Stellenbosch attacker Andre de Jong has won a belated recall to the New Zealand squad, putting him in line for a potential place in next year’s World Cup, for which the Kiwis have already qualified.
The 28-year-old De Jong has been surprisingly overlooked for the last year by New Zealand coach Darren Bazeley, despite his strong performances in helping the Winelands club finish third in the Betway Premiership last season and also reach the semifinal of the African Confederation Cup.
He won the last of his 10 caps three years ago in a friendly against Australia and played no part in the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
He now has a chance to stake his claim after being named among seven players returning to the squad for friendlies against Poland in Chorzów on October 9 and Norway in Oslo on October 14.
New Zealand have left all their home-based players behind as the season comes to a close.
“With the A-League season starting so close to the end of this international window, and with us playing in Europe, it makes it challenging for players to get back to their clubs in time to be involved in the first round of games, so this has opened up a chance to have a look at some other players that are on our monitoring list,” said Bazeley.
“These are going to be two challenging games that continue our strategy of targeting top 40 ranked nations to prepare us for what we may face in 2026, and we are looking forward to testing ourselves,” the coach added.