Football and futsal continue to grow at a rapid pace in Aotearoa New Zealand even before the impact of the record-breaking FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 has been felt in full. 

Registered New Zealand Football, Futsal and NZ Secondary School players grew by 13% from 2022 to 2023, from 145,724 to 164,454, with the majority of the season taking place before the tournament started.

For registered football players, one of the largest growth areas was for girls and women which saw a 25% increase in playing numbers from 2022 to 2023.

While the growth is already encouraging, New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell believes we are yet to see the true impact of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023:

“The FIFA Women’s World Cup was a gamechanger for football in Aotearoa New Zealand. 

“Prior to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 we were already seeing significant increases in playing numbers across the board, especially for girls and women. 

“While these figures represent the hard mahi of our football community prior to the event in the build-up to the tournament, 2024 will be the year where we begin to see the true impact of hosting the event and our continued efforts with legacy programmes. 

“The 2024 community football and futsal seasons look likely to be our biggest ever as the game continues to go from strength to strength as the largest team participation sport in the country. 

“These numbers also reflect the impact of launching our legacy programme in 2021 and our federations and clubs doing great work delivering initiatives across the motu to make it easier than ever for new players to get involved in the beautiful game.”


Article added: Friday 09 February 2024