{"id":576899,"date":"2026-08-22T13:04:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T13:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576899\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T13:04:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T13:04:16","slug":"new-zealand-squad-named-for-ofc-u-19-mens-championship","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/576899\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand squad named for OFC U-19 Men&#8217;s Championship"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Head coach Jos\u00e9 Figueira has named a 21-player squad to represent New Zealand at the OFC U-19 Men\u2019s Championship in Samoa.<\/p>\n<p>The eight-nation tournament, which runs from September 1-14, 2026, decides which two sides will represent Oceania at the 2027 FIFA U-20 Men\u2019s World Cup, to be hosted in Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan.<\/p>\n<p>Drawn in Group B, New Zealand will face Tahiti, Fiji, and Vanuatu in the pool games to be staged at Samoa\u2019s Football Headquarters in Apia.<\/p>\n<p>The New Zealand squad features predominantly players from New Zealand clubs, with Auckland FC providing the largest contingent, with nine players selected, while Wellington Phoenix contribute three players.<\/p>\n<p>The squad includes players developing in Australia\u2019s professional and semi-professional systems, with representatives from Western Sydney Wanderers and Sydney Olympic.<\/p>\n<p>Alex Lienard\u2019s inclusion from English Premier League club Sunderland gives the squad a connection to a high-level English football academy environment.<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand squad<\/p>\n<p>Victor Barbosa (Unattached)<br \/>Aaron Cartwright (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Bailey Ferguson (Unattached)<br \/>Van Fitzharris (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Ricky Fransen (Western Sydney Wanderers, Australia)<br \/>George Green (Western Suburbs, New Zealand)<br \/>Oliver Grosso (Christchurch United, New Zealand)<br \/>Waisea Henry (Christchurch United, New Zealand)<br \/>Harley Hill (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Anton Isaako (Sydney Olympic, Australia)<br \/>Eli Jones (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Damion Kim (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Alex Lienard (Sunderland, England)<br \/>Nathan Martin (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Eamonn McCarron (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)<br \/>Dejaun Naidoo (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Daniel Nelson (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)<br \/>Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues (Unattached)<br \/>Jayden Smith (Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand)<br \/>Luka Vicelich (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<br \/>Michael Wong (Auckland FC, New Zealand)<\/p>\n<p>Among those to return from the previous U-20 cycle are Eamonn McCarron, Jayden Smith and Gab Sloane-Rodrigues.<\/p>\n<p>Eight players have progressed from the New Zealand men\u2019s U-17 cycle (Aaron Cartwright, Van Fitzharris, Damion Kim, Alex Lienard, Nathan Martin, Daniel Nelson, Luka Vicelich, Michael Wong).<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-71817\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Jose-Figueira.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1200\" height=\"635\"  \/>New Zealand head coach Jos\u00e9 Figueira \u2026 \u2018A fantastic opportunity for our players.\u2019\u00a0Photo: Shane Wenzlick \/ <a href=\"https:\/\/phototek.co.nz\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Phototek<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Head coach Jos\u00e9 Figueira says this squad highlights the success of the New Zealand Football pathways system, with so many players progressing from previous age groups.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve selected a group that combines players excelling in domestic environments with others gaining experience overseas. The players have worked hard to reach this point, and we\u2019re looking forward to the challenge ahead in Samoa.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe OFC U-19 Championship is a fantastic opportunity for our players to test themselves in a competitive international environment. We know what\u2019s at stake with a place at the FIFA U-20 World Cup on the line, but our focus is on continuing the development of this group, playing our football with confidence, and representing New Zealand with pride.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTournaments like this are about embracing the challenge. Every team in Oceania will arrive in Samoa with ambition and belief, and we have great respect for our opponents. For us, success will come from staying true to our identity, working hard for each other, and being ready to perform when the key moments arrive.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cQualifying for the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup is the objective for this team, but we know nothing will be given to us. We are excited for the challenge ahead, and now it\u2019s about bringing energy, discipline, and consistency to every match throughout the tournament.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Games at the OFC U-19 Men\u2019s Championship will be streamed live and free on OFC\u2019s YouTube channel, DAZN and FIFA+.<\/p>\n<p>Acknowledgement<\/p>\n<p>We thank NZ Football for providing information in this story.<\/p>\n<p>Fixtures<\/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\/1787403854_845_FOF-Weekday-Tuesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Tuesday September 1, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group A<\/p>\n<p>Solomon Islands v Papua New Guinea<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia v Samoa<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403855_725_FOF-Weekday-Wednesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Wednesday September 2, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group B<\/p>\n<p>Fiji v Vanuatu<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand v Tahiti<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403855_591_FOF-Weekday-Friday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Friday September 4, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group A<\/p>\n<p>New Caledonia v Solomon Islands<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Papua New Guinea v Samoa<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403855_279_FOF-Weekday-Saturday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Saturday September 5, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group B<\/p>\n<p>Vanuatu v Tahiti<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand v Fiji<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403856_268_FOF-weekday-Monday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Monday September 7, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group A<\/p>\n<p>Papua New Guinea v New Caledonia<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Samoa v Solomon Islands<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (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\/1787403854_845_FOF-Weekday-Tuesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Tuesday September 8, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Group B<\/p>\n<p>Tahiti v Fiji\u00a0<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Vanuatu v New Zealand\u00a0<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31277\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403855_591_FOF-Weekday-Friday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Friday September 11, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Semi-final 1<\/p>\n<p>Winners Group A v Runners-up Group B<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 10am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Semi-final 2<\/p>\n<p>Winners Group B\u00a0 Runners-up Group A<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403855_279_FOF-Weekday-Saturday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Saturday September 12, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Play-off for 5th<\/p>\n<p>3rd Group A v 3rd Group B<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 11am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Play-off for 7th<\/p>\n<p>4th Group A v 4th Group B<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31330\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787403856_268_FOF-weekday-Monday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Games to be played on Monday September 14, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Play-off for 3rd<\/p>\n<p>Losers semi-final 1 v losers semi-final 2<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 11am (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>Final<\/p>\n<p>Winners semi-final 1 v winners semi-final 2<br \/>Samoa Football Headquarters, Apia, Samoa, 2pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p>This story was first published on August 21, 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":"Head coach Jos\u00e9 Figueira has named a 21-player squad to represent New Zealand at the OFC U-19 Men\u2019s&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":576900,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[210152,111,43,139,69,284092],"class_list":["post-576899","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fifa-u-20-mens-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-ofc-u-19-mens-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576899","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=576899"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/576899\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/576900"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=576899"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=576899"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=576899"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}