{"id":222396,"date":"2026-01-08T01:15:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:15:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222396\/"},"modified":"2026-01-08T01:15:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-08T01:15:08","slug":"fifa-world-cup-bill-tuiloma-joins-wellington-phoenix-on-long-term-deal-in-bid-to-push-for-all-whites-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/222396\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa World Cup: Bill Tuiloma joins Wellington Phoenix on long-term deal in bid to push for All Whites spot"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m excited to be in Wellington and I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity the Phoenix have given me,\u201d Tuiloma said. \u201cI\u2019m ready to play, win games and help the team as much as I can on and off the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know it\u2019s been a rollercoaster so far this season, but the Phoenix have the players and the quality and I can\u2019t wait to start playing and hopefully help the team go all the way and win a trophy.<\/p>\n

\u201cOutside of a handful of games for the All Whites I haven\u2019t played in front of my family in New Zealand. It\u2019s special to be able to come home and be able to play in front of not only a big crowd of Phoenix fans, but my family as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

The signing of Tuiloma is a statement of intent by the Phoenix as they look to push for a spot in the playoffs.<\/p>\n

The Phoenix are currently ninth in the A-League standings with four wins, two draws and five defeats.<\/p>\n

They are c<\/a>oming off their biggest win of the season<\/a>, a 3-0 win over the Brisbane Roar.<\/p>\n

Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano said Tuiloma will bring much-needed experience to his side.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis ability with the ball is one of his biggest assets,\u201d Italiano said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019ll add to the way we build up, which is very important. Bill wants to be part of the All Whites squad for this year\u2019s World Cup so he\u2019s very motivated to be here and play a run of games.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe also has international experience and is a really good age as well. It\u2019s great to have him in Wellington.\u201d<\/p>\n

The move will give Tuiloma regular football as he looks to make his case to All Whites coach Darren Bazeley on why he should be on the plane to North America later this year.<\/p>\n

New Zealand secured their place at the World Cup after winning the Oceania qualifiers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

It will be the All Whites\u2019 third trip to football\u2019s biggest tournament, having previously played in 1982 and 2010.<\/p>\n

Last month, the All Whites were drawn into Group G<\/a> for the World Cup alongside Belgium, Egypt and Iran.<\/p>\n

Ben Francis<\/a> is an Auckland-based reporter for the New Zealand Herald who covers breaking sports news.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cI\u2019m excited to be in Wellington and I\u2019m grateful for the opportunity the Phoenix have given me,\u201d Tuiloma…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":222397,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[27500,5263,1040,16574,10542,3468,26848,2842,36862,2082,8482,78,6371,48425,1362,2683,111,139,69,90,57694,15400,111381,213,15412,61,133429,11744,52,5264,377],"class_list":["post-222396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aleague","tag-all","tag-bid","tag-bill","tag-cup","tag-deal","tag-defender","tag-experienced","tag-fifa","tag-for","tag-huge","tag-in","tag-joins","tag-longterm","tag-made","tag-move","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-phoenix","tag-push","tag-remainder","tag-sports","tag-spot","tag-to","tag-tuiloma","tag-upcoming","tag-wellington","tag-whites","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222396"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222396\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/222397"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}