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New Zealand Football are on the road to El Dorado. 

They are in line for the biggest windfall in their history, off the back of the All Whites returning to the Fifa World Cup after 15 years. 

While qualification, achieved via the 3-0 win over New Caledonia on Monday, is massive for the sport – and allows players to shine on the biggest stage – it also comes with huge financial rewards. 

It’s expected that participation in next year’s tournament in North America will be worth at least $20 million, with that number to increase if the All Whites can progress beyond the first round. 

Back in 2010 New Zealand Football (NZF) received $US8m ($13m at today’s exchange rate) after the World Cup tournament in South Africa, where Ricki Herbert’s team managed memorable draws with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay. 

Even after the players’ percentage was deducted (40%) it was a huge injection that funded the sport here for many years. This time it will be even greater. 

The base prizemoney from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was US$9m and Fifa have already promised a 20% increase in the total pot available. 

Making the group stage is expected to be worth more than US$10m this time around, along with a contribution of around US$1m for preparation and logistics costs. Then there are the new commercial and sponsorship opportunities that arise, both from the tournament itself and the exposure created in the build-up over the next 15 months. 

”This qualification is phenomenal for the sport,” NZF chief executive Andrew Pragnell told the Herald. “The game’s obviously going through another surge, another big growth period. It’s almost in an unstoppable position now from my perspective. We’ve been the biggest [participation] sport for a long time but to see our national teams go to World Cups, the flow-on effect that it has for fan engagement and obviously the investment that comes with this as well.” 

New Zealand's Elijah Just celebrates his goal against New Caledonia. Photo / Photosport 

Pragnell sees numerous benefits. NZF will be able to invest downstream – “our federations, our competitions, our clubs” – while the resourcing of the national teams will continue to increase, off the back of the last few years. 

”It wasn’t that long ago that our national teams would only play for maybe two years of a four-year World Cup cycle,” said Pragnell. “Now we now play them in every international window, year-round.” 

Pragnell emphasised NZF wasn’t dependent on Monday night’s result – “We weren’t going have to get a bank loan if we didn’t qualify [on Monday night] – the organisation’s come a long way in terms of its own sustainability” but it will be the catalyst for more growth. 

The financial rewards are also massive for the playing group, described as “potentially quite life-changing” by Pragnell, as squad members could bank more than $300,000 each. 

”I don’t want to get too excited but obviously that’s not a small amount,” said midfielder Elijah Just, who scored the third goal on Monday night. 

“Hopefully, I’m on the plane to the World Cup and maybe we achieve something special and progress out of the group. I don’t know if the prizemoney gets more [then] but there’s some added motivation. It’s not something you think about too much, at least for me personally [but] when it does hit the bank account then I’ll be thinking about it for sure.” 

Michael Burgess has been a sports journalist since 2005, winning several national awards and covering Olympics, Fifa World Cups and America’s Cup campaigns.