{"id":630859,"date":"2026-10-15T00:30:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T00:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630859\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T00:30:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T00:30:10","slug":"new-zealand-select-squad-for-first-fifa-u-15-boys-world-cup-in-azerbaijan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/630859\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand select squad for first FIFA U-15 Boys World Cup in Azerbaijan"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Zealand Football have named their squad for the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival, starting in Azerbaijan this month.<\/p>\n

The squad includes six players from Wellington Phoenix, three from Auckland United, two from Christchurch United and one each from Nomads United, Bay Olympic and Fencibles United.<\/p>\n

Unlike traditional FIFA age-group tournaments, the competition will use an eight-a-side format, with matches comprising two 20-minute halves.<\/p>\n

The team will be coached by Wellington Phoenix\u2019s head of boys\u2019 talent development and men\u2019s U-18 head coach, Cam Grieve.<\/p>\n

New Zealand will compete against Madagascar, Mozambique, Puerto Rico, Somalia and Venezuela in Group T at the tournament in Baku.<\/p>\n

The competition will bring together 191 national teams and more than 3,000 participants, including players, coaches and officials.<\/p>\n

Almost 1,000 matches are scheduled across six matchdays, with the tournament running from October 24-30.<\/p>\n

Games will be played on 68m by 47m pitches, using full-size goals, with players born in 2011 or 2012 eligible.<\/p>\n

Each country will play five group matches before entering a second phase, with teams divided into six performance tiers.<\/p>\n

Countries will then play another four or five matches against opponents of similar ability, ensuring every squad receives substantial international experience.<\/p>\n

The winners of the top tier will become the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival champions.<\/p>\n

Most matches will be staged at Baku\u2019s purpose-built Hovsan Competition Complex, which features 20 pitches across a 12-hectare site.<\/p>\n

The tournament\u2019s finals will be held at the city\u2019s Crystal Hall.<\/p>\n

New Zealand are among 11 Oceania nations participating, alongside American Samoa, Cook Islands, Fiji, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tonga and Vanuatu.<\/p>\n

FIFA intend to introduce a girls\u2019 edition in 2027, before establishing annual tournaments for both boys and girls from 2028.<\/p>\n

The new competition forms part of FIFA\u2019s efforts to increase international playing opportunities for young footballers and support their development.<\/p>\n

New Zealand<\/p>\n

Tristan Bancroft \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (New Zealand Performance Academy Aotearoa)
Samuel Brooking \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (St Patrick\u2019s Silverstream)
Caleb Brown \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (Paraparaumu College)
Aashman Chandratreya \u2013 Christchurch United (Ao Tawhiti Football Institute)
Jacob Choi \u2013 Nomads FC (St. Bede\u2019s College Christchurch)
Mahdi Hossaini \u2013 Christchurch United (Riccarton High School)
Louis Jones \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (Heretaunga College)
Rylan Kumar \u2013 Auckland United (St Kentigern)
Xzavier Kumar \u2013 Bay Olympic (Avondale College)
Edward Martin \u2013 Auckland United (Long Bay College)
Finn Mason \u2013 Auckland United (St Peter\u2019s College)
Kieran McMahon \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (Onslow College)
Tawanda Mutingwende \u2013 Wellington Phoenix (NZ Performance Academy Aotearoa)
Aiden Quarterman \u2013 Fencibles FC (Saint Kentigern College)<\/p>\n

Fixtures<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Saturday October 24, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Venezuela
Hovsan Competition Complex, Baku. 8.30pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Sunday October 25, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n

Madagascar v New Zealand
Hovsan Competition Complex, Baku, 7.15pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Games to be played on Monday October 26, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Somalia
Hovsan Competition Complex, Baku, 2am (NZT)<\/p>\n

Puerto Rico v New Zealand
Hovsan Competition Complex, Baku, 6pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Tuesday October 27, 2026 (NZT)<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Mozambique
Hovsan Competition Complex, Baku, 12.45am (NZT)<\/p>\n

This story was first published on October 15, 2026.<\/p>\n

More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New Zealand Football have named their squad for the inaugural FIFA U-15 World Cup & Festival, starting in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[309273,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-630859","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-fifa-u-15-boys-world-cup","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630859","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=630859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}