Despite its large player numbers, football in New Zealand struggles to compete with other sports such as rugby union, rugby league and cricket, financially and for media exposure. The performance of the national team is further hindered by a relatively young semi-professional domestic league, the New Zealand Football Championship having been established in 2004. New Zealand has one professional team, Wellington Phoenix, which competes in the Australian A-League.
Since the 1990s, U.S. college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players. This influence began when former Scotland international Bobby Clark returned to the U.S. after his 1994–96 stint as All Whites head coach to take the head coaching job at Stanford University (he now holds the same position at Notre Dame). Clark began recruiting in New Zealand, and current All Whites Ryan Nelsen and Simon Elliott played for him at Stanford. The trend that Clark started has continued to the present; more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I men's programs in the U.S. A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPN soccernet journalist Brent Latham speculated in a March 2010 story that the All Whites' 2010 FIFA World Cup squad could have more MLS players than the U.S. squad. However, Latham's speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup.
The best known current players are Blackburn Rovers defender Nelsen, former Roda JC defender Ivan Vicelich, Gold Coast United striker Shane Smeltz, Middlesbrough striker Chris Killen and Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon. Several young players have shown promise in breaking through into the senior side, including Barnet FC midfielder Chris James, Newcastle Jets midfielder Jeremy Brockie, Shrewsbury Town striker Kris Bright and West Bromwich Albion striker Chris Wood.
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