A 22-player squad has been named to represent New Zealand at the six-nation FIFA Youth Series tournament in Switzerland.
The pilot tournament, which starts on May 19, 2025, will feature teams from all six of the FIFA confederations, split into two groups:
Group A: Guatemala, New Zealand, and Switzerland.
Group B: Malaysia, Paraguay, and Tunisia.
The New Zealand squad includes 14 players based in New Zealand and eight playing overseas, in Australia, England and the United States.
New Zealand squad
Aidan Adams – Western United (St Monica’s College), Australia
Oliver Anderson – Brighton & Hove Albion (Brighton College), England
Max Carmichael – Seattle Sounders (Eastside Academics School), United States
Zach Cashmore – Miramar Rangers (Scots College), New Zealand
Grayson Cattle – Palmerston North Marist (Palmerston North Boys’ High School), New Zealand
Joseph Chalabi – Wellington Phoenix (Te Kura), New Zealand
Willem Des Tombe – Wellington Phoenix (St Patrick’s College), New Zealand
Zane Donaghy – Bristol Rovers, England
Ethan Dyer – Sydney FC (Endeavour Sports High School), Australia
Nicholas Ferguson – Preston North End (Birkdale High School), England
Gethyn Foster – Cambridge FC (Cambridge High School), New Zealand
Cailean Hamilton – Wellington Phoenix (Upper Hutt College), New Zealand
Jack Hocken – Christchurch United (Rolleston College), New Zealand
Sean Kane – Eastern Suburbs (Saint Kentigern College), New Zealand
Joe McIntyre – Wellington Phoenix (Hutt International Boys’ School), New Zealand
Matias Nunez – Auckland United (Mount Albert Grammar School), New Zealand
Benjamin Perez Baldoni – Ellerslie AFC (Selwyn College), New Zealand
Alexander Taylor – Macarthur FC (Redlands School), Australia
Oliver Thompson-Henderson – Dunedin City Royals (Otago Boys’ High School), New Zealand
Ben Trenberth – Wellington Phoenix (Hutt International Boys’ School), New Zealand
Sena Vesty – Christchurch United (Burnside High School), New Zealand
John Woldegiorgis – Western United (The Grange P-12 College), Australia
Men’s U-16 head coach Martin Bullock said: “This is a really good tournament to be part of, it is great to have the opportunity to expose a number of these players to international football for the first time, especially ahead of the FIFA U-17 World Cup coming up later this year.
“This is an exciting new group, so I’m looking forward to assembling as a team together in Zurich and testing ourselves against some quality sides.”
Main photo: Martin Bullock … looking forward to testing the squad against quality opposition.
Tournament format
Each team will play the other two countries in their group before facing off against the side in their equivalent position in the other pool (3rd v 3rd, 2nd v 2nd, and a final of 1st v 1st to confirm the overall winner).
Aotearoa New Zealand will play Switzerland on May 19, and Guatemala on May 20, with both games kicking off at 2.30am (NZT).
The 5th place play-off and 3rd place play-off will be played on May 22 at 2.30am (NZT) and 9pm (NZT) respectively, with the tournament final on May 23 (2.300am NZT).
The FIFA Youth Series is designed to provide U-16 players the chance to train, compete, and showcase their skills on the international stage ahead of participating in annual U-17 FIFA tournaments.
The tournament will also act as a warm-up ahead of the 2025 OFC Men’s U-16 Championship, the qualifying tournament for the 2026 FIFA U-17 World Cup, which kicks off in August in the Solomon Islands.
The tournament will be broadcast live and free on FIFA+.
Fixtures
Game to be played on Monday May 19, 2025 (NZT)
New Zealand v Switzerland
Zurich, Switzerland, 2.30am (NZT)
Game to be played on Tuesday May 20, 2025 (NZT)
New Zealand v Guatemala
Zurich, Switzerland, 2.30am (NZT)
This story was first published on May 5, 2025.