Source: Radio New Zealand
All Whites coach Darren Bazeley will attend his first senior Football World Cup draw this week. Trevor Ruszkowski / www.photosport.nz
New Zealand Football boss Andrew Pragnell and All Whites coach Darren Bazeley are on an important mission in North America this week.
They are part of a New Zealand delegation of seven people who will be heading stateside for the 2026 Football World Cup draw.
While the duo will be “ball watching” during the draw in Washington DC to find out which teams the All Whites will be grouped with for New Zealand’s third appearance at a World Cup, that is a passive part of what they are up to.
They have no influence over how the draw plays out, but they can work the room and get themselves and their football wishes in front of some influential people.
Outside of the draw, which will be held on Saturday morning New Zealand time, Pragnell outlines the broader mission.
“All of the major football associations of the world will be represented there, there’s political representatives from most countries there, our [US] ambassador will be there and we will certainly be making the most of that,” he said.
“There are match agents and match promoters and so planning for our fixtures in June becomes really important as well.”
The delegation would also be attending days of workshops around World Cup-related topics like facilities, marketing and ticketing to get the lowdown on what to expect next June.
Won’t hide the emotion
NZ Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell Photosport
“The draw is a huge event and the whole world stops to watch it,” the New Zealand Football chief executive said.
He would be among the football dignitaries, politicians and celebrities who would get to experience the “spectacle” of the FIFA event in person.
Pragnell attended the draw for the last FIFA Men’s World Cup, even though the All Whites failed to qualify, and was of course present in Auckland at the Aotea Centre in October 2022 when the draw for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup was made.
Bazeley had been to draws for under-17 and under-20 World Cups in his previous role as a New Zealand age-group coach, but this would be his first senior draw.
Both agreed that the draw being hosted in the United States would amp up the show element of the event.
“What we expect of this World Cup is the entertainment country of the world meets the sport event of the world,” Pragnell said.
Going by what has happened at previous draws, Pragnell wore his heart on his sleeve in these moments when New Zealand’s pathway is revealed.
“I’ve struggled to keep the neutral face usually in these situations if I’m brutally honest, I struggle to hide that emotion, I’ll be doing my best to look calm but I’ll be feeling pretty tense as it all happens.”
Like football fans, Bazeley said the New Zealand players would also be tuning in live to the draw regardless of where in the world they are based.
The process
The All Whites will be the lowest ranked team at the World Cup, a position Bazeley did not truly reflect where the team should be.
On paper not too many countries would be worried about getting the world number 86 New Zealand in their group.
The 48 teams that will compete in the tournament are split into four pots of 12 for the draw:
- Hosts Canada, Mexico and the US are in Pot 1 which includes Spain, Argentina, France, England, Brazil, Portugal, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany.
- Pot 2 has Croatia, Morocco, Colombia, Uruguay, Switzerland, Japan, Senegal, Iran, South Korea, Ecuador, Austria and Australia.
- Pot 3 will include Norway, Panama, Egypt, Algeria, Scotland, Paraguay, Tunisia, Ivory Coast, Uzbekistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
- Pot 4 will be Jordan, Cape Verde, Ghana, Curaçao, Haiti, New Zealand, and the winners from the European play-off A, B, C and D, and the FIFA Play-Off tournament 1 and 2.
Once FIFA had released the pots and the process for the draw he had run a few possible opponents through his mind, Bazeley said.
“We’ve all been on the simulator simulating the draw and if I’m honest it changes every time so there is no way of really working out who we’re going to get.
“We know there is going to be a UEFA team in every group, so you’re going to get a European team, and we also know we’re going to get a team from Pot 1, Pot 2 and Pot 3 but the scenarios are so unlimited.
“But as soon as the balls come out and we know who is in our group I know my analyst here Logan he’ll be straight on to getting all of the games from the last two years of all these teams so he can start looking at them and doing some work.”
While on Saturday the All Whites would find out who they would be playing, the final sign off for when and where would not come until the following day.
“FIFA have reserved the right to have 24 hours to work out which venue each game will be in, so we will know we are playing that team in the first game and that team in the second game but we won’t quite know straight away where that game will be played because I think they are looking at which game potentially would get the biggest crowd and they can move that to the biggest venue of the two choices.”
While the New Zealand delegation were in North America they would also be scouting the potential base camps – of hotels and training grounds – for the All Whites throughout the tournament.
Bazeley said they wanted to find “the best position” to be based for what could be a wide-spread schedule.
“We could be looking at playing across three different cities and possibly two different countries.”
A couple of the travelling staff would move quickly to visit the potential base camps to decide which ones they would nominate as the preferred options to FIFA, Pragnell said.
A home send off
All Whites fans celebrate New Zealand qualifying for the 2026 Football World Cup Alan Lee / www.photosport.nz
New Zealand-based football fans could get a chance to wish the All Whites well on their World Cup journey in the penultimate FIFA window before the global tournament.
“We’re contemplating bringing them home in March, that’s the last window before the June window which inevitably will be in North America, so we’re in some pretty exciting discussions,” Pragnell said.
The “really competitive matches” would be against another national team, Pragnell said.
“We’re hoping to announce something in the next couple of weeks, there is still a lot of T’s to be crossed and I’s to be dotted so watch this space.”
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
