Wellington Phoenix and NZ sport clubs sign data usage agreement

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Image credit: NZCIS website

The New Zealand Campus of Innovation and Sport (NZCIS) has partnered with its Foundation Members (Wellington Phoenix, Wellington Rugby, Hurricanes) and the Players Associations for Rugby (NZRPA) and Football (NZPFA) to launch a Data Usage Agreement.

This agreement aims to revolutionise sports management and athlete welfare through data-driven insights.

Key points include:

  1. Development of New Revenue Streams: Partners will be able to utilise advanced data analytics to help them grow in revenue with the view to become more stable as clubs. This will help the Phoenix to support good talent from abroad and invest in its current academy.
  2. Secure Management of Athlete Data: The agreement will place an importance on athlete data privacy and security which safeguards their rights.
  3. Facilitation of Performance Initiatives: This is focusing purely on enhancing player performance using advanced data analysis. Usage of these key data points in training and during the match will attempt to enhance results.
  4. Advancement of Player Welfare Initiatives: The partnership is centred around promoting long-term health and wellness for athletes with data-driven programs. Physical and mental health is crucial for any professional athlete.

Wellington Phoenix GM David Dome commented on the unique data agreement and how it would benefit the club as it searches for its maiden league title.

“This groundbreaking data collaboration agreement across codes is an incredibly important innovation in New Zealand sport. Through NZCIS, New Zealand high performance sports is in a unique position to add some incredible insights into player performance and development,” Dome said in a statement released by the member clubs.

“This agreement, utilising player data to enable learning across codes, is the first time anything like this has been achieved in this country and the potential is truly exciting.”

Jamie Tout, Director of NZCIS explained the importance of this agreement in NZ sport.

“This collaboration marks a pivotal moment in sport,” he said in a statement.

“By harnessing data responsibly, we aim to not only elevate performance but also to prioritise the comprehensive development and welfare of athletes, ensuring sustained success both on and off the field.”

In the quickly evolving word of technology, it’s great for the member clubs and the Phoenix in particular to utilise advanced data to address multiple facets of the club.

This innovative partnership will make huge strides for NZ sport in the near future, and it is exciting to see what comes from it.

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Project ACL: The initiative leading the way on injury research

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Launched in 2024, the research project recently welcomed two US-based organisations: the National Women’s Soccer League Players Association (NWSLPA) and National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

 

About Project ACL

Led by FIFPRO, PFA England, Nike and Leeds Beckett University, Project ACL aims to research ACL injuries and understand more about multifactorial risk factors.

After piloting in England’s Women’s Super League (WSL), Project ACL will expand to the NWSL in the US, reflecting the global importance of the project’s research and outcome.

“We are incredibly excited to bring the NWSLPA and NWSL to Project ACL,” said Director of Women’s Football at FIFPRO, Dr. Alex Culvin, via official press release.

“Overall, we believe that player-centricity and collaboration with key stakeholders are central to establishing meaningful change in the soccer ecosystem and that players, competition organisers and stakeholdersaround the world will benefit from Project ACL’s outputs and outcomes.”

Interviews with over 30 players and team surveys across all 12 WSL clubs provided the project’s research team with valuable information about current prevention strategies and available resources.

Furthermore, the project tracks player workload and busy schedule periods during the season through the FIFPRO Player Workload Monitoring tool, therefore gaining insights into the link between scheduling and injury risks.

 

Looking to the data

Project ACL’s partnerships with the WSL – and now the NWSL – are immensely valuable for the future of player welfare in women’s football.

Although ACL injuries affect both male and female athletes, they are twice as likely to occur in women than men. However, according to the NWSL, as little as 8% of sports science research focuses on female athletes.

In Australia, several CommBank Matildas suffered ACL injuries in recent years: Sam Kerr was sidelined from January 2024 to September 2025, Ellie Carpenter for 8 months after suffering the injury while playing for Olympique Lyonnais, and Holly McNamara came back from three ACL’s aged 15, 18 and 20.

And this is just the tip of the iceberg. The 2025/26 ALW season saw several ACL incidents, including four in just two weeks.

 

Research, prevent, protect

Injury prevention and research are vital to sport – whether professional or amateur.

But when the numbers are so shocking – and incidents are so common – governing bodies must remember that player welfare comes above all else. Research can inform prevention strategies. Prevention means players can enjoy the game they love.

The work of Project ACL, continuing until 2027, will hopefully protect countless players across women’s football from suffering long-term or recurring injuries.

South Canberra FC Breaks the Mold: Equity-Driven Model Earns ‘Club Changer’ Honour

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Image Credit: SCFC

South Canberra Football Club has been named Club Changer of the Month for April, in a recognition that reflects a broader shift across Australian football toward rewarding clubs that are actively dismantling the structural barriers limiting women’s access to the game.

The AFC Women’s Asian Cup has just delivered record crowds and unprecedented visibility for women’s football in Australia, and the Club Changer program is now asking what comes next. Its decision to name South Canberra Football Club as Club Changer of the Month for April signals a clear shift in how the program defines contribution: away from participation numbers alone, and toward the equity frameworks that determine whether women stay in the game once they arrive.

South Canberra FC built that framework from the ground up. Established in 2021, the club set out to give women and female-identifying players a safe, inclusive environment to play football at any level. It runs entirely on volunteers, operates as a not-for-profit, and is governed by an all-female committee with 13 of its 14 coaches identifying as female.

 

Building the infrastructure of inclusion

In 2026, the club secured grant funding and put it to work immediately. Two coaches are completing their C Licence qualification, and ten coaches, players and community members have undertaken the Foundations of Football course, which directly tackles the cost and accessibility barriers that exclude women out of coaching pathways.

The club also commissioned a female-specific strength and conditioning program with sports physiotherapists ahead of the 2026 season, targeting injury prevention and explicitly supporting players returning after childbirth.

SCFC’s leadership team draws from LGBTIQ+ individuals, First Nations people and veterans, strengthening the club’s connection to the communities it was built to represent.

The Club Changer program is backing clubs that do this work- clubs that treat equity as infrastructure rather than aspiration. At a moment when Australian football is under pressure to turn its biggest-ever surge of women’s interest into something lasting, SCFC’s model offers a clear answer to the question of how.

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