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-audio","tag-australia","tag-current-affairs","tag-football","tag-news","tag-podcasts","tag-public-radio","tag-radio-new-zealand","tag-rnz","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}