Wellington Phoenix

Wellington Phoenix – Quick Stats

Most Appearances: Tony Lockhead (74)
Top Goal Scorer: Shane Smeltz (21)
A-League Championships: 0
Best Regular Season Finish: 4th (2009-2010)
Best AFC Champions League Result: N/A

About the Wellington Phoenix A-League Football Club

Wellington entered the A-League in 2007, following the demise of the Auckland-based New Zealand Knights club. At the completion of the A-League’s second season, the Knights had their licence revoked by Football Federation Australia due to massive financial and administrative issues that were confronting the club. During the first two years of the A-League, the Knights only managed to win a measly six games out of 42 and averaged crowds of less than 4,000. They finished dead last by a clear margin in both seasons and were considered an embarrassment to the league.

After attracting the necessary financial support, the New Zealand Football body put in a bid for a Wellington-based side to be included in the 2007-2008 A-League season, which was accepted by FFA. The team was aptly named Wellington Phoenix, in reference to the figurative ashes left by their failed predecessors. New Zealand national team coach Ricki Herbert took on the position as Wellington manager in a dual club/country role.

Herbert signed a host of then current All Whites for his first Phoenix squad, including Shane Smeltz, Tim Brown and Tony Lockhead. The club’s biggest signing however, was Brazilian import Daniel, whose class shone through in rays during the club’s debut season, despite their humble win/loss ratio. Wellington finished in equal last place with Perth Glory, but were a hit with local fan nonetheless, as they regularly achieved crowds of over the 10,000 mark.

For the 2008-2009 season, the Phoenix kept most of their squad from the previous 12 months intact and aggressively recruited several experienced A-League players from rival clubs including Andrew Durante from Newcastle Jets, Adam Kwasnik from the Central Coast Mariners and the talented Leo Bertos from Perth. The club also managed to snare former Melbourne Victory star Fred on a three-week guest stint on loan from US club D.C United, midway through the season. Despite a vast improvement in on-field performances, which saw the Phoenix finish just two points outside the top four, crowd numbers dwindled to an average of just over 7,000. On a positive note, striker Smeltz picked up the league’s Golden Boot award after netting 13 goals in 19 appearances.

Smeltz departed Wellington in the off-season, signing for new A-League club Gold Coast United on a lucrative deal. Herbert’s efforts to replace the prolific goal-getter led him to sign former Premier League forwards Paul Ifill and Chris Greenacre, and the pair more than made up for Smeltz’s absence as they scored 19 goals between them. A late-season surge saw the Phoenix win six of their final eight regular season games and finish the new 10-team competition in fourth place. That set up a sudden-death home final showdown with fifth-placed Perth, which Wellington won on penalties in front of a parochial crowd of over 24,000 fans.

The Phoenix then progressed to the next stage of the final series and again had home ground advantage, this time against seventh-placed Newcastle, who had knocked out the higher ranked Gold Coast the previous week. Scores were locked at 1-1 after 90 minutes, but extra-time goals to Ifill and Eugene Dadi gave Wellington a 3-1 win and sent the 33,000-strong crowd into raptures. Wellington’s dream run ended the following week as they were defeated 4-2 by eventual champions Sydney FC, but not before they had captured the hearts of the New Zealand sporting public.

Wellington began their 2010-2011 campaign looking to build on the momentum created from their late-season success of six months prior. With Herbert still at the helm, following his World Cup heroics with the All-Whites, the Phoenix appear to be in good hands moving forward.

Current Key Players: Paul Ifill, Chris Greenacre, Leo Bertos, Tim Brown, Jade North.