New Zealand Football are pleased to confirm the 30-person squad for the upcoming FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Oceania Qualifiers, due to be held in Qatar this month.

The eight team tournament, kicking off from 17 March, takes place partially outside the FIFA international window meaning certain members of the squad will join later than others. Due to the squad size, a number of players will also leave during the tournament. 

The squad also sees Wellington Phoenix’s Ben Old and Ben Waine called up to the senior national side for the first time. 

The full 30-person squad is:

Matthew Gould (0 caps) Altrincham FC, England
Stefan Marinovic (27 caps) Hapoel Nof HaGalil, Israel*
Oli Sail (0 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Jamie Searle (0 caps) Swansea City, Wales*
Nikko Boxall (3 caps) San Diego Loyal, USA
Liberato Cacace (6 caps) FC Empoli, Italy (LOAN)*
Francis de Vries (2 caps) IFK Värnamo, Sweden
Dane Ingham (8 caps) Newcastle Jets, Australia+
Niko Kirwan (3 caps) Calcio Padova, Italy
Tim Payne (21 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand*
Nando Pijnaker (4 caps) Sligo Rovers, Ireland (LOAN)*
Winston Reid (27 caps) Unattached
Tommy Smith (42 caps) Colchester United, England
Bill Tuiloma (28 caps) Portland Timbers, USA*
Dalton Wilkins (1 cap) Kolding IF, Denmark+
Joe Bell (5 caps) Bröndby IF, Denmark*
Matthew Garbett (3 caps) Torino, Italy
Cam Howieson (13 caps) Auckland City FC, New Zealand
Clayton Lewis (16 caps) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Ben Old (0 caps, debut senior call-up) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Marko Stamenic (4 caps) HB Køge, Denmark (LOAN)*
Kosta Barbarouses (47 caps) Sydney FC, Australia+
Joe Champness (3 caps) Giresunspor, Turkey
Andre de Jong (6 caps) AmaZulu FC, South Africa
Alex Greive (1 cap) St Mirren, Scotland*
Elijah Just (6 caps) FC Helsingør, Denmark*
Callum McCowatt (5 caps) FC Helsingør, Denmark*
Logan Rogerson (4 caps) FC Haka, Finland
Ben Waine (0 caps, debut senior call-up) Wellington Phoenix, New Zealand+
Chris Wood (61 caps) Newcastle United, England*

* Joining from 19 March onwards
+ Leaving from 22 March onwards


The following players are unavailable for selection for this tournament:

Michael Boxall (recovering from injury, on standby if required), Elliot Collier (injury), Sarpreet Singh (injury), Ryan Thomas (not currently available) and Michael Woud (not considered due to club commitments). 

The All Whites kick-off their campaign in Group B against Papua New Guinea (Saturday 19 March at 3am NZ). This is followed by further group games against Fiji (Tuesday 22 March at 6am NZ) and New Caledonia (Friday 25 March at 6am NZ) with the top two sides progressing to the semi-finals against the top two Group A teams. 

The final will be held on Thursday 31 March (NZ) with the winner progressing to the Intercontinental Play-Off against the fourth-placed Concacaf side for a place at the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. 

“We knew this would be a challenging squad to put together but I'm confident in the team we've been able to assemble” says Head Coach Danny Hay. 

“I want to thank all the clubs for the flexibility they have shown when making their players available.

“Over the past year we have shown people what we are capable of as a team. Now is when we have to put everything we have been talking about into practice as we fight to return to the FIFA World Cup.”

Article added: Tuesday 08 March 2022