Benjamin Mata (born 10 August 1998) is a

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for New Zealand Central League club Wellington Olympic, which he

captains Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. Born in New Zealand, he plays for the Cook Islands national team.

Club career

Mata began his youth career with Wanderers SC. After his departure from the club he joined

Onehunga Sports Onehunga Sports Football Club is a youth football club based in Onehunga, New Zealand. A senior side formerly competed in the Lotto Sport Italia NRFL Premier, last appearing in the competition in 2019. The club is widely regarded within New Zea ...

. The following season he was signed to the reserve side of

Wellington Phoenix Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian A-League Men, under licence from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 ...

of the

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

. He was one of two players to receive the

Winston Reid Winston Wiremu Reid (born 3 July 1988) is a New Zealand former association football, footballer. He is most known for his time as a Defender (association football), defender with club West Ham United F.C., West Ham United and captaining the N ...

Scholarship to join the club. In 2017 he committed to play

college soccer College soccer, called college football in some countries, is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. While it is most widespread in the United States, it is also prominent in Japan, South Kore ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

for the

Bears Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae (). They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout most o ...

Missouri State University Missouri State University (MSU or MO State), formerly Southwest Missouri State University, is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, United States. Founded in 1905 as the Fourth District Normal School, it is the state's second-largest u ...

. However, he did not go on to appear for the team. In 2018 Mata joined

Papakura City Papakura City was a city near Auckland, New Zealand. It existed from 1975 to 1989. History Papakura City was constituted as a city on 1 January 1975. It existed until the 1989 local government reforms, when "Papakura City" was subsumed by "Pap ...

for one season. In 2019 he joined Tupapa Maraerenga of the

Cook Islands Round Cup The Cook Islands Round Cup, also known as the Rarotonga Round Cup and the Tower Insurance Premiership, is the top division of the Cook Islands Football Association in Cook Islands. The winner qualifies for the OFC Champions League. Current champ ...

. He made two appearances for the club in 2019 OFC Champions League qualification, scoring three goals. Later in 2019 he moved to

Team Wellington Team Wellington Football Club was an association football club based in the suburb of Miramar in Wellington, New Zealand. They competed in the ISPS Handa Premiership. Team Wellington had traditionally been one of the most successful football c ...

. He remained with the club until 2021 when he signed across town with Wellington Olympic. During his first season with Olympic, Mata helped the team win the

Central League The or , also known as the for sponsorship reasons, is one of the two professional baseball leagues that constitute Nippon Professional Baseball in Japan. The winner of the league championship plays against the winner of the Pacific League i ...

title that season. After the move to Olympic he was named captain of the squad.

International career

Born in New Zealand, Mata represented the country at the youth level. He made his debut for them at the

2015 OFC U-17 Championship The 2015 OFC U-17 Championship was the 16th edition of the biennial international youth football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 17 and below. The tournament was held in American Samoa and Samoa ...

. After qualifying as champions of the

2017 OFC U-17 Championship The 2017 OFC U-17 Championship was the 17th edition of the OFC U-17 Championship, the biennial international youth association football, football tournament organized by the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) for players aged 17 and below. The t ...

, he was then part of the squad that advanced to the round of 16 in the

2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup The 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup was the 17th FIFA U-17 World Cup, a biennial international association football, football tournament contested by men's under-17 national teams. Organised by FIFA, the tournament took place in India from 6 to 28 Octo ...

. He captained the side in the team's round of 16 loss to

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. In March 2022 it was confirmed that Mata had committed to representing the

Cook Islands The Cook Islands is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It consists of 15 islands whose total land area is approximately . The Cook Islands' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) covers of ocean. Avarua is its ...

internationally and had been included in the nation’s squad for

2022 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification was the FIFA World Cup qualification, qualifying process which decided the 31 teams that would join hosts Qatar national football team, Qatar, who received an automatic spot, at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Par ...

. He went on to make his senior international debut on 17 March 2022 in the opening match against the

Solomon Islands Solomon Islands, also known simply as the Solomons,John Prados, ''Islands of Destiny'', Dutton Caliber, 2012, p,20 and passim is an island country consisting of six major islands and over 1000 smaller islands in Melanesia, part of Oceania, t ...

. He served as captain of the squad in his first-ever appearance.

International career statistics

Personal life

Mata was born in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

. His younger brother,

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (American dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (British dog), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of the OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

, is also a footballer.

Career statistics

Honours

Team Wellington *

New Zealand Football Championship The New Zealand Football Championship () was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a myriad of short-lived football leagues in ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

References

External links

* *
Missouri State Bears profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mata, Benjamin Living people 1998 births Men's association football defenders Cook Islands men's international footballers Cook Island men's footballers New Zealand expatriate men's association footballers New Zealand men's youth international footballers Team Wellington FC players Wellington Olympic AFC players 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen New Zealand National League players