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Wellington Phoenix Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wellington, New Zealand. It competes in the Australian
A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
, under
licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
from Football Federation Australia. Phoenix entered the competition in the 2007–08 season after its formation in March 2007, by
New Zealand Football New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...
to replace New Zealand Knights as a New Zealand-based club in the Australian A-League competition. The club is one of the few clubs in the world to compete in a league of a different confederation (
AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...
) from that of the country where it is based ( OFC). The club's highest achievement is reaching the A-League Preliminary Final in 2010. The club plays matches at
Sky Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...
(formerly Westpac Stadium), a 34,500-seat multi-purpose venue in Wellington. Their home kit consists of black and yellow stripes.


History


Foundation

During the later stages of the 2006–07 A-League season, Football Federation Australia (FFA) removed New Zealand Knights A-League
licence A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
due to the club's financial and administrative problems and poor on-field performance. After the resignation of the New Zealand Knights board, FFA transferred the licence to New Zealand Soccer (NZS, now
New Zealand Football New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...
), which administered the club for the rest of the season before its subsequent dissolution. FFA then provided NZS a provisional A-League licence to sub-let to a suitable New Zealand team to enter the 2007–08 A-League season. FFA set an application deadline to NZS and subsequently delayed that deadline to give more time for potential applicants in New Zealand to apply along with NZS support. While NZS was given a chance to apply with a new sub-licensee, a Townsville-based consortium, Tropical Football Australia (TFA) also expressed interest and prepared an A-League application to replace the place previously held by the Knights. However, TFA eventually pulled out with the understanding of the FFA's preference to retain a New Zealand team for the league. TFA resubmitted its bid the following year as a potential A-League expansion franchise under the name "Northern Thunder FC", which was later changed to "
North Queensland Thunder Northern Fury Football Club was an Australian professional soccer club based in Townsville, Queensland. The club was founded in 2008 and competed in the A-League under the name North Queensland Fury. On 1 March 2011, the club was removed from ...
"; however, this bid died after expansion for the 2007–08 season was cancelled. After much delay, the final amount needed for the application came from Wellington property businessman Terry Serepisos in the latter stages of the bid. Serepisos, the club's majority owner and chairman, provided
NZD The New Zealand dollar ( mi, tāra o Aotearoa; currency sign, sign: $, NZ$; ISO 4217, code: NZD) is the official currency and legal tender of New Zealand, the Cook Islands, Niue, the Ross Dependency, Tokelau, and a British territory, the Pitcair ...
$1,250,000 to ensure the beginnings of a new New Zealand franchise and a continuation of New Zealand's participation in the A-League. FFA finalised a three-year A-League licence to New Zealand Football who then sub-let the licence to the Wellington-based club. The new Wellington club was confirmed on 19 March 2007. The name for the new club was picked from a shortlist of six, pruned from 250 names suggested by the public, and was announced on 28 March 2007. Serepisos said of the name, that "It symbolises the fresh start, the rising from the ashes, and the incredible Wellington support that has come out". Despite the backing of
FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
,
AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...
president Mohammed Bin Hammam stated that due to AFC criteria, the Wellington team must move to Australia or disband by 2011. However, in an interview aired on SBS on 21 December 2008, FIFA president
Sepp Blatter Joseph "Sepp" Blatter (born Josef Blatter; 10 March 1936) is a Swiss former football administrator who served as the eighth President of FIFA from 1998 to 2015. He has been banned from participating in FIFA activities since 2015 as a result of ...
stated unequivocally, "It is not the matter of the Confederation, it is the matter of the FIFA Executive Committee... If Wellington will go on play on in Australian League, then as long as Australian league wants to have them and Wellington wants to stay (and) Both association in this case, New Zealand Soccer and Australian Football are happy with that then we will give them the blessing. The Confederation cannot interfere with that.".


Rise of the Phoenix

In the 2009–10 season, Wellington Phoenix became the first New Zealand side to reach the playoffs of an Australian football competition when Adelaide United beat Brisbane Roar 2–0 in the 26th round. It meant that Brisbane, which before the match was the only team outside the top six with a chance of making the playoffs, no longer could. The Phoenix overcame the Central Coast Mariners on 12 February 2010 to finish fourth, which meant it would host a playoff game against
Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...
on 21 February 2010. The Phoenix beat Perth by penalty shootout (4–2) after 120 minutes (including 30 minutes of extra time). Phoenix then hosted a home game against Newcastle Jets on 7 March, which they won in extra time 3–1. In the Preliminary Final against
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
, the Phoenix lost 4–2 in controversial circumstances. After being locked at 1–1 through goals from Chris Payne for Sydney and Andrew Durante for Wellington,
Payne Payne may refer to: People *Payne (surname) Organisations *Payne (company) Places ;United States *Payne, Georgia *Payne, Ohio * Payne County, Oklahoma *Payne's Prairie, Florida * Fort Payne, Alabama ;Elsewhere *Payne Creek (disambiguation) *Pay ...
apparently missed a header and deflected the ball into the goal off his hand. Andrew Durante, who was marking
Payne Payne may refer to: People *Payne (surname) Organisations *Payne (company) Places ;United States *Payne, Georgia *Payne, Ohio * Payne County, Oklahoma *Payne's Prairie, Florida * Fort Payne, Alabama ;Elsewhere *Payne Creek (disambiguation) *Pay ...
went straight to the linesman, but the goal stood. "I went straight to the linesman. I knew 100 per cent it was handball. I spoke to the ref at halftime about it and he said it wasn't deliberate. It's pretty funny that one. Such a big game and such a big occasion, for something like that to change the game is very disappointing." Sydney FC strikers
Alex Brosque Alex Jason Brosque (; born 12 October 1983) is an Australian former professional footballer who was the captain of A-League club Sydney FC. He played primarily as a striker but played predominantly as a midfielder in central midfield during his ...
and Mark Bridge both scored break-away goals as Phoenix pushed forward, and Eugene Dadi added a late consolation goal. Phoenix striker
Chris Greenacre Christopher Mark Greenacre (born 23 December 1977) is an English football manager and former footballer, he is the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves. Greenacre began his career with Manchester City in 1996. Whilst at Maine Ro ...
said that the error changed the dynamics of the game. "It just rips the heart out of you. We got back in the game with a good goal and that takes it away from you. It wasn't to be. I think we were right back in it. They played some good football but I thought we had withstood it OK. If we went into halftime
t 1–1 T, or t, is the twentieth letter in the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''tee'' (pronounced ), plural ''tees''. It is deri ...
we were really confident we could get something out of it." Coach
Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...
echoed those statements. The loss brought the end to the Phoenix's season, meaning that Melbourne Victory and Sydney FC would compete in the Grand Final. On 20 April 2010, FFA granted Wellington Phoenix a five-year licence extension, keeping it in the competition until at least the conclusion of the 2015–16 season.Phoenix get five-year extension
, Wellington Phoenix, 20 April 2010
Many argue Wellington's ability to play in the A-League as being instrumental to the progress of the New Zealand national side and the wider football landscape.


Change of ownership

Prior to the 2011/12 season, it emerged that Serepisos was experiencing financial difficulties, both personally and in the property empire. This included highly publicised action by the Inland Revenue Department to liquidate a number of Serepisos' companies for unpaid taxes, including Century City Football Ltd, the club Serepisos owned the Phoenix through. Initially, Serepisos claimed he had obtained finance through Swiss-based lenders, then announced he had agreed to a deal with Western Gulf Advisory, the Bahrain-based lender owned by Racing Santander owner Ahsan Ali Syed which would see 50% of the club sold. However, these funds were never received and the partial transfer never took place. While the liquidation action was resolved through an unnamed third-party Serepisos' financial troubles did not end. Despite this, he stated he would not give up ownership of the club. Additional stories also emerged that coach Ricki Herbert was personally owed $100,000 in unpaid wages by the club. However, on 23 September 2011, it was announced by Serepisos and the FFA that Serepisos had relinquished ownership of the club as a result of his ongoing financial difficulties. The club's licence was passed by the FFA to a new consortium of seven Wellington businessman headed by Rob Morrison and including Gareth Morgan,
Lloyd Morrison Hugh Richmond Lloyd Morrison (18 September 1957 – 10 February 2012) was a Wellington, New Zealand-based investment banker and entrepreneur. He founded H.R.L. Morrison & Co in 1988, and Morrison & Co launched the infrastructure company ...
and
John Morrison John Morrison or Morison may refer to: In politics * John Morrison (Manitoba politician) (1868–1930), politician in Manitoba, Canada * John Morrison (Saskatchewan politician) (1872–1950), Canadian Member of Parliament * John Morrison (intelli ...
.


Change of head coach

On 26 February 2013, with the Phoenix sitting in last place,
Ricki Herbert Ricki Lloyd Herbert (born 10 April 1961) is a New Zealand former footballer and manager. He is the current technical director at Cambridge FC. Herbert was formerly head coach of the New Zealand national team, stepping down after the side faile ...
resigned from the position of head coach. The Phoenix had endured a poor run of results in a season where they were expected to be challenging for the title. Assistant Coach
Chris Greenacre Christopher Mark Greenacre (born 23 December 1977) is an English football manager and former footballer, he is the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves. Greenacre began his career with Manchester City in 1996. Whilst at Maine Ro ...
took the reins on an interim basis for the remainder of the season. Following a "worldwide search", Ernie Merrick was announced as the head coach on 20 May 2013. Merrick had six successful years at the Melbourne Victory, which was seen as important. Merrick will once again become the most experienced A-League coach in the coming season, retaking this from Herbert who passed him towards the end of the
2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
season. Greenacre was retained by Merrick as the assistant coach. On 5 December 2017, Merrick resigned as head coach following the Phoenix's 2–0 loss to Adelaide United. On 2 January 2017, Des Buckingham took over as head coach, while Chris Greenacre was made co-coach. On 1 March 2018, Wellington Phoenix announced that Darije Kalezic will be departing the club at the end of the season after they were not able to come to an agreement on how the club proceeds forward for the next season.


Rudan era

On 30 May 2018, Wellington Phoenix announced the appointment of former
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
captain Mark Rudan as manager on a two-year contract. Mark Rudan became the first-ever Wellington Phoenix coach to win his first game in charge when the Wellington Phoenix were 2–1 victors over Newcastle Jets in the opening round of the 2018–19 season. Following Round 2 clash with Brisbane Roar which ended in a 0–0 draw, it was the best start the team has had since the 2012/13 season. They suffered their first defeat of the season in Round 3 going down 3–0 to Western Sydney Wanderers. After a defeat in Round 5 against Adelaide United, Phoenix went on a 9-game undefeated streak including draws with Premiers
Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...
and Champions Melbourne Victory, and wins over clubs like
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
and Newcastle Jets. Their streak was broken by
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
in round 15. The Phoenix finished in 6th place qualifying for the playoffs. On 15 April, it was announced that Rudan would not see out the second year of his contract and would leave at season's end due to personal reasons. They were knocked out in the first elimination final by Melbourne Victory 3–1.


Talay era

On 4 May 2019, it was announced Ufuk Talay would be taking the reins of head coach after the departure of Mark Rudan on a one-year deal. In his first press conference, Talay expressed his idea of building a young team with a strong Kiwi core. He made his first signing with All Whites goalkeeper
Stefan Marinovic Stefan Tone Marinovic ( hr, Stefan Tone Marinović, ) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for the New Zealand national team. Club career Marinovic attended Auckland private school, Kings College. In 2005, he wo ...
and signed local Kiwi players,
Te Atawhai Hudson-Wihongi Te Atawhai Maurice Hudson-Wihongi (born 27 March 1995) is a New Zealand footballer who currently plays for Southern Football League Division One Central club Walthamstow. He has also played for the New Zealand national football team. Career ...
, Tim Payne, and
Callum McCowatt Callum William McCowatt (born 30 April 1999) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a left winger for Danish Superliga club Silkeborg IF. Club career Following his graduation from Westlake Boys High School, McCowatt joined the O ...
. Talay made his first import signing with Mexican Ulises Dávila following another import signing of English striker, David Ball. On 24 July, it was announced that Steven Taylor would be the captain heading into the new season while Alex Rufer was made vice-captain. On 18 August, it was announced that Phoenix had paid an undisclosed fee for Reno Piscopo, marking the first time the club paid a transfer fee for a player. Talay also made a handful of signings of young Australian players including Walter Scott, Jaushua Sotirio,
Cameron Devlin Cameron Peter Devlin (born 7 June 1998) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a defensive midfielder for Heart of Midlothian and the Australia national team. Club career Sydney FC After being part of Sydney FC NPL team, De ...
, Liam McGing, and experienced centre-back
Luke DeVere Luke Ramon DeVere (born 5 November 1989) is an Australian professional footballer who plays for A-League side Wellington Phoenix. DeVere made his debut for Australia in 2015, having previously played for the nation's under-20 and under-23 sid ...
. Talay used his fourth import spot signing Matti Steinmann on a one-year deal. Talay had a positive start to his managerial tenure with the Wellington Phoenix when he led them to a 7–0 victory over Wairarapa United in a pre-season friendly in his first match in charge. They were knocked-out of the
2019 FFA Cup The 2019 FFA Cup was the sixth season of the FFA Cup, the main national soccer knockout cup competition in Australia. 32 teams contested the competition proper (from the Round of 32), including 10 of the 11 A-League teams (with Western United no ...
in the Round of 32, losing 4–2 on penalties to Brisbane Strikers, after making an extraordinary comeback from 2-0 down to a 2–2 draw at full time. On 22 May 2021, Wellington Phoenix broke their home attendance record, attracting 24,105 spectators against Western United FC. This game (as of 22 May), is the 2020/21 Hyundai A-League's most attended game. This was the first A-League game to be held in New Zealand since 15 March 2020, a total of 433 days in between.


Colours and badge

The general consensus among Phoenix fans was for a
kit Kit may refer to: Places *Kitt, Indiana, US, formerly Kit * Kit, Iran, a village in Mazandaran Province * Kit Hill, Cornwall, England People * Kit (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Kit (surname) Animals * Young animals: ...
featuring yellow and black vertical stripes; however, this format did not comply with the A-League template required by Reebok when Phoenix was admitted into the League. Instead, players wore a predominantly black strip with yellow and white trim for the first two seasons. When Reebok lifted constraints on kit designs in 2009, Phoenix adopted yellow and black vertical stripes. The Phoenix kit is currently provided by Paladin after
Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized as adidas since 1949) is a German multinational corporation, founded and headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, that designs and manufactures shoes, clothing and accessories. It is the largest sportswear manufactur ...
decided against renewing their contract with the club. The badge is a shield depicting a rising phoenix. The team's current kit sponsors are
KPMG KPMG International Limited (or simply KPMG) is a multinational professional services network, and one of the Big Four accounting organizations. Headquartered in Amstelveen, Netherlands, although incorporated in London, England, KPMG is a net ...
(front of kit), Sky Sports (back of shirt), GoMedia (front of shorts), and Revera (back of shorts). In August 2017, the club unveiled a new badge removing the shield in place of a larger, simplified phoenix. The updated badge also featured the club's new motto of 'E Rere Te Keo', a rising call rooted in the Māori legend of Taniwha.


Stadium

Wellington Phoenix FC has played most of its home matches at the Wellington Regional Stadium (currently named Sky Stadium for sponsorship reasons), which is referred to as the 'Ring of Fire' by fans. The stadium has a capacity of 34,500. The NZD$130 million stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situated close to major transport facilities (such as Wellington railway station) one kilometre north of the central business district. The stadium is owned and operated by Wellington Regional Stadium Trust. It is built on surplus-to-requirements reclaimed railway land on Wellington's waterfront. Home fans sit in the southern and western areas of the stadium, while away fans sit to the north. In the 2009–2010 A-League season, Wellington Phoenix FC played two home games away from
Sky Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...
, the first at Arena Manawatu in Palmerston North, the second at AMI Stadium in Christchurch. The two games were key to Wellington Phoenix expanding their fan base in New Zealand. This was followed by playing a game in Auckland at
Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and King ...
in front of 20,078 attendees during the 2011–2012 A-League season. The Phoenix previously trained at Newtown Park, on a ground that was specially redeveloped in 2008 and separate to the playing pitch. This ground was shared with NZFC franchise, Team Wellington however in 2017 the Phoenix moved to Martin Luckie Park which had been redeveloped with two full-sized sand-based pitches. Funding for the redevelopment came from the Phoenix as well as $550,000 given by Wellington City Council. Due to COVID-19 in both New Zealand and Australia, the Wellington Phoenix based themselves in Wollongong and played home games at Win Stadium for the
2020–21 A-League The 2020–21 A-League was the 44th season of national level soccer in Australia, and the 16th since the establishment of the A-League in 2004. The season was started on 28 December 2020 and concluded with the Grand Final on 27 June 2021. The st ...
season. Wellington returned to Wollongong for the 2021–22 A-League season and again played their home games at Win Stadium.


Supporters

Wellington Phoenix has built a strong fan-base in Wellington, across New Zealand, and amongst New Zealanders in Australia. The main
supporters' group A supporters' group or supporters' club is an independent fan club or campaign group in sport, mostly association football. Supporters' groups in continental Europe are generally known as ultras, which derives from the Latin word ultrā, mean ...
, named the Yellow Fever, was founded a day after the Wellington Phoenix's formation was announced. Yellow Fever founder Mike Greene met with the founder of New Zealand cricket supporter group, the
Beige Brigade The Beige Brigade is a group of colourful and passionate New Zealand sport fans who identify themselves by wearing beige colours. A version of this beige uniform was worn by the New Zealand limited overs cricket team during the early 1980s (in cont ...
, to get ideas of how to get the group started. The name was originally chosen on the assumption that the new Wellington-based team would play in a yellow playing strip (yellow being the dominant sporting colour of the region). Although the eventual strip was primarily black, the Yellow Fever elected to retain the name; many Yellow Fever members chose to wear yellow to fixtures as opposed to black. The 'Fever Zone' is located within aisles 21 and 22 of
Sky Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...
; although it is an all-seater facility, most Yellow Fever members choose to stand in front of their seat – similar to terrace seating traditions in British football. The Yellow Fever are renowned within the A-League for their traditions; the most prominent of which being if the Phoenix are winning by the 80th minute, members remove their shirts. Additionally, prior to the last home game before Christmas, the Yellow Fever organise a pub crawl, entitled ''The 12 Pubs of Lochhead'' after defender
Tony Lochhead Tony James Lochhead (born 12 January 1982) is a New Zealand former professional footballer who appeared with the New Zealand national football team. Early life and education Lochhead was born on 12 January 1982 in Tauranga, New Zealand. H ...
. Many Yellow Fever members have also lent their support to other football fixtures in Wellington and New Zealand, mostly notably Team Wellington of the
ISPS Handa Premiership The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) 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 m ...
and the New Zealand national football team. Yellow Fever also lent its support to the New Zealand women's national under-17 football team during the
2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup The 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is the first women's football U-17 World Cup in FIFA history. It was held in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November 2008. It is the officially recognized world championship for women's under-17 national ...
, held in New Zealand. The Yellow Fever website
yellowfever.co.nz
has evolved into a community page for New Zealand football in general. The site publishes non-Phoenix news involving football at local and national levels, as well as information on all New Zealand national teams and footballers. The former official podcast of Yellow Fever, 'Phoenix City', is hosted by Patrick Barnes, and features Cameron McIntosh and Andrew French as panellists. The weekly recording often includes a guest interview and covers the Wellington Phoenix, the All Whites and other national teams, New Zealanders playing overseas, the
ISPS Handa Premiership The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) 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 m ...
, and local club football, including the Chatham Cup. The Yellow Fever supporters share a strong relationship with the club due to their charity initiatives. Yellow Fever is the first supporters club in the A-League to organise and sponsor an annual footballing scholarship. The "Retro Ricki Youth Scholarship" was awarded annually to a promising young New Zealand footballer. Nominations for the scholarship were made by Yellow Fever members, and the recipient was chosen by the Yellow Fever executive and Wellington Phoenix staff. The recipient received a trial with the Phoenix, covering travel and accommodation costs. Although the initiative only lasted four seasons, the scholarship is widely credited with bringing New Zealand international Marco Rojas professional attention. * 2007: Stefan Kousoulas,
Otago United Southern United, previously known as Otago United, is a semi-professional football club based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Founded in 2004, they play their home games at the Logan Park and Forsyth Barr Stadium. It is the southernmost football c ...
* 2008: Daniel Findlay, Three Kings United * 2009: Marco Rojas, Melville United * 2010: Thomas Spragg, Auckland City FC, and Tristan Prattley,
Otago United Southern United, previously known as Otago United, is a semi-professional football club based in Dunedin, New Zealand. Founded in 2004, they play their home games at the Logan Park and Forsyth Barr Stadium. It is the southernmost football c ...
Yellow Fever members have also combined charity campaigns with their support of the Phoenix, with supporters selling bandannas in the club colours every year as part of the youth-cancer charity CanTeen's "Bandana Day" fundraiser. Yellow Fever members have also notably participated in the Movember movement since 2007, leading to the club itself participating as of 2008, and other Australian A-League clubs following suit in 2009. In 2010, Yellow Fever, The Dominion Post and local sportswear chain RYOS teamed up to release the "LifeFlight Shirt", a white T-shirt emblazoned with pictures of Phoenix players sent into the Dominion Post as part of a competition. 25% of the proceeds from the sale of these T-shirts were donated to the LifeFlight air ambulance service.


Players


First-team squad

Other players with first-team appearances


Reserves and youth academy

Wellington Phoenix's academy system was formed in 2013, absorbing the prolific Christchurch-based Asia-Pacific Football Academy. Since then, Wellington Phoenix have developed a number of notable players, including several New Zealand internationals. The following players graduated from the Wellington Phoenix Football Academy, and have either represented New Zealand at international level or have played at a professional level outside New Zealand. * Tyler Boyd * Eugenio Pizzuto *
Calvin Harris Adam Richard Wiles (born 17 January 1984), known professionally as Calvin Harris, is a Scottish DJ, record producer, singer, and songwriter who has released six studio albums. His debut studio album, ''I Created Disco'', was released in June ...
*
Sarpreet Singh Sarpreet Singh (born 20 February 1999) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for club Jahn Regensburg, on loan from Bayern Munich II. He also represents the New Zealand national team. Born in New Zea ...
* Liberato Cacace *
James McGarry James McGarry may refer to: * James McGarry (hurler) * James McGarry (footballer) James Robert McGarry (born 9 April 1998) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Aberdeen. Club career McGarry was scouted to attend ...
*
Logan Rogerson Logan Tipene Rogerson (born 28 May 1998) is a New Zealand professional footballer who plays for Finnish Premier League club FC Haka as a winger. He has been capped by the New Zealand national football team. Career After beginning his senior c ...
* Joe Bell * Max Mata *
Oliver Whyte Oliver Edward Brymer Whyte (born 20 January 2000) is a New Zealand footballer who plays as a midfielder for Finnish club Haka. Career In 2018, Whyte joined the youth academy of Portuguese side Rio Ave from the Wellington Phoenix academy. In ...


Club officials


Technical staff


Management

:''Updated 26 March 2019.''


Captaincy history


Managers

Key * Caretaker appointment * Initial caretaker appointments promoted to full-time manager * Manager dates, statistics and nationalities are sourced from ''WorldFootball.net'' and ''Ultimatealeague.com''


Women's team

In June 2020, Wellington Phoenix announced their desire in creating a women's team before the
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup is scheduled to be the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the women's national association football teams organised ...
as part of a
A-League Women A-League Women (known as the Liberty A-League for sponsorship reasons), formerly the W-League, is the top-division women's soccer league in Australia. The W-League was established in 2008 by Football Australia (then known as Football Federatio ...
plan of adding three expansion clubs by the said period and in September 2021, they announced the newly created team would be joining the A-League as an expansion starting with the 2021–22 season. This made Phoenix the first women's professional football team from New Zealand.


Honours


Cups

* A-League Pre-Season Challenge Cup ** ''Runners-up'':
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...


End-of-season awards


Records and statistics


Player

* Most League appearances: 273, Andrew Durante * Most appearances in a single season: 31,
Chris Greenacre Christopher Mark Greenacre (born 23 December 1977) is an English football manager and former footballer, he is the head coach of the Wellington Phoenix FC Reserves. Greenacre began his career with Manchester City in 1996. Whilst at Maine Ro ...
,
2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...
* All-time leading goalscorer: 51, Roy Krishna * Most goals in a season: 18, Roy Krishna, 2018–19 (26 appearances)


Team

* First League match: v Melbourne Victory, 26 August 2007 (drew 2–2) * First goalscorer:
Daniel Daniel is a masculine given name and a surname of Hebrew origin. It means "God is my judge"Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 68. (cf. Gabriel—"God is my strength" ...
v Melbourne Victory, 26 August 2007 * First win: v.
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
, 14 September 2007 (won 2–1) * Biggest victory: **6–0 v Gold Coast United, 25 October 2009 **8–2 v Central Coast Mariners, 9 March 2019 * Biggest defeat: **7–1 v
Sydney FC Sydney Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Sydney, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues (APL). The club was fo ...
, 19 January 2013 **6–0 v Melbourne City, 2 April 2022 * Most wins in a row: 5 matches; 30 January 2010 – 7 March 2010 * Most losses in a row: 9 matches; 20 March 2016 – 31 October 2016 * Highest
home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
attendance: 32,792 v
Newcastle United Jets Newcastle United Jets Football Club, commonly known as Newcastle Jets, is an Australian professional soccer club based in Newcastle, New South Wales. It competes in the country's premier competition, the A-League, under licence from The Austral ...
on 7 March 2010 * Highest regular season attendance: 24,105 v Western United at
Sky Stadium Wellington Regional Stadium (known commercially as Sky Stadium through naming rights) is a major sporting venue in Wellington, New Zealand. The stadium's bowl site size is . The stadium was built in 1999 by Fletcher Construction and is situa ...
, Wellington on 22 May 2021 * Highest friendly attendance: 31,853 v Los Angeles Galaxy on 1 December 2007 * Highest average attendance in a season: 11,683 – 2007–08 season * Lowest
home A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...
attendance: 3,898 v Perth Glory FC on 8 January 2012


Season by season record


See also

*
New Zealand Football New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...
* Football Kingz FC * New Zealand Knights FC *ASB Phoenix Challenge


References


External links

* {{Sport in Wellington A-League Men teams Wellington Phoenix Association football clubs established in 2007 Expatriated football clubs Sport in Wellington City 2007 establishments in New Zealand Phoenix clubs (association football)