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Auckland FC is the Premier A-League's newest competitor. The club was founded by Bill Foley, an American businessman with a notorious history of founding and sponsoring sporting teams. The club was established in March 2024; the Premier Men's team made a debut in the Men's Premier A-League in November 2024 for the 2024-2025 season. Auckland FC is New Zealand's second team to compete in the league, accompanying Wellington Phoenix (est. 2007).

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Auckland FC launched as latest Isuzu UTE A-league team.

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Auckland FC has made an outstanding entry into the Premier Men's A-League, but there is a crucial missing aspect of this new club. The same question every young girl playing football, sports and recreation student, and sports enthusiast has at this moment is, where is the women's team? The challenge that has been identified as most crucial in my perspective is establishing the Women's team. In the 2023 season, all clubs in the Australian A-League had a men's and women's team competing, which has now resulted in Auckland FC being the only team that is yet to present an equal representation of women's football at an international level. Although the intentions of Auckland FC may not have been to prioritise the men's team, unfortunately this message has been interpreted by many. This has been extremely disappointing and degrading some may even say, especially after the success and statistical achievements since the conjoint hosting of the Women's FIFA World Cup done by Australia and New Zealand in 2023.

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Auckland FC Debut, But Where Is Their Women’s Team?

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The Wellington Phoenix only introduced their women’s team in 2021, how long until Auckland is represented in the women’s league?

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Northern Region Football, backed by New Zealand Football, announced new rules regarding relegation and promotion rules for the Lotto NRL competition. These rules left many local clubs disappointed and at a loss due to the lack of sponsorships their clubs were able to organise on short notice of only three days. These rules were introduced to accommodate the entry of the Auckland FC Men's reserve team. Alongside the introduction of a new Premier Women's team, Auckland FC is bound to found a reserves team in the foreseeable future. In the past, the introduction of new teams has proven to be an issue for local clubs that are run purely by volunteers, with no full-time staff to backbone the clubs, whereas Auckland FC is financially supported by numerous sponsors and employees.

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NZF decision on Auckland FC sparks outrage in domestic competition

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Auckland clubs are upset by the sudden rule changes made by Northern Region Football (NRF) just days before the start of the season to accommodate the entry...

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Go Media Stadium - A Shared Home Ground 

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Go Media Stadium - A Shared Home Ground 

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Auckland FC signed a five-year-long contract with Go Media Stadium, situated in Penrose, Auckland. Go Media Stadium has become 'home' for Auckland FC as they entered the A-League with only one team. Alongside Auckland FC, the well-known and widely supported Warriors NRL team also call Go Media Stadium home. According to Auckland FC's marketing team members, there is a potential possibility that men's games and women's games could potentially be back-to-back. Auckland FC's marketing team members also outlined that there has been a time issue with organising banners, changing rooms, and billboards around the stadium due to sharing the facility with the Warriors team. The introduction of a new women's team could lead to a potential lack of sales with games being organised on the same weekend as the Warriors, more disruptions, and timely pressure on the game day organisation team.

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Auckland FC will play their home games at Go Media Stadium for their first five years of existence in the A-League.

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Sponsors play an extremely crucial role in the sporting industry. Auckland FC is currently sponsored by a wide range of brands, organisations and institutions that continue to promote their own products alongside aiding the club financially. It is important to have meaningful sponsors that align with not only the club's morals and values but also individual players and the supporting crowd as well. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and Team Heroine (2022) has acknowledged a sporting team, the Australian Diamonds, for sportswashing. Auckland FC is a newly established club in the heart of Auckland and soon to debut a women's premier-level team. At this day and time, Auckland FC is in extreme limelight but also at a risk of having morally incorrect sponsors becoming involved with the club.

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Money Vs Morals: The Women’s Sport Sponsorship Conundrum & 7 Considerations — TEAM HEROINE

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Women’s sport is increasingly facing the tough decision around partnering with Sponsors that may not have aligned values and turning down much needed funds. Find out 7 points of consideration to help sport organisations evaluate what the right balance is in an increasingly complex world of sportswa

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Building a new team, especially at the A-League level, is easier said than done. The process includes but is not limited to appointing selectors, coaches, and managers and, most importantly, recruiting new players. The New Zealand Herald posted this article regarding potential players from the Football Ferns (New Zealand's National Women's Team) who have been recognised as players who could be taken on for the Auckland FC Women's team as well. Although the A-League is a well-reputed competition, national-level players may be conflicted between the Football Ferns and the Auckland FC Women's team.

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Revealed: The Football Ferns Auckland FC are targeting for new women’s team

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AFC reveal multiple veteran and junior Ferns are interested in signing

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Recent studies have shown the increase of media covering football, particularly women's football, across New Zealand. This is partially an aftereffect of the success of the Women's Football FIFA World Cup. In 2023, the leading team with the most media coverage was the All Blacks, sitting at 21.9% and in a close second place were the Football Ferns (National Women's Football Team New Zealand), 18.8%. Although the Football Ferns were not able to progress further than the group stage in the FIFA Women's Football World Cup, the media coverage was exceptionally high, especially as compared to other sports and teams. Auckland FC is currently in a position in which they have the ability to enhance these statistics significantly. The new women's team will promote even more media coverage, provided meaningful connections/alliances are made and relevant and influential brands are involved with sponsorship.

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Female athletes are often presented with male coaches, but female athletes deserve same-sex coaches. This blog published by Gwen King (2023) outlines the fact that male coaches can potentially have a different approach to matters regarding women's anatomy and physiology, more specifically women's menstrual cycles. A female coach can have an extremely positive impact on female athlete's mental and physical health, potentially even overall performance. So far, The New Zealand Herald (2024) has revealed potential coaches Jeff Hopkins, Alex Ekapis, Katie Duncan, Alana Gunn and Catherine Cannuli. Three out of the five potential coaches are women, which leads to outnumbering the men's. Auckland FC has a prime opportunity to educate not only the new Women's team but also the entire sporting industry about the importance of female being appointed at lead coach roles.

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Female athletes deserve female coaches - Teens in Print

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Imagine you are a top female athlete, every athlete around you is the best at what they do, but still, every person in a position of power is a man. This is the reality for the majority of female athletes of all levels, across the world. The people who control…

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New Zealand Football's Approach to Women's and Men's Equality 

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New Zealand Football's Approach to Women's and Men's Equality 

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Unfortunately, inequality is not a foreign concept in the sporting industry. In 2018, New Zealand Football announced the Collective Bargaining Agreement. This agreement is between New Zealand Football (NZF) and the New Zealand Professional Footballer's Association (NZPFA), which includes equivalence not only for the Football Ferns but also pay equality, equal prize money, equal rights for image usage, and equal travel arrangements while representing New Zealand. This agreement allows a more fair approach to the resources provided for both men's and women's teams while representing the country on an international stage. For Auckland FC, this has created a previously formed base regarding the equality of both genders in the football industry; this is advantageous for the newly formed club, especially after the concerns regarding the late entry of the women's team to the A-League competition.

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Equality for elite male and female footballers

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New Zealand Football and the New Zealand Professional Footballers' Association (NZPFA) are proud to announce a landmark moment for football in this country. The two organisations have come together to complete their Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) and become the leading national sports organisation to agree on equity and parity for their senior men's and women's national teams. Both organisations have worked diligently to present a new agreement which reflects the need for change.

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New Zealand Football headlined an article that reads, '2025 to be New Zealand's biggest football year yet.' Since the FIFA Women's Football World Cup 2023 and New Zealand being a joint host alongside Australia, statistics show there has been a 27% increase in girls and women's engagement in football programmes. An major event this year includes the first-ever FIFA Women's Futsal World Cup to be hosted by the Philippines. The rivalry between Wellington Pheonix and Auckland FC is expected to only increase and become more and more entertaining with the upcoming debut of the women's team representing Auckland FC. Auckland FC's new women's team will become the fourth professional team in our country. This year will be a key opportunity for Auckland FC to not only promote the entire club, especially the newly founded women's team, but also increase the media engagement statistics and the number of young girls and women playing football across the country.

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“2025 to be New Zealand’s biggest football year yet” – New Zealand Football CEO Andrew Pragnell

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The 2025 community football season is rapidly approaching, and the game has never been in a better position in Aotearoa…