The winners have been announced at the New Zealand Football Awards, with the achievements of the Men’s Olympic Team at Tokyo 2020 recognised in a number of categories.  

The Olympic side won Team of the Year as well as Head Coach Danny Hay winning Men’s Coach of the Year. Players in the side also won individual awards with Liberato Cacace winning Men’s Young Player of the Year and Chris Wood winning International Player of the Year and Player of the Year. 

Ford Football Ferns Ria Percival won Women’s International Player of the Year, Anna Leat won Women’s Young Player of the Year and Annalie Longo won Women’s Domestic Player of the Year. Wellington Phoenix and FFDP head coach Gemma Lewis was named Women’s Coach of the Year.

This year New Zealand Football added a new Best Moment category to the awards to recognise some of the amazing achievements in football and futsal. This was won by Ford Football Fern Rebekah Stott following her return to football after recovering from cancer. 

 

The full list of winners is:


Football Awards

Men’s International Player of the Year: 
Chris Wood (All Whites/Men’s Olympic Team/Burnley FC)

Women’s International Player of the Year:
Ria Percival (Ford Football Ferns/Tottenham Hotspur) 

Women’s Domestic Player of the Year:
Annalie Longo (Canterbury United Pride) 

Men’s Domestic Player of the Year:
Alex Greive (Waitakere United/Birkenhead United)

Men’s Young Player of the Year:
Liberato Cacace (All Whites/Men’s Olympic Team/Sint-Truiden/Wellington Phoenix)

Women’s Young Player of the Year:
Anna Leat (Ford Football Ferns/FFDP/West Ham United)

Women’s Coach of the Year:
Gemma Lewis (FFDP/Wellington Phoenix)

Men’s Coach of the Year:
Danny Hay (All Whites/Men’s Olympic Team)

Team of the Year:
Men’s Olympic Team 

Player of the Year:
Chris Wood (All Whites/Men’s Olympic Team/Burnley FC)

Best Moment:
Rebekah Stott returning to football after recovering from cancer


Futsal Awards

Team of the Year:
Auckland City Men 

Coach Of the Year:
Nic Downes (AFF women and Auckland City FC)

Women’s Player of the Year:
Serena Patel

Men’s Player of the Year:
Mike Antamanov


Refereeing Awards

Men’s Referee of the Year:
Matthew Conger

Women’s Referee of the Year:
Anna-Marie Keighley

Men’s Assistant Referee of the Year:
Mark Rule

Women’s Assistant Referee of the Year:
Sarah Jones

Futsal  Referee of the Year:
Chris Sinclair


The awards cover the 2020 and 2021 calendar years combined due to the fact that Covid-19 meant that international football and futsal, as well as a number of domestic competitions, couldn’t take place in 2020.

The winners were chosen by a panel of expert judges as well as a fan vote. 

Article added: Thursday 26 May 2022