We Ball

Words by Dan Moskovitz (he/him)

The Olympics are here. The world’s second-biggest sporting competition starts on the 27th of July. The only competition bigger than this? The FIFA World Cup. Hence, football is in the odd position of being the only sport in the world treating this event as a side piece. 

Football’s weirdness with the Olympics doesn’t end there. A round-robin tournament followed by a knockout stage means there are many games to be played, resulting in Olympic football kicking off before the opening ceremony. Games start on July 25, NZ time. 

Thanks to having only the Pacific island teams to compete with in qualification, New Zealand is a shoo-in at each Olympics, and 2024 is no exception. 

So what can we expect from the 41 men and women representing Kiwi footy in France? 

The Football Ferns (Women) 

In typical New Zealand Football fashion, the lead story in the run-up to the competition is not about football. 

Women’s head coach Jitka Klimkova has stepped aside from the Olympics after an “employment matter.” While she hasn’t completely left the Ferns—NZF has allowed her room to return upon completion of a “restorative process” —it’s her assistant, Michael Mayne, who will lead the Ferns in France. 

Even stranger is that NZF can’t seem to make up its mind about Klimkova. On May 26, NZF announced Klimkova would stand aside for two friendlies against Japan (both of which were lost). On June 8, an unreleased investigation was concluded, and NZF announced her reinstatement. 

The next Ferns-related press release, on June 28, announced Klimkova would step aside from the Olympics after consultation with NZF. The incomplete restorative process and concerns about the well-being of both Klimkova and the team were cited as reasons.

This is casting a shadow over a massive tournament for the Ferns, already in a challenging group. 

The Ferns are with France (hosts and ranked 2nd in the world in FIFA rankings), Canada (gold medal holders), and Colombia (World Cup quarter-finalists). 

As a point of comparison, the Ferns scored a single goal as hosts in last year’s home-soil World Cup and lost all three matches at the last Olympics. Put plainly, NZ will be up against it.

However, both the top two teams and the best two third-place teams (of the three groups) qualify for the quarter-finals. So a single win—if the Ferns can get it—might be enough to reach the knockouts. 

The key issue is scoring goals, and the Ferns have been struggling with this. A notable omission  from the Olympic squad is Hannah Wilkinson, who scored that famous goal against Norway last year and is fourth on the Ferns’s all-time goal-scoring charts. However, with forwards Milly Clegg, Gabi Rennie, and Indiah-Paige Riley selected, there’s a belief that the young guns coming in might be better.

Defence was the Ferns’s strongest suit at the World Cup, and with CJ Bott, Katie Bowne, and Rebekah Stott, there is at least a solid backline to build from. If the Ferns are to get anything from this Olympic campaign, the hard mahi will have to start there. 

Game times: 

Ferns vs Canada: Friday 26 July 3am NZT

Ferns vs Colombia: Monday 29 July 3am NZT

Ferns vs France: Thursday 1 August 7am NZT.

All games are on Sky Sports. 

The Olywhites (Men U-23s) 

In true NZF fashion, the management of the men’s team has been equally dramatic as the women's. It took a nine-month worldwide search for NZF to finally appoint their interim coach, Darren Bazeley, full-time. But now that Bazeley’s appointment is old news, he has an Olympics to prepare for.

To avoid competing with the FIFA World Cup, the men’s Olympics is an exclusively U-23 event, though each team can have three overage players. However, the Olympics doesn’t occur in a FIFA-sanctioned international window, meaning national teams have to beg for clubs to release their players. 

As a result, New Zealand’s arguably best three players—Chris Wood, Marko Stamenic, and Liberato Cacace—are all missing out due to their importance to their clubs.

Age-group football is a strange beast. Players must be good, but not brilliant, to participate. They need to be good enough to make the age-group squad, but not good enough for the full national team. They also can’t be too important to their club, or else they won’t be released Therefore, a draw pitting the OlyWhites against France, the USA, and Guinea might not be as lopsided as it seems. 

Unfortunately, in the men's competition, only the top two teams of each group advance to the knockouts. Meaning a win against Guinea, the side NZ has the best odds against, probably won’t be enough. At minimum, the Olywhites need to avoid losing to either France or the US, and quite possibly both. 

Much like the women's team, the men face a big question: where will their goals come from? Without Chris Wood, they are missing their all-time top goal scorer, and Plymouth Argyle’s Ben Waine—who’s struggled to make their first eleven—is the only out-and-out striker in the squad. That’s a lot of pressure on his shoulders. 

Working to NZ's advantage is that they kick off their campaign against Guinea, the most beatable opponent of the group. However, this shouldn’t be construed as an easy win. Led by former Liverpool midfielder Naby Keita, the African side will also fancy their odds against NZ. The Olywhites finish the group stage against France, the heavyweights. The hope is that France will have already qualified by the time the third game rolls round, resulting in their B-team playing against NZ. 

Game times:

NZ vs Guinea 3am Thursday 25 July

NZ vs USA 5am Sunday 28 July

NZ vs France 5am Wednesday 31 July

All games are on Sky Sport.