Three Wellington Phoenix players have secured selection in the All Whites for the business end of qualifying for the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The experienced Phoenix trio of Kosta Barbarouses, Tim Payne and Alex Rufer have been named in New Zealand’s squad for the final Oceania qualifiers.
The All Whites will play Fiji in their semi-final at Sky Stadium on Friday week (March 21), with the winner to square-off against either New Caledonia or Tahiti at Eden Park in Auckland on Monday, March 24 for a place at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Barbarouses (65 caps), Payne (41 caps) and Rufer (18 caps) were all part of the New Zealand squad for their most recent qualifiers against Tahiti and Samoa in November.
Payne didn’t feature in either match because of injury, while Rufer started the qualifier against Tahiti and Barbarouses came off the bench against Samoa after shaking off a minor injury.
Wellington Phoenix men’s reserves head coach Chris Greenacre and academy assistant performance analyst Sam Casey-Popovich will also assist the All Whites coaching staff while the squad is in Wellington next week.
Tickets for the semi-finals and final are available here.
All three matches will be broadcast live and free-to-air on TVNZ and FIFA+.
