Whole of Football 2.0

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.

The Whole of Football Plan was introduced in 2011 and has been in place for almost 15 years. Over the past 18 months, NZF have undertaken detailed analysis of the WOF guidance. Analysis resulted in the development of Whole of Football 2.0, an updated framework with key changes to game formats, coaching, and refereeing pathways.

Key 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. To view the analysis click here.

FIRST KICKS
U5-U7 (previously U5-U6)

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.

FUN FOOTBALL
MIXED U8-U9 (previously U7-U8), GIRLS U9 (previously U8)

An increased focus on individual skill development in small groups between the ages of 8-9 supporting 5v5 game format. Goal keepers are introduced.

MINI FOOTBALL
MIXED U10-13 (previously U9-U12), GIRLS U11 & U13 (previously U10 & U12)

7v7 game formats for U10-11, and 9v9 game formats for U12-13
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.

To stay up to date with the changes, please see Capital Football's Whole of Football 2.0 page on their website.

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

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