Wellington Phoenix Football Club Reserves is a
football
Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
team based in
Wellington, New Zealand. They currently serve as the reserve side of the
Wellington Phoenix FC of the
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...
and compete in the
New Zealand National League.
History
From 2010 to 2013, a Wellington Phoenix reserve side took part in the ASB Phoenix Challenge competition against
ASB Premiership
The New Zealand Football Championship ( mi, Te Whakataetae Whutupaoro a Aotearoa) was a men's association football league at the top of the New Zealand league system. Founded in 2004, the New Zealand Football Championship was the successor to a m ...
sides, however these games were separate to the main competition.
On 22 August 2014 it was announced that the club had been granted permission to field a reserve side in the
2014–15 ASB Premiership, the highest level of football in New Zealand. The team made their debut in the competition on 1 November 2014 against
Team Wellington.
Tyler Boyd scored the first goal in the reserves' history, but that could not prevent them losing 1–2.
On 2 October 2015, Wellington Phoenix named a youth squad to take part in the
ASB Youth League.
With the restructuring and creation of a new National League made by
New Zealand Football
New Zealand Football is the governing body for the sport of association football in New Zealand. It oversees the seven New Zealand Football federations, as well as the New Zealand national football team (nicknamed the "All Whites"), the nationa ...
for the
2021
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season, a
Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the Phoenix and
Lower Hutt City which saw the team play under in the
Central League under the Lower Hutt banner.
This meant Lower Hutt could not qualify for the Championship phase even if they finish in the top three of the Central League as Wellington Phoenix would then play that part of the competition.
This changed again for the
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
season, with the Phoenix allowed to again play in the national league under their own name and colours.
Players
Reserves squad
Senior player appearances
Up to four professional players are eligible to play for the reserves side from this squad. Two under-20 players are also allowed if the reserves side's opposition agrees to their inclusion on match day.
References
External links
Official website
{{Sport in Wellington
Wellington Phoenix Reserves
Association football clubs established in 2014
Sport in Wellington City
Phoenix clubs (association football)
2014 establishments in New Zealand