{"id":572116,"date":"2026-08-17T22:34:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572116\/"},"modified":"2026-08-17T22:34:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T22:34:10","slug":"new-caledonia-ready-to-join-new-zealand-at-fifa-u-20-womens-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/572116\/","title":{"rendered":"New Caledonia ready to join New Zealand at FIFA U-20 Women&#8217;s World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>New Caledonia will make their debut at the FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup in Poland next month, joining New Zealand as the second Oceania representative at the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand qualified by winning the OFC U-19 Women\u2019s Championship last year, while New Caledonia also qualified as runners-up at the tournament in Tahiti.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2025\/10\/02\/new-zealand-qualify-for-2026-fifa-u20-womens-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: They\u2019re through! New Zealand qualify for 2026 FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand will aim to progress beyond the group stage for the first time since reaching the quarter-finals in 2012. The 2026 edition will be New Zealand\u2019s 10th appearance.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2026\/08\/18\/new-zealand-squad-named-for-fifa-u-20-womens-world-cup-in-poland\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: New Zealand squad named for FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup in Poland<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>By contrast, coach L\u00e9on Waitronyie\u2019s New Caledonia side will make their first appearance at the U-20 tournament, matching the achievement of their men\u2019s team who reached last year\u2019s FIFA U-20 Men\u2019s World Cup for the first time.<\/p>\n<p>While most of the New Caledonia squad play for domestic clubs, central defender and captain Kamen Lorenda Simane has played for the French club FC Nantes and has already been capped at the full international level.<\/p>\n<p>Main photo: New Caledonia \u2026 ready for FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup. Photo credit: OFC Media.<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia squad<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers<\/p>\n<p>Elisabeth Aben<br \/>Muneiko Waheo<br \/>Kelia Golitin<\/p>\n<p>Defenders<\/p>\n<p>Louane Poccoue<br \/>Leana Hmae<br \/>Valerie Ngazo<br \/>Alesie Adjou<br \/>Kamen Lorenda Simane<br \/>Kenza Kenon<br \/>Emmanuelle Buama<br \/>Shirley Wenessia<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders<\/p>\n<p>Kheimera Gondou<br \/>Matha Bako<br \/>Cecilia Waheo<br \/>Deyanera Michel<\/p>\n<p>Forwards<\/p>\n<p>Julia Honakoko<br \/>Joyce-Rose Angexetine<br \/>Jocelyne Kourevi<br \/>Kane Dralue<br \/>Aziliz Naaoutchoue<\/p>\n<p>Who New Caledonia will face<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia will play 2022 champions Spain in their group. They\u2019ll also face Nigeria and China PR, both of which have finished runners-up twice.<\/p>\n<p>The groups<\/p>\n<p>Group A: Poland, Mexico, Argentina, Benin<br \/>\nGroup B: Brazil, England, Canada, Tanzania<br \/>\nGroup C: France, Korea Republic, Ghana, Ecuador<br \/>\nGroup D: Japan, United States, New Zealand, Italy<br \/>\nGroup E: Korea DPR, Colombia, Costa Rica, Portugal<br \/>\nGroup F: Spain, Nigeria, China PR, New Caledonia<\/p>\n<p>Oceania\u2019s other representative at the tournament, New Caledonia, will play 2022 champions Spain. They\u2019ll also face Nigeria and China PR, both of which have finished runners-up twice.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand qualified by winning the OFC U-19 Women\u2019s Championship last year, while New Caledonia also qualified as runners-up at the tournament in Tahiti.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2025\/10\/02\/new-zealand-qualify-for-2026-fifa-u20-womens-world-cup\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: They\u2019re through! New Zealand qualify for 2026 FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>Fixtures<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787006049_78_FOF-weekday-Monday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Monday September 7, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia v China PR<br \/>Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 11pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FOF-Weekday-Tuesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Tuesday September 8, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Spain v Nigeria<br \/>Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 2am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FOF-Weekday-Friday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Friday September 11, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Spain v New Caledonia<br \/>Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 1am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>China PR v Nigeria<br \/>Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 4am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31279\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787006050_732_FOF-Weekday-Sunday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played September 13, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>China PR v Spain<br \/>Arena Sosnowiec, Sosnowiec, 11pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787006049_78_FOF-weekday-Monday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Monday September 14, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Nigeria v New Caledonia<br \/>Stadion Miejski \u0141KS, \u0141\u00f3d\u017a, 1am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>How the tournament format works<\/p>\n<p>The top two teams in each group qualify for the Round of 16, along with the four third-placed teams with the best performance in their groups.<\/p>\n<p>From the Round of 16 to the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final, the games are knockout, with extra time and penalties, if necessary, used to find winners.<\/p>\n<p>This story was first published on August 18, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Caledonia will make their debut at the FIFA U-20 Women\u2019s World Cup in Poland next month, joining&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[214421,165723,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-572116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fifa-u-20-womens-world-cup","tag-new-caledonia","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572116","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=572116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}