The Wellington Phoenix will celebrate a major milestone at Sky Stadium on Friday night.
The round 15 Isuzu UTE A-League match against Melbourne City will be the Phoenix men’s 500th in the league.
To mark the occasion, the fan who purchases the 500th ticket for Friday night’s match will win a signed 2025-26 home shirt and the 500th supporter through the gates after they open at 6pm will receive a free membership for next season.
The first 500 fans through the gates will also receive a commemorative poster.
Club captain Alex Rufer has been with the Phoenix for the majority of the men’s past 499 A-League games.
Rufer joined the Nix in 2013 and made his debut in February 2014 in the team’s 177th game.
He says the club has changed a lot over the past 13 years.
“My first season was at Newtown Park training with the monkeys in the background and hearing the lions roar,” Rufer said.
“A massive difference in terms of players. There were a lot of older, experienced players back then who I learnt a lot off and now I’m that older player teaching a lot of the younger players.
“The direction the club is going with the academy and trying to produce top young players, I think is a very positive thing that they’re doing.
“You’ve seen over the last few years how successful the club has been at developing younger players, playing them and moving them on.”
Rufer’s connection to the club goes back even further. He was at the men’s inaugural match against Melbourne Victory in 2007 as an 11-year-old.
“I’ve always loved football and when the Phoenix came about and I saw some of my heroes, like Shane Smeltz and players like that, there was no way I was missing that.
“And over the years when there were games at Palmerston North I was always there too.
“Right from the first game I had a goal that I wanted to play for the Phoenix and here we are.”
The team’s extra time defeat to Melbourne Victory in the second leg of their semi-final at Sky Stadium in 2024 stands out as his most memorable moment during his time at the club.
“Purely because that summed up football in the most amazing and cruel way.
“We had a great season, we sold out the stadium and you could feel that maybe it was slipping away from us and then we got back in the game.
“You could really sense and feel that everyone in that stadium it meant something to them and that’s the feeling and sort of vibe we want to give back and get back.”
On Friday night the All Whites midfielder will draw level with another Phoenix legend, Ben Sigmund, in fourth place on the club’s all-time appearance list with 181 matches.
Phoenix general manager David Dome has seen it all during his time with the club. Dome has worked for the Nix since April 2008, originally as the club’s marketing manager, and says the past 18 years have been a massive rollercoaster.
“We’ve had some great times and we’ve had some down times, but on the whole the Wellington Phoenix is an extremely solid football club now and one of the most solid ones in the league.
“There was that time…when FFA wanted to kick us out and then within a couple of years they were begging us to stay because Covid had rolled in and they needed the Phoenix to relocate to Australia to keep the competition going.
“Now we’ve got eight academy teams, a men’s team and an exceptionally good women’s programme – right up there with the best in the league.
“I’m really proud of what we’ve been able to build as a club and it’s a crucial part of the A-League now.”
Dome says the 500 match milestone is worth celebrating.
“I think it’s a real credit to the owners that they’ve stuck with it because they could have jumped out at any stage.
“They’ve stuck with it the whole time and put a massive amount of investment into it. It’s philanthropy on a massive scale.
“And what it’s delivered to not only football in New Zealand but sport in New Zealand.
“You look at the fan group. There was nothing that came close to Yellow Fever before the Phoenix came along and they’ve been absolutely crucial as part of that success story.”
