New Zealand's first international football match was played in Dunedin at the old Caledonian Ground on 23 July 1904 against a team representing New South Wales.

Primarily due to the poor campaign in this year's Merdeka Tournament, the team did not have a strong reputation.

For the final phase the All Whites competed hard against China PR, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

[11] Since the 1990s, United States college soccer has played a significant role in the development of New Zealand players.

The trend that Clark started has continued to the present; more than two dozen New Zealanders are now playing for NCAA Division I men's programmes in the US.

[12] A common next step in these players' career paths is a stint in Major League Soccer; ESPN soccernet journalist Brent Latham speculated in a March 2010 story that New Zealand's 2010 FIFA World Cup squad could have more MLS players than the US squad.

[12][13] However, Latham's speculation did not prove true, as only one MLS player made the New Zealand squad for the World Cup.

After a very positive cycle for the All Whites, the team competed for the 2012 OFC Nations Cup as big favourites to win the title, doing well in the group stage, winning the first two games by slim scores (1–0 and 2–1), and a 1–1 draw against the Mandates Salomonense, however in the next phase, they faced New Caledonia in the semi-final, where they suffered a shameful defeat by 0–2, with goals from Bertrand Kaï in the 60th minute, and Georges Gope-Fenepej in the 90+2 minute to seal the defeat which was called "Horror in Honiara".

[18][19] After a disappointing tournament at the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup where they finished bottom of their group which featured Russia, Mexico and Portugal, the national team fell 27 places to 122nd.

With the complications caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Qualifiers for the 2022 World Cup had to be held in the host country itself, Qatar, where the Kiwis managed to win all the games, as well as breaking artillery records, when the forward Chris Wood, became the All Whites' top scorer, after scoring twice against Fiji, surpassing the previous record holder, Vaughan Coveny.

[25] With the final whistle of the game, the New Zealanders failed to qualify for the cup, which was their third consecutive elimination in the inter-confederation play-offs.

This led a commentator to dub them the "All Whites", a play on the traditional name "All Blacks" used for the national rugby team.

[31] The rivalry extends to club football, with New Zealand's only fully professional team, the Wellington Phoenix, playing in the Australian A-League.

[32][33][34][35] White Noise was formed in November 2007[36] with the supporters group of the Wellington Phoenix, 'Yellow Fever', rebranding themselves when the national sides play.

[37][38][39] New Zealand does not have a dedicated national stadium, instead the team plays at different venues throughout the country for exhibition or tournament purposes.

The following players have been selected in the squad for the 2026 FIFA World cup qualification match against Vanuatu and Samoa on 15 and 18 November 2024.