{"id":565438,"date":"2026-08-11T06:46:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T06:46:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/565438\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T06:46:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T06:46:11","slug":"wellington-phoenix-sign-matildas-great-tameka-yallop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/565438\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington Phoenix sign Matildas great Tameka Yallop"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman has heralded the signing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe\u2019re bringing someone into the group with an immense amount of experience,\u201d Priestman said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cNot only has Tameka played in high pressure moments for the Matildas over the past 20 years, but she\u2019s also been part of the A-League women\u2019s competition since it started and has experience in some of the world\u2019s top leagues.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cFor a decorated Australian international like Tameka to make the move to the Wellington Phoenix speaks volumes about where this club is now at.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe\u2019ll really add to the team. Tameka can play multiple positions, she\u2019s dynamic, has a lot of energy, is technically very gifted and she scores goals, which was one of the key reasons for signing her.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Moments after the announcement, the Brisbane Roar announced they would be retiring the No 13 jersey to honour Yallop\u2019s career at the club.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">No Women&#8217;s footballer at Brisbane Roar will ever wear #13 again.<\/p>\n<p>It always has and always will belong to Tameka Yallop.<\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re proud to announce that it has been officially retired from our Women&#8217;s program forever.<\/p>\n<p>As a club, it was the easiest decision in the world. Love ya\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ilSFNvOq0N\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/ilSFNvOq0N<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Brisbane Roar FC (@brisbaneroar) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/brisbaneroar\/status\/2086966575719211356?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 11, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Family has lured Yallop across the Ditch, with wife Kirsty Yallop, a former Football Fern.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cMy wife is a Kiwi so I have pretty strong ties to New Zealand,\u201d Yallop said. \u201cAnd I spend a little bit of time over here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cWe have two little ones and my eldest daughter has got a Tillies jersey and a Ferns jersey, and she tells everyone that she is Kiwi-Aussie or Aussie-Kiwi.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s come to the point where we wanted to represent the New Zealand side of the family.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Yallop was quickly sold on the Phoenix after visiting the club last month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI\u2019m chasing that trophy and so is Wellington, so we\u2019re aligned.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cGetting the opportunity to work under Bev was a massive drawcard, not to mention the facilities at NZCIS. They\u2019re second to none.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cIt\u2019s a high performance environment in Wellington and that\u2019s something that I love being a part of.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAnd the Phoenix have shown they\u2019re dedicated to their women\u2019s programme. That was a major pull for me too.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThe club have proven that they\u2019ve consistently invested in the women\u2019s game and are looking to continue that as well.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cThey have a quality group of players and are bringing in more quality for next season. I can\u2019t wait to join them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">She believes she can help the Nix improve on last season\u2019s runners-up finish.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve still got a lot to offer. Being a senior player now it\u2019s probably a little bit different to what I had to offer when I was a youngster coming up.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cExperience and maturity are two attributes I bring to the club. They had a great season last season but I feel like the Phoenix are still building.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHopefully I can bring a little bit extra to them and help with their consistency throughout the season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cAt the same time I\u2019m also excited to get to know my new teammates and learn off them as well.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"BXSdIJQrZoWgYbVqzX\" style=\"display:none\">Tameka Yallop is the 18th women\u2019s player contracted to the Wellington Phoenix for the 2026-27 Ninja A-League, with the season starting October 16.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman has heralded the signing. \u201cWe\u2019re bringing someone into the group with an immense&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":565439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[125510,27309,74,9526,27245,76427,16773,305,661,20696,116640,111,139,69,57694,36200,6926,20585,7806,48613,213,1557,278313,52,2834,278314],"class_list":["post-565438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-125510","tag-added","tag-after","tag-another","tag-beyond","tag-decorated","tag-great","tag-have","tag-major","tag-matildas","tag-midfielder","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-phoenix","tag-potentially","tag-season","tag-securing","tag-sign","tag-signing","tag-sports","tag-squad","tag-tameka","tag-wellington","tag-womens","tag-yallop"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565438","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=565438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/565438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/565439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=565438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=565438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=565438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}