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Underdogs and overachievers – the All Whites at the World Cup
The All Whites are winners when it comes to their top-ranked team video, and Tim Payne’s instant rise to instagram fame is unbeatable.
Now all the pressure is on the team to break their own record and crack through the first round of the FIFA World Cup 2026.
“This is the best New Zealand team we’ve ever had,” says former All White Noel Barkley. “There is quality in all 11 starters and in most of the backup players, they’re all professional players. It’s a massive change.”
It will be a first for the team if they get to the second round, after they were eliminated from their first rounds in their two previous world cup campaigns in 1982 and 2010.
They’ve had a setback this week when they lost 4-0 against Haiti, a scoreline they “can’t hide behind”, says coach Darren Bazeley. But they’ll have to recover quickly as they face high-ranked England in another friendly this weekend.
“There’s that expectation that you’ve had this great buildup,” says RNZ sports report Felicity Reid. “You’ve got players who’ve got the skills and the opportunities [available to] them. Now get out of the group at a world cup.”
Since the draw was announced in December, the Kiwis’ first match against Iran in Los Angeles on 16 June has been in the headlines, not for the football but the geopolitics.
Despite political pressure to move the match, FIFA bosses are sticking to their decision to keep it in LA, Reid says. But security will be tight given the Californian city is home to the largest population of Iranians outside Iran.
“FIFA have been pretty steadfast that they didn’t want to change that,” Reid tells The Detail. “You can imagine there’s logistics from 48 teams and there’s TV deals and stadium deals and things that nobody wants to mess with. So they’ve always said this is where this game’s going to be.”
FIFA have compromised to an extent by allowing Iran to move their training base from Arizona to Tijuana, Mexico. But they’re not there yet.
But whether the Iranians can get into the US is another matter, says Reid.
“Just this week they were still trying to get visas that would give them access to the US and Mexico. They’ve said that they’re just going to leave and try and come in and hope that they get the visas to let them play in this tournament which they’ve qualified for.”
Other off-field controversies include the fans’ threats to boycott the tournament in protest over the US politics and the sky high price of tickets, as well as the cost of public transport to games.
Reid says it is not clear how many tickets have been sold but prices change due to “dynamic pricing”.
“If we look at the SoFi stadium where the All Whites are playing the first game, that’s a 75,000 seat stadium, New Zealand fans get an eight percent allocation.
“You don’t imagine it’s going to sell out.”
The All Whites go into this campaign more famous than ever thanks to an Argentinian influencer who decided virtual unknown Tim Payne needed more love.
Photo: NZ Football
All White Tim Payne meets Argentinian influencer Valen Scarsini.
His Instagram followers have surged from a few hundred to around five million, inspiring songs and posts from around the world.
The social media phenomenon has stunned diehard football fans but Reid says it highlights the closeknit global community of the sport.
“Tim Payne’s not really the kind of guy who you’d imagine if anyone was going to go viral in the team it probably wasn’t Tim,” she says.
All Noel Barkley cares about is the Kiwis’ performance on the field.
He’s attended several world cups but he says this one stands out for the record-breaking 104 games being played by 48 teams at 16 venues across three nations, Mexico, US and Canada.
“They’re the raw reasons why its different. Ambitious, never been done before,” says Barkley, who admits to being apprehensive about the event.
“Probably no one expected what was going on globally in terms of wars and ceasefires, so hard to know how that’s going to affect things but I still think that when it goes, it’ll just go and the other stuff might be in the background as long its quiet.
“As New Zealand fans we’re just focused on us and trying to get three points, maybe four to get out of the group and do that for the first time.”
rnz
The chief executive of the Parliamentary Service is confident there will be enough room to accommodate the increased number of MPs and their staff coming into Parliament.
On current numbers, up to 131 MPs could be sitting in the Chamber following the election, brought on by a record overhang result.
Clerk of the House of Representatives Dr David Wilson told the Spinoff that currently the debating chamber had enough chairs to seat 124 MPs – including the Speaker of the House – and work was being done to accommodate more by altering the seating arrangement.
In a statement, Parliamentary Service chief executive Rafael Gonzalez-Montero said planning for a larger Parliament had been going for “some time”.
“Now that the election results have confirmed an increase to the number of members we are looking at several options.
“We are confident we will be able to accommodate all members within the Chamber.”
VNP / Phil Smith
Gonzalez-Montero said office accommodation for members and their staff would be “stretched” for a short time, but the new Members’ Building was only a few months away from “practical completion”.
That building – located behind Parliament – was due to be ready to occupy in April next year and had capacity to accommodate around 30 backbench MPs.
“All members should be in fit-for-purpose accommodation from that point,” Gonzalez-Montero said.
Following the 2023 election, 123 MPs sat in the Chamber – a record number at the time. That decreased to 122 following the resignation of National MP Judith Collins.
Collins held the seat of Papakura and stepped down in May and Parliament voted against holding a by-election because it was too close to the election.
The election result also meant high-ranking National Party MPs like Chris Bishop, Paul Goldsmith, Nicola Willis and Gerry Brownlee – Speaker of the House and an MP for 30 years – would likely not make it back into Parliament.
Only resigning or retiring MPs were permitted to give a valedictory speech meaning none of them would get the chance to give a valedictory statement.
Asked if their would be special allowances for valedictories, Wilson said in a statement that normally only MPs were allowed to speak in the House but the House could suspend its own rules or temporarily alter them.
“It could do so to allow former members to address the House.”
Wilson said no such arrangements could be made until the next Parliament opened and members sworn in.
rnz
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