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10 Greatest New Zealand Soccer Players Of All Time

Soccer is one of the most popular games on earth, and many people enjoy the game despite their age, gender, race, and socioeconomic status. It is estimated that up to 4 million people globally are soccer fans. Soccer fans show their love and support by watching games, choosing their favorite teams and even playing sports betting in their favorite and fastest payout online casino

New Zealand has produced some of the greatest soccer players in the world. These soccer players have been ranked the best on various platforms. We will list 10 of the greatest soccer players of all time from Newzealand that you can add to your favorite casino football game. 

Wynton Rufer

Date born: 29th December 1962

Position: Striker

Caps: 23

Goals: 12

Winton Rufer has been considered one of the Bundesliga legends and probably the greatest footballer from Newzealand. He spent most of his football career in Germany and Switzerland and is currently retired. His greatest success as a footballer was winning four major titles in Werder Bremen and becoming the top scorer in the 1993/1994 UEFA champions league. 

His success as a footballer began in 1981/1982 when he was voted as the young player of the year in Newzealand and this attracted the attention of Ken Brown, who was at the time a Norwich city manager. He retired in 2001 after receiving the title of Oceania's player of the century. 

Archie Thompson

Archie Thompson

Date born: 23rd October 1978

Position: attack - Center-Forward

Caps: 54

Goals: 28

He was born in Newzealand but played for the New South wales institute of sports. Archie played for many teams, including the A-league, the Australian national league and Heidelberg, where he played following his move from Melbourne Victory. He currently serves as an ambassador for the Melbourne victory football club. 

Archie has the record of scoring 13 goals in a single match played in 2001 with American Samoa. 

Ricki Herbert

Date born: 1st July 1989

Position: Defender

Caps: 61

Goals: 7

He was both a football player and a manager in New Zealand and is currently working as a technical director at Cambridge football club after his retirement. He also worked as a coach for the national team from 2010 until 2014, followed by coaching the national football team in the Maldives.

Ricki led his team in the 2010 FIFA world cup, where they managed to play and win most of the tournament. 

Ivan Vicelich

Date born: 3rd September 1976

Position: Defensive midfielder

Caps: 88

Goals: 6

He is the most capped footballer in his country and Oceania, with 88 caps. Before he established himself as one of the best footballers from Newzealand, he played for Central United and Waitakere city football club. Following this, he joined the national soccer league of Australia. 

He contested the 2009 FIFA WorldCup as a critical member of the Auckland city football club. Following this, he played for the Shenzhen football club of china, and by the age of 38, he received a bronze medal from Adidas, terming him the 3rd best football player in the FIFA world cup of 2014. 

Chris Wood

Date born: 7th December 1991

Position: Center forward

Caps: 68

Goals: 33

Before moving to the western Bromwich Albion in England, Chris wood started his career in the hamilton wanderers, Waikato, and Cambridge football clubs. He was crowned as the top scorer for Leeds United in the 2016-2017 season. Currently, he plays for Newcastle united. 

While playing for Burnley, Wood became a top goal scorer, scoring 49 goals in 144 premier league matches. He played for Newzealand 2010 FIFA world cup, and in 2016 his team won the OFC nations cup. 

Mark Paston

Mark Paston

Date born: 13th December 1976

Position: Goalkeeper

Caps: 36

Goals: 0

Mark Paston is a retired football player who started his career playing for the Napier city Rover before he joined the UK Bradford city in 2003. Before he retired, he played for the wellington phoenix.

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Michael Fitzgerald

Date born: 17th September 1988

Position: Defender 

He was born in Newzealand and played at the international level for Newzealand until before he transferred to play for the Japanese team after gaining a Japanese scholarship in 2013. Following the approval of his Japanese citizenship, he could not play for all whites.

Currently, Michael Fitzgerald plays for Albirex Niigata and from 2008, he played for the Japanese league and scored 7 goals in total. 

Simon Elliott

Date born: 10th June 1974

Position: Defensive midfielder

Caps: 69

Goals: 8

Simon Elliot began his football career playing for the USL First Division before playing for Los Angeles Galaxy in 1999, where he scored 10 goals in 122 matches played over five seasons. In 2000, Elliot was voted the most valuable player (MVP) after their team won the CONCACAF Champions League, where he scored five goals. 

Winston Reid

Date born: 3rd July 1988

Position: Center back

Caps: 32

Goals: 1

Currently, Reid plays as a defender for the New Zealand National Team and a loan player for Brentford. he started his football career at the age of 16 years when he played for the Danish Superliga, where he graduated after helping them to win their first danish champion league. He is also the captain of the national team.

Ryan Nelsen

Date born: 18th October 1977

Position: Center back

Caps: 50

Goals: 6

His career began playing for Christchurch united in 1995, which was in his native country. He later went to the US in 2001 and began playing for Greensboro College and Stanford University, where he studied and graduated with a degree in political science. While at Stanford University, he was named the most valuable junior player.

In Newzealand, he played for the national team and was the head coach of the Toronto football club in 2011, and he was given the office of the New Zealand order of merit in the 2011 new year honors. 

Conclusion

If you are a football fan, you probably love watching and playing online football games. Online casinos have options where you can play live matches with other online users or your friends. Combining watching football and playing is one way of having extra fun. 

Playing your favorite footballer is one way of increasing the fun of playing. It also allows you to become one of the players. 

The article has listed the 10 greatest soccer players of all time from Newzealand. The players played not only for New Zealand but for other teams globally. Most played and led their teams in local and international soccer competitions.