The Wellington Phoenix are delighted to confirm Chris Greenacre has been appointed the men’s seventh head coach in club history.
Greenacre, who has called Wellington home since 2009 when he joined the Phoenix as a player, will take charge of the men for the 2026-27 Isuzu UTE A-League season, with an option for another year.
The former striker is the ultimate clubman. After scoring 19 goals for the Nix in 84 appearances he served as an assistant to the men’s first five head coaches from 2012-2021, and for the past four seasons was the head coach of the men’s reserves and head of pro development at the club’s academy.
More recently Greenacre has served as the men’s interim head coach, for the fourth time, guiding the Phoenix to four wins in eight matches to finish the A-League season, including the team’s first three-match winning streak in three years.
He has also headed the New Zealand under-20 men’s programme since the start of 2024, guiding the team to the FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile last year.
Phoenix chairman Rob Morrison has congratulated Greenacre on his appointment.
“Greeny thoroughly deserves this opportunity,” Morrison said. “He’s served a long apprenticeship at the Phoenix and we’ve watched him grow into a high quality coach.
“He knows the club inside-out and the hard work and professionalism he showed as a player have been carried into his coaching career.
“Greeny played for a Phoenix team that emphasised hard work and determination, kept their feet on the ground and put each other and the club ahead of themselves. They’re qualities we want him to instil in the current side.
“He has done a fantastic job over the past couple of months after taking charge in difficult circumstances and we can already see the qualities he wants in the team.
“We look forward to seeing what he can achieve over the next 12 months. I have no doubt he will continue to instil pride in the Phoenix badge.”
Chris Greenacre is “extremely proud” to have been appointed head coach.
“It’s a real honour to lead this team,” Greenacre said. “I feel the Phoenix is my club and Wellington is my hometown.
“My wife Lynsey and I fell in love with Wellington from the moment we moved here from the U.K. and my daughter Hermione was born here.
“To play for and lead your hometown club is quite a cool situation to be in and doesn’t happen very often in world football.
“I want to grasp this opportunity and drive this club forward with everything I’ve got.
“I’ve got the passion and the drive to do it, and I just want to drag people along for the journey and let see what happens.”
Greenacre wants to create moments that the club’s supporters can be proud of.
“I want to see an exciting brand of football where we create a lot of opportunities going forward.
“Ultimately the game is about scoring goals and when your team’s creating opportunities fans get behind you.
“When Hnry Stadium is full it’s an amazing place and it’s our job as a coaching staff and players to get that stadium full again.
“And one thing I will guarantee is you won’t see the players giving up. There won’t be question marks around effort. That’s just not who I am as a person and not who I was when I played.”
He has “too many people to thank” for helping him along his coaching journey, but pinpoints his time at the Phoenix academy as being “absolutely vital”.
“The last four years have in effect been a pilot scheme for me to make mistakes, and there have been a lot of mistakes amongst the successes.
“It’s allowed me to really hone in on the skills I felt I really needed to develop like tactics, man management and driving an environment.
“They’re all of the ingredients that you need in a first team set-up and I’m more than ready for this opportunity now.”
