New Zealand will have 39 players begin a new chapter in professional football for Oceania this weekend as the OFC Pro League gets underway at Eden Park.

The opening round of the inaugural competition kicks off with an historic new Kiwi Derby, as Auckland FC host South Island United on Saturday at 7pm.

Aucklanders feature most heavily between the two New Zealand teams, with 10 of the 12 representing Auckland FC:

Blake Callinan, Everton O'Leary, Matt Ellis, Michael den Heijer, Aston Burns, Aidan Carey, Ralph Rutherford, Ronan Wynne and Nathan Lobo.

Auckland raised Zac Zoricich who was born in Gosford, Australia.

Zoricich’s father is former All White Chris Zoricich and is among a handful of New Zealand internationals whose sons are playing in this year’s competition including Christian Gray and Vaughan Coveny.

Cantabrian Kian Donkers is the only Auckland FC player born in the South Island.

Reid Drake, Oscar Mason (Napier), Eli Jones (Palmerston North) and Isa Prins (Upper Hutt) represent other North Island regions for Auckland FC.

Auckland FC also have in their ranks Swedish-born Kiwi Oscar Faulds.

South Island United has five locally grown players:

Lewis Partridge (Lincoln), Riley Grover (Upper Moutere), Haris Zeb (Christchurch), David Yoo (born in South Korea but raised in Christchurch) and Ryan Feutz (Ashburton).

Jaylen Rodwell and Oli Fay are South Island United’s Auckland born players.

There’s also a noticeable regional Wellington influence in the South Island side through Callum Kennett, Shea Stapleton, Josh Rogerson, Ollie van Rijssel and Jackson Manuel.

Christian Gray, (Gisbourne), Charlie Beale (Mt Maunganui), Ry McLeod (Tauranga), Oskar van Hattum (New Plymouth) round out United’s other North Islanders.

Oskar van Hattum, one of the OFC Pro League’s stars with two All Whites appearances to his name along with more than 40 appearances in the A-League for the Wellington Phoenix.

Haris Zeb is another international footballer born in New Zealand, with three appearances for Pakistan.

Once Jaylen Rodwell takes to the pitch, he’ll make history as Niue’s first professional footballer.

But New Zealanders won’t just be representing the two Kiwi clubs, with three rival sides also featuring players from here.

Fiji’s Bula FC has Christchurch natives Adam Supyk and Matt Foord along with Aucklander Fergus Gillion.

South Melbourne’s squad includes Auckland born Ishveer Singh Dillon and Luka Coveny, who was born in Australia but raised in Wellington.

Vanuatu United also has New Zealanders in their ranks through Aucklander Otto Ingham and New Plymouth’s Owen Smith.

Ingham and Smith along with Supyk, Foord and Gillion will be the first New Zealanders to play in the competition when the first match gets underway between Vanuatu United and Bula FC at Eden Park on 17 January at 3pm.

It’s the first of two games in Auckland on Saturday, with Auckland FC and South Island United’s match kicking off at 7pm.

Article added: Thursday 15 January 2026