
The A-Leagues have announced that New Zealand will have its second team in the competition with an Auckland-based side to join Wellington Phoenix for the 2024/25 season.
The newly established club will enter the A-League Men’s competition next October and begin life in the A-League Women a year later, for the 2025-26 competition.
The new team is still lacking other parts of club DNA like colours, a badge, a kit, a training facility and home stadium which would have to be decided in the near future.
Australian Professional Leagues (APL) said that there was a decision made by senior football executives to award American billionaire businessman Bill Foley a club licence to form the new franchise.
Foley is a 78-year-old insurance and financial services magnate who has had a recent history of dabbling into the sports ownership world.
In 2016, Foley was awarded a similar expansion licence to create the Vegas Golden Knights in the NHL, with the team winning the Stanley Cup last season just seven years after establishment.
Recently, Foley has focused on football, with ownership and eventually assuming the role of chairman for AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League as well as acquiring a minority stake in French Ligue 1 club FC Lorient where he has created a partnership between the two clubs.
This expansion has the ability to connect the new Auckland-based team to those two clubs, creating a simple pathway for quality loan players or transfers.
Foley discussed the potential and excitement this new team can bring to football in New Zealand.
“Building a championship team from expansion has been my most exhilarating professional achievement, and I aim to do the same for the fans of New Zealand and particularly the community on the North Island,” he said in a personal statement.
“It’s an honour to bring a top football club to Auckland. It’s a special place and an area that I know will embrace this team.”
Stephen Conroy, APL Chair, mentioned that the ownership of the club is in good hands.
“In Bill Foley we have a proven global sports investor and operator with a track record of building deep roots in the community, a passion for football, and a long-standing business and personal relationship with New Zealand,” Conroy added in a statement.
“We are delighted to welcome Bill and his team to the A-Leagues and look forward to seeing the club in action next year.”
APL said that Football Australia and New Zealand Football will now seek final approval from FIFA and the AFC federation to confirm this move.