What is the NZF Whole of Football (WOF) Framework?

The New Zealand Football (NZF) WOF Framework is a unified framework for the delivery of our game in New Zealand from Community to High Performance. It outlines the Player, Coach, Referee and Administrator pathways and the different products and opportunities within these pathways.

Our junior players tell us the thing they love most about football is to be more actively involved in the game. Making the game more age appropriate by staying in smaller game formats for longer means players will be more involved in the game, interact with the ball, the goal, their teammates and the opposition more often leading to a more enjoyable experience and a higher likelihood in staying in the game for life.

The change will result in an increase in player actions by approx. 42% for mixed football and approx. 28% for girls football between the ages of 5 and 14 years of age (10 years) leading to increased skill development and more competent players coming through our system who love playing the game.

By taking a bespoke approach to girls only and youth football (where participation rates and competition development is lower) we can attract more females and youth aged players to our game, reduce the participation gap between males and females participating in football, increase youth participation and cater for areas of the country with lower population bases.

By removing duplication, providing more learning for those operating in junior football, aligning learning outcomes across football and futsal, and continuing to develop digital tools to connect and engage with our volunteers, coaches and referees we will be supporting our leaders to provide better experiences for our players.

What are the changes?

Player Pathway Changes:

In the player pathway, there is strong evidence linked to player motivation, enjoyment, skill development outcomes and international best practice to suggest that we should amend our formal game format guidance to stay in smaller sided formats for longer and move to 11v11 football at a later age. When this is overlayed with player characteristics at different ages, there is a strong indication that there should be:

• An increased focus on individual fundamental skill and movement development between the ages of 4-7, supporting Station Rotation (SR) and the 3v3 game format;
• An increased focus on individual skill development in small groups between the ages of 8-11 supporting 5v5 and 7v7 game formats; and
• A deliberate transition through puberty for 11-14 (girls) and 12-15 (boys) year olds, whereby a continued focus on skill development in a smaller 9v9 setting should happen before moving into 11v11 football at a later age either during, or post puberty.

New guidance for the player pathway recommends the use of Station Rotation and a 3v3 format continues at U6 and extends to include the U7 age group. It is recommended that a new 5v5 format that includes goal keepers is introduced for two years at U8 and U9. It is then recommended that the current 7v7 and 9v9 formats are pushed out by one year whereby players have two years of 7v7 at U10 and U11 (predominantly year 5 and 6) and two years of 9v9 at U12 and U13 (predominantly year 7 and 8), before entering 11v11 football at U14 (predominantly year 9). The guidance also recommends flexibility at U14 and U15 to deliver a 9v9 format in areas of lower player population such as girls only football and in regions with smaller player bases.

These recommendations will increase player actions in mixed football by approximately 43% and in girls only football by approximately 28%.

* this format is played to small goals without goalkeepers.
** this format is played to a larger goal with goalkeepers.
*** this format should be utilised in areas of low player population (girls only/regional NZ) to support competition growth.

Education Pathway Changes:

Recommendations in the coach and referee development pathways centre around, removing duplication, providing more learning for those operating in the junior space, aligning learning outcomes across football and futsal, and continuing to develop digital tools to connect and engage with our volunteers, coaches and referees. A specific focus on attracting and supporting females through the provision of female only coach and referee courses/pathways should be a priority to ensure the gap between male and female leaders in the game is reduced.
Player development programmes, quality of coaching and quality of officiating are all identified in Sport NZ’s Voice of Participant survey as key drivers that impact player experience. It is vital that we improve our coach and referee development systems to better support the education of the coach and referee community to have positive impacts on our playing participants.