{"id":602958,"date":"2026-09-17T06:40:15","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T06:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/602958\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T06:40:15","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T06:40:15","slug":"wellington-phoenix-sign-new-zealand-international-milly-clegg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/602958\/","title":{"rendered":"Wellington Phoenix sign New Zealand international Milly Clegg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wellington Phoenix have confirmed Kiwi talent Milly Clegg has returned to the club, signing a two-year deal ahead of the 2026\/27 Ninja A-League campaign.<\/p>\n

The 20-year-old forward heads back to New Zealand joins the Nix following a stint in Sweden with Vittsj\u00f6 GIK.<\/p>\n

Prior to her spell in the Swedish Damallsvenskan Clegg also played for Racing Louisville in the US National Women\u2019s Soccer League as well as Halifax Tides in Canada.<\/p>\n

Clegg was Wellington\u2019s leading goalscorer as a teenager during the 2022\/23 Ninja A-League season before departing to join Western Sydney Wanderers.<\/p>\n

TRANSFER CENTRE: Ninja A-League 2026\/27 Transfer Centre: Your club\u2019s moves<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"GOSFORD, AUSTRALIA \u2013 NOVEMBER 28: Ellie Carpenter of Australia is challenged by New Zealand\u2019s Milly Clegg during the International Friendly match between Australia Matildas and New Zealand Football Ferns at Polytec Stadium on November 28, 2025 in Gosford, Australia. (Photo by Steve Christo \u2013 Corbis\/Corbis via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

She has since gone on to earn 23 senior caps for New Zealand, scoring four goals, and her return to Wellington comes with a major year ahead for the Football Ferns with the 2027 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup on home soil.<\/p>\n

Phoenix head coach Bev Priestman believes regular football in Wellington can help Clegg continue her development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m delighted to bring another Football Fern home, someone who can play in front of friends and family,\u201d Priestman said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHeading into a big World Cup year, for someone of Milly\u2019s quality to feature week-in, week-out, is fantastic.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s fantastic to bring someone who is a true number nine, and adding her to the squad is great for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Priestman also believes Clegg\u2019s experience overseas will add another dimension to the Phoenix attack.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the very young age of 20, Milly\u2019s accumulated a lot of experience playing professionally around the world.<\/p>\n

\"\"KANSAS CITY, MO \u2013 OCTOBER 29: Jordyn Bugg #4 of USA battles with Milly Clegg #9 of New Zealand during an international friendly game between New Zealand and USWNT at CPKC Stadium on October 29, 2025 in Kansas City, Missouri. (Photo by Robin Alam\/ISI Photos\/ISI Photos via Getty Images)<\/p>\n

TRANSFER COUP: Victory seal striker coup as former Julie Dolan Medalist jets in<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cTo bring that and bolster the squad, looking at the forwards that we\u2019ve got, we have positional depth with players being able to play across positions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt adds a few strings to our bow in how we attack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clegg said the decision to return home became increasingly straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was talking with my agent, and then both parties started chatting,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe more I spoke with my agent, my family, Bev, it all just made sense and was a really exciting opportunity.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve just got my feet on the ground and looking to have a good season here. I want to help the team in any way I can and impact them positively.<\/p>\n

She continued: \u201cI was really young when I was here last time, I\u2019ve grown up a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve lived overseas, lived alone, I\u2019ve matured a lot outside of the field and added a lot to my game on the field through playing in different countries.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve become a lot better of a person and a player, and I\u2019m excited to show that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clegg will wear the number eight shirt for the Phoenix and becomes the 19th women\u2019s player contracted for the 2026\/27 Ninja A-League season.<\/p>\n

The Phoenix will open their campaign against Melbourne City at Hnry Stadium on Sunday, October 18.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Wellington Phoenix have confirmed Kiwi talent Milly Clegg has returned to the club, signing a two-year deal ahead…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602959,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[297065,25192,297066,111,43,139,69,297067],"class_list":["post-602958","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-a-league-women","tag-a-leagues","tag-alwfeatured","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-transfer-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602958","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=602958"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602958\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602959"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602958"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602958"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602958"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}