Chris Wood had an ‘out-and-out leader’ at the 2010 World Cup. This year, it’s his turn as All Whites captain
Sunday, 31 May 2026
Chris Wood is set to become the third man to captain the All Whites at a FIFA World Cup.
Steve Sumner did so in 1982 while Ryan Nelsen did so in 2010, the last time the team qualified.
Wood said Nelsen – an “out-and-out leader” and someone who “was able to do it all” – was someone he looked up to as a youngster.
But he outlined how he has been a different type of captain since taking on the role permanently in 2023.
When he went to his first FIFA World Cup in South Africa 16 years ago, Chris Wood was a wide-eyed teenager – the youngest man in Ricki Herbert's All Whites squad.
Now as he prepares for his second – something no New Zealand man has ever done before him and Tommy Smith this year – he's not quite the oldest in the squad, but he is the captain.
Following in the footsteps of Steve Sumner in 1982 and Ryan Nelsen in 2010 – an exclusive club with two members (for another fortnight, anyway).
It was over 11 years that Wood first pulled on the armband, becoming the All Whites' youngest-ever captain in a 1-1 draw with China in November 2014.
But it is only in the current World Cup cycle under coach Darren Bazeley that he has assumed the role on a full-time basis, in the wake of Winston Reid’s retirement.
Even then, he has only actually been the walk-on skipper in 13 of the All Whites' 32 matches under their current coach.
He came off the bench in four of the other 19, missed four when he didn't go to the Oceania Nations Cup two years ago and was absent injured for 10 of the remaining 11.
Wood's latest injury – the persistent cartilage issue he required surgery on just prior to Christmas – meant he wasn’t able to move clear of Ivan Vicelich to become the All Whites' most-capped player last November or in March.
But his 89th national team appearance is set to finally come on Tuesday night in Fort Lauderdale (kickoff 12pm Wednesday in New Zealand), as he is expected to captain the team against Haiti in the first of two World Cup warm-up friendlies.
Just under a fortnight before he is set to lead them against Iran in Los Angeles in their group G opener, which will make him the third man in that select group alongside Sumner and Nelsen.
While Sumner's World Cup was nine years before Wood was born, he saw first hand how Nelsen threw himself wholeheartedly into leading the All Whites as they drew with Slovakia, Italy and Paraguay to finish undefeated 16 years ago.
But he's clear he's a different type of leader than the centre back, who finished his career with 49 international caps and 198 English Premier League appearances for Blackburn Rovers, Tottenham Hotspur and Queens Park Rangers, a mark bettered only by Wood’s 278.
Speaking to Stuff at the All Whites' Boca Raton hotel on Saturday local time (Sunday NZ time), Wood outlined the differences between him and the team's last World Cup captain, who he feels was the epitome of what a captain should be.
“Ryan was an out-and-out leader, an out-and-out proper captain, and one of the best players on the pitch at the same time. He was able to do it all and someone I looked up to from a very young age, especially when I broke into the national team set-up.
“I just try and take as much as I can out of what he showed me and [how] he guided me as a player, and use it to be a captain in my way. I try and lead like he does, even if it's not to the level he does.
“I try to take little bits of it all, but then I'm also happy to lean on players around me that have leadership quality and maybe more leadership quality at times.
“There's a lot of players in this group that bring a voice in a different way, and I think in this day and age it's about listening and about including everybody else, because that's so powerful, having five or six strong leaders around, rather than just one or two.”
That philosophy can be seen in how. Bazeley has shared the armband around when Wood hasn’t worn it.
Kosta Barbarouses and Tommy Smith were both given the honour while Wood wasn't in the XI – Smith on the occasion of his 50th cap. Michael Boxall also captained the side in his 50th match, on a night where Wood was present, before leading the side on two other occasions last year, when he wasn’t.
In the other 14 matches, the captaincy has been taken up by vice-captain Liberato Cacace seven times, Joe Bell three times, Marko Stamenić three times – in the team's last three outings.
All of whom will be hoping there's no need for anyone other than Wood to take charge once their World Cup campaign begins in two weeks' time.