The Talented Player Pathway

Football in New Zealand has a fully integrated pathway for talented players from grassroots football, to the Ford Football Ferns, to the All Whites.

The community club and school system supported by federations, professional clubs and NZF age group programs all play a critical role in the development of talent and giving young players the opportunity to develop into professional.​​​​​​​

The Role of Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix

A-League clubs Auckland FC (AFC), and Wellington Phoenix (WPX), play a key role in the football ecosystem in transitioning the best young talent into professional footballers.

NZF invests into these development programs to ensure the player development pathway is aligned in this part of the player pathway, and to ensure NZF and the professional clubs are working together to identify and develop players who may be capable of a career in professional football and being part of the All Whites or Ford Football Ferns in the future.

NZF’s investment into the programmes delivered by AFC and WPX is focused on the three areas below to ensure the best players can either be part of programmes at no cost to the participant, to provide players with performance support in their home base if they cannot be in Wellington and Auckland and to ensure effective learning, development and connection from the professional clubs, NZF and federations down through the pathway.

AFC Development Centre and WPX Academy

About our Talent Development Programme

NZF's Talent Development Programme is designed to aid player development at club level.

The programme, for players aged 13 to 17, is run by clubs across the country in alignment with NZF, and has three core objectives:

1. Produce better footballers in Aotearoa New Zealand by increasing the number and quality of training opportunities.

2. Provide clear training guidelines based on international best practice for youth footballers who are showing potential to play at a higher level.

3. Create a clear aspiration pathway for youth footballers in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Click here to read the full Talent Development Programme Manual

Playing Across Multiple Environments

NZF recognises that players can participate across multiple playing environments. Both club and school environments are valued parts of the player development pathway.

NZF has not, and will not, provide a directive to players on whether they should or should not choose to play in certain competitions. Our position is that the player should decide which environment is best for their development.

However, we encourage both female and male players capable of competing in our top domestic competitions — the Dettol National League (both women’s and men’s) and linked regional leagues, along with the Future Ferns Domestic Programme — to prioritise these environments for training and games.

Due to resourcing, NZF technical staff are not in a position to attend all environments. As a result, the national teams’ coaching staff predominantly focus on national leagues, reserve leagues (where applicable), and youth club competitions for the identification of players across Aotearoa New Zealand for U-17 and U-20 national teams.

Professional Game Paying Back To Football in New Zealand

Transfers of professional players can have a big impact on the clubs that developed talent, supporting the next generation.

Here's everything you need to know about FIFA's Solidarity Mechanism and what it means for Kiwi football:

What is the FIFA Solidarity Mechanism and how does it work?

The FIFA Solidarity Mechanism is a system designed to reward clubs that invest in the development of young players. When a professional player under contract is transferred between clubs in different national associations, five percent of the total transfer fee is deducted and distributed to the clubs that trained and educated the player between the seasons of their 12th and 23rd birthdays.

The payment is administered through the FIFA Clearing House, which uses official player registration records, often referred to as a player passport, to determine which clubs are eligible and how much they should receive.

The principle behind the system is simple: clubs that contribute to a player's journey should share in the financial rewards when that player earns a significant transfer.

FIFA Solidarity Allocation Scale:

Under FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players, the 5% pot is distributed as follows: 

How much money will former clubs in New Zealand gain following transfers?

Using Eli Just's move in July 2026, based on the reported transfer fee to Swansea from Motherwell of approximately £6 million (NZ$13.8 million), the total FIFA solidarity contribution is expected to be around £300,000 (NZ$690,000).

Because Eli spent much of his development in New Zealand before moving to Danish club Helsingør in 2019, Kiwi football clubs like, Riverside Red Sox in Palmerston North, Eastern Suburbs and Western Suburbs, which played a part in his development are expected to receive portions of the solidarity pool, equivalent to around £150,000 (NZ$345,000).


What is the FIFA Solidarity Allocation Scale and why do some clubs get a larger percentage than others?

FIFA places a greater value on training provided during a player's later teenage years, when player development is typically more intensive and costly. The solidarity contribution is divided according to the player's age during each season.

Ages 12-15
Clubs receive 5% of the solidarity pot per season, which equates to 0.25% of the total transfer fee per year

Ages 16-23
Clubs receive 10% of the solidarity pot per season, which equates to 0.50% of the total transfer fee per year

As a result, clubs that trained Elijah Just during his later teenage years receive a larger proportion of the payment than those involved during his early development.


Should Eli Just earn another big-money move, will these clubs be compensated again?

Yes.

The FIFA Solidarity Mechanism applies each time a player is transferred internationally while under contract and a transfer fee is paid.

That means if Elijah Just completes another eligible transfer in the future, the clubs that contributed to his development between the ages of 12 and 23 could once again receive solidarity payments based on their share of his training years. In other words, the same clubs could continue to benefit throughout Just's professional career as long as future transfers meet FIFA's solidarity criteria. This ongoing link between player success and club development is one of the key reasons the Solidarity Mechanism is considered such an important tool for supporting grassroots football and youth development around the world.


What other ways are amateur clubs rewarded for their development efforts?

While solidarity payments and training compensation are well known mechanisms, they are not the only ways that clubs can benefit from producing elite players.

Training Compensation

Training compensation is a separate FIFA mechanism that rewards clubs for developing young players. Training compensation is paid when a player signs their first professional contract or is internationally transferred before the end of the year in which they turn 23. The system is intended to reward clubs that invested in the player's training and education between the ages of 12 and 21. If a New Zealand amateur club helped develop a player who later becomes a professional overseas, it may be entitled to a share of this compensation. 

These payments are validated through New Zealand Football’s Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) which are the national rules governing: 

• Player status (amateur vs professional)
• Registration and eligibility
• Domestic and international transfers
• Protection of minors
• Player contracts
• Training compensation
• FIFA solidarity payments
• International Transfer Certificates (ITCs)
  
  

Currently, training compensation primarily applies in men's football, although FIFA has approved a framework to introduce a similar system in the women's game as part of its efforts to grow women's professional football.

FIFA training compensation has been available only in men's football because the training compensation system was designed around a professional transfer market that was well established in the men's game long before professional women's football developed. FIFA's Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP) explicitly stated that the training compensation rules did not apply to women's football.

FIFA Club Benefits Programme

The FIFA Club Benefits Programme (CBP) is a compensation scheme that rewards football clubs for their role in developing and releasing players for senior men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups. FIFA recognises that clubs invest in player development and must make those players available for international duty, so a portion of World Cup revenues is redistributed back to the club game.

In the men's game, the programme has expanded following the 2026 FIFA World Cup, with a record NZ$604 million. For the first time, NZ$170.1 million will be distributed to clubs that release players for World Cup qualifiers, while NZ$425 million will be shared among clubs whose players participate in the finals. Payments are calculated based on player appearances in qualifiers and the time players spend at the tournament.

Following the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, FIFA introduced the first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup Club Benefits Programme to reward clubs that helped develop players who participated in the tournament. The programme used a two-tier distribution model. Payments were made both to clubs where players were registered during the 2019 World Cup and to clubs that trained those players between the ages of 12 and 22, recognised as their formative development years. This model supports both elite and grassroots women's football pathways.

More than NZ$300,000 was distributed among 31 clubs across the New Zealand from a global fund worth approximately NZ$14 million.

This programme was one of the first FIFA mechanisms to financially reward New Zealand clubs for developing elite female players.

For the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, FIFA distributed NZ$18.7 million to 1,041 clubs across 48 countries. Half of the fund went to clubs that released players, while the other half rewarded clubs that helped develop players between the ages of 12 and 22. Following the 2023 tournament in New Zealand and Australia, 30 football clubs across Aotearoa shared NZ$253,511.


Why do these mechanisms matter for New Zealand football?

Development clubs are the foundation of the football pathway. Systems such as the FIFA Solidarity Mechanism, training compensation and FIFA's Club Benefits Programmes help ensure that when players succeed on the world stage, the clubs that invested time, resources and expertise into their development are recognised and rewarded.

For New Zealand clubs, these payments can provide valuable funding to reinvest in facilities, coaching, equipment and future generations of players, strengthening the game's development across the country.

Note: All figures are estimates based on the reported transfer value and remain subject to FIFA Clearing House verification and official player registration records.