Sport in New Zealand largely reflects the nation's British colonial heritage, with some of the most popular sports being rugby union, rugby league, cricket, football, footy, basketball, horse racing and netball, which are primarily played in Commonwealth countries. New Zealand has enjoyed success in many sports, notably rugby union (considered the national sport), rugby league, cricket, America's Cup sailing, world championship and Olympics events, and motorsport. Rugby union is the most popular sport in New Zealand.
Other popular sports include squash, golf, hockey, tennis, cycling and tramping, baseball and a variety of water sports, particularly sailing, rowing, and surf sports. Winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding are also popular, as are indoor and outdoor bowls.
Administration Sport New Zealand is the main government agency responsible for governing sport and recreation in New Zealand. It was established in 2003 by the Sport and Recreation New Zealand Act 2002, consolidating three agencies into one, and was known as Sport and Recreation New Zealand (SPARC) until February 2012.
Participation
School Sport NZ runs an annual census of sport participation amongst secondary school students (age 13 to 18). The data only includes students that had a "meaningful engagement" in the sport, e.g. representing their school in a team.
+NZSSSC census, 2024 school year Sport Total By gender Change(2020–24) Girls Boys Netball 29,459 28,058 1,401 % Volleyball 27,394 16,946 10,448 % Basketball 27,287 6,887 20,410 % Rugby union 27,074 4,834 22,240 % Football 24,991 7,698 17,294 % Hockey 13,828 7,509 6,319 % Badminton 13,788 7,494 6,294 % Touch 12,215 5,831 6,384 % Athletics 9,359 4,191 5,170 % Cricket 9,134 2,049 7,085 % Futsal 8,822 2,868 5,954 % Tennis 5,249 2,649 2,600 %Rugby sevens 5,220 2,081 3,139 %Cross country 4,901 2,464 2,437 % Kī-o-rahi 4,716 2,194 2,522 % Rowing 4,517 2,360 2,157 % Swimming 3,538 1,663 1,881 %Rugby league3,2817842,497% Water polo 3,267 1,521 1,746 %3x3 basketball2,7968261,970n/a
Major sports
Rugby union
Rugby union is the national sport in New Zealand. It has the largest spectator following of all sports in New Zealand. New Zealand's men's national rugby team, the All Blacks, has the best winning record of any men's national team in the world, and is currently ranked second in the world. The All Blacks won the first Rugby World Cup in 1987, and again on home soil in 2011. They won their third World Cup in 2015 in England, becoming the first holders to successfully defend their title. The All Blacks traditionally perform a haka, a Māori challenge, at the start of international matches. This practice has been mimicked by several other national teams, notably the national rugby league team, and the basketball teams. New Zealand's women's national rugby team, the Black Ferns, also has the best winning record of any women's national team in the world, and is currently ranked second in the world. The Black Ferns have won a record six championships at the Women's Rugby World Cup in 1998, 2002, 2006, 2010, 2017, and 2021.
Outside Test matches, there are three widely followed competitions: Super Rugby (previously Super 6, Super 10, Super 12, and Super 14), the elite club competition in the southern hemisphere. It has involved teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa since its formation, and in 2016 added teams in Argentina and Japan (with the Japan team also playing select "home" matches in Singapore). It is played from summer right through until winter (February to August), with a three-week break in June for international tests to take place. Mitre 10 Cup (previously Air New Zealand Cup and ITM Cup), created in 2006 as a successor to the National Provincial Championship (NPC), involves professional provincial New Zealand teams and is played mainly during the Winter and spring months, from August to November. Heartland Championship, an amateur competition of lower-level New Zealand provincial teams, also created in 2006 as a successor to the NPC and is also played in the winter and spring months, from August to November.
In the sevens variant of rugby union, the men's national team has been the main force in the sport since the creation of the World Rugby Sevens Series in 1999, winning the World Series 12 times in its 16 seasons. They have also won the Rugby World Cup Sevens thrice, in 2001, 2013 and the most recent edition in 2018, and won the first four gold medals awarded in sevens at the Commonwealth Games (1998–2010). The country also hosts one round of the World Series each season at Westpac Stadium in Wellington. In women's sevens, the national team is about as dominant as the men; they won the first three editions of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series (2013–2015) and are the current holders of the Rugby World Cup Sevens, winning the women's tournaments in 2013 and 2018. New Zealand hosted the 2021 Women's Rugby World Cup.
Cricket
Cricket is the national summer sport and the second most popular sport in New Zealand, which is one of twelve countries competing in Test match cricket. The provincial competition is not nearly as widely followed as rugby.
Historically, the national cricket team has not been as successful as the national rugby team. New Zealand played its first Test in 1930, but had to wait until 1956 until its first Test victory. The national team began to have more success in the 1970s and 1980s. New Zealand's most famous cricketer, the fast bowler Richard Hadlee.
New Zealand has traditionally been stronger in one-day cricket, having reached the final of both the 2015 and 2019 ICC Men's Cricket World Cups, beating South Africa and India in the semi-finals but ultimately losing to Australia and England in the final respectively. (They tied the match in 2019 but lost on boundary countback). The team also won the 2000 edition of the ICC Champions Trophy and reached the 2009 final, and won the bronze medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
Martin Crowe and Kane Williamson won the 'Player of the Tournament' award in the 1992 Cricket World Cup and 2019 Cricket World Cup respectively. Geoff Allott was the highest wicket taker in the 1999 Cricket World Cup along with Shane Warne. Fast bowler Kyle Mills is the highest wicket taker in ICC Champions Trophy matches. Martin Guptill was the highest run-scorer in the 2015 Cricket World Cup and even broke the record of the highest score in World Cup matches during his knock of 237 against West Indies in the quarter-final. Trent Boult was the highest wicket taker in the 2015 Cricket World Cup along with Mitchell Starc. Kyle Jamieson was the Player of the Match in the 2019–2021 ICC World Test Championship final.
In Twenty20 cricket, New Zealand has twice reached the semi-finals of the ICC T20 World Cup, doing so in 2007 and 2016, and has reached the final in 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup by defeating England in the semi-final.
In June 2021, they beat India in the ICC World Test Championship Final in Southampton to become the inaugural World Test champions. They were hence ranked the number one Test team in the world. New Zealand has won two multinational ICC tournaments- 2000 edition (now referred to as ICC Champions Trophy) under Stephen Fleming and ICC World Test Championship under Kane Williamson.
New Zealand's men's team, the Blackcaps, have neither won the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup, nor have they won the ICC T20 World Cup. They did win the ICC World Test Championship in 2021 and ICC Champions Trophy in 2000.
New Zealand's women's team, the White Ferns have reached the final of ICC Women's Cricket World Cup four times, winning the 2000 edition of the tournament. They also managed to win the ICC Women's T20 World Cup in 2024.
There is also a London New Zealand Cricket Club based in London, England, for New Zealanders living in or based in the United Kingdom.
Netball
Netball is the most popular women's sport, both in terms of participation and public interest in New Zealand. As in many netball-playing countries, netball is considered primarily a women's sport, with men's netball largely ancillary to women's competition. The sport maintains a high profile in New Zealand, due in large part to its national team, the Silver Ferns, which with Australia, has remained at the forefront of world netball for several decades. In 2008, netball in New Zealand became a semi-professional sport with the introduction of the trans-Tasman ANZ Championship. The sport is administered by Netball New Zealand, which registered 125,500 players in 2006.
Rugby league
Unlike Australia, where rugby league is the dominant rugby code, rugby union is the more popular code in New Zealand. The New Zealand domestic league is semi-professional.
The New Zealand national side has competed in the Rugby League World Cup since 1954. They were the previous World Champions, winning the World Cup for the first time on 22 November 2008 at Lang Park, Brisbane. The team also reached the 2013 Rugby League World Cup (hosted by England and Wales) final on Saturday 30 October 2013. They lost to Australia in the final, 34–2. The team's most recent title came in the 2014 Rugby League Four Nations tournament by beating Australia, which brings their Rugby League Four Nations championships total to two.
Football
Football has always been a significant sport in New Zealand, and was introduced by the first English settlers. It is considered the regional sport of Greater Wellington, which in turn is the only region in New Zealand not to have rugby union as the most popular sport. This is exemplified by Wellington having New Zealand's first professional side, the Wellington Phoenix, which plays in the Australian A-League. Football's greater regional popularity has been due to extensive support among the city's half a million people, especially since inner city clubs were formed immigration from Europe and the Middle East in the postwar period. These clubs were often ethnically based, including Wellington Olympic AFC (Greek), Wellington United (Dutch and Hungarian), and Island Bay United (Italian). The Miramar Rangers have often been considered Wellington's local powerhouse. Several Wellington Phoenix players have gone on to have major success overseas, such as Sarpreet Singh, Roy Krishna, Marco Rojas and Liberato Cacace. Wynton Rufer, considered the country's greatest ever footballer, was born and raised in Wellington.
Nationally, the sport is administered by New Zealand Football, which changed its name from "New Zealand Soccer" in 2007 to move in line with common usage around the world. Use of term "football" to refer to the sport is increasingly favoured by news sources and publications.
The New Zealand national team, nicknamed the "All Whites", has qualified for the FIFA World Cup twice. At their first appearance in 1982, the All Whites were knocked out in the first round with three losses. Their next appearance in 2010 saw another first-round exit, but with considerably more success on the field; the All Whites earned three draws, including a 1–1 result against defending champion Italy, ending up as the only team that was not beaten in this edition. The country's professional men's football team are, Auckland FC and Wellington Phoenix FC, who play in the A-League which is otherwise an all-Australian competition, and South Island United FC, who play in the OFC Professional League with Auckland FC. The major domestic competitions are the New Zealand National League, which is played between eleven teams from the regional league: Northern League, Central League and Southern League. The other competition is the Chatham Cup which is a knock-out competition played between clubs. Neither the Auckland nor Phoenix first teams can play in the Chatham Cup.