Football Foundation reflects on a successful year

As 2017 comes to a close, the Football Foundation are proud to reflect on a successful year where they have made a difference to football in New Zealand.

The Foundation, which was created to manage the $4.1m given to New Zealand Football for qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, is managed by a Board of trustees and a chief executive who are committed to growing the capital fund to a level where it can support football in New Zealand.

These funds from the FIFA qualification funds are the basis to which New Zealand football supporters and charitable donors can add their own contribution.

The Football Foundation identifies opportunities in the game where they can assist with the development of football and support New Zealand Football to achieve their goals.

Jodi Tong, the Chair of the Football Foundation, said there have been a number of success stories for the Foundation in 2017.

“The Football Foundation, along with the PFA, supported initiatives within New Zealand Football’s Future Ferns Development Programme (FFDP) to strengthen the players opportunities to perform at the highest level,” said Tong.

“In addition, we supported CJ Bott (USV Jena) and Katie Rood (Juventus) to secure their first professional contracts and Meikayla Moore is currently on trial in Germany. We’ve also supported the New Zealand U-17 team, alongside New Zealand Football, to the FIFA U-17 World Cup so the team could play England and Brazil in the lead up to the event in India – so overall, we’ve made a difference to specific areas of the game.”

In November, New Zealand Football staged a Charity Dinner the night before the Intercontinental Playoff against Peru in Wellington with all of the funds going to the Football Foundation.

A total of $15k was raised and the Foundation would like to thank those who donated items for the auctions including, Rex Dawkins, Ryan Nelsen, Winston Reid, Murray Allison, Rembrandt and Wellington Stadium.

This year, the Foundation inducted four significant donors into “The Starting Line-up”. The Starting Line-up is an initiative which was introduced in 2017 where the top 11 will always be recognised for their generous donation to the Football Foundation with donations exceeding a minimum investment levels of $20k.

Both Mark Stewart and Sir Eion Edgar kicked off the Starting XI in 2016 when they each pledged $500k each to the Foundation with the latest members to join the starting line up being Trustee Mike Norris from

Christchurch, Prominent Auckland business man Murray Holdaway, NZ Football President Deryck Shaw and Waiheke Island resident and multiple sport enthusiast Steve Horne.

Recently, Frank Van Hattum and Bill Moran, both of whom were former chairmen of NZ Football and Foundation Trustees, have also joined the group.

“The Starting Line-up is our holy grail for our VIP donors and a year ago we had only one member,” said Football Foundation CEO Noel Barkley. “As of today we only have two positions left to fill so if anyone wishes to join this illustrious group please contact me urgently.”

Barkley thanked all of the other donors in 2017 particularly those that have got involved in the “Invest in a shirt program”. The donors purchased a limited edition New Zealand Football shirt which allowed them to be recognised on the Foundation website along with receiving the shirt. This is available to players, coaches, supporters and businesses and some 40 people have already joined this exclusive club.

The Football Foundation are pleased that their contributions are making an impact and look forward to continuing to support New Zealand Football achieving its strategic objectives going forward.

For more information contact
Peter Thornton
NZ Football Media and Communications Manager
+64 27 403 8905