New Zealand are looking to make history at this summer’s World Cup by qualifying from the group stage for the first time at the third attempt.
Darren Bazeley’s side got off to a good start, securing a point with a 2-2 draw against Iran, meaning a win against Belgium or Egypt would almost certainly see them secure qualification to the knockouts.
A country perhaps better known for it’s successful rugby and cricket teams, football is rapidly growing in popularity in New Zealand and the national team will be looking to capture the imagination as they head to the Americas this summer to play in only their third World Cup.
The All Whites are yet to win a game in their two previous attempts, having been knocked out with three defeats in 1982 and three draws in 2010 but with several third-place teams now progressing to the knock-out stages they’ll feel they have a chance of making history this time around.
Belgium, Egypt and Iran await Darren Bazeley’s men in Group G, but how do the bookmakers think they will fare? Read on for all the latest New Zealand World Cup odds and betting markets here.
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New Zealand odds to win the World Cup
Winning the World Cup is basically impossible for this New Zealand outfit and that is reflected in the odds available from the bookmakers. You can get odds as long as 1500/1 for New Zealand to win the tournament.
Not many players in this All Whites squad are playing at a particularly high domestic level, with a handful featuring in the EFL such as Port Vale’s Ben Waine and Millwall goalkeeper Max Crocombe – but an ageing defence includes the 37-year-old Michael Boxall and 35-year-old Tommy Smith, who now players for National League outfit Braintree Town.
The inclusion of a second New Zealand outfit in Australia’s A-League is certainly likely to do wonders for football in the country in the coming years. Auckland FC players such as Logan Rogerson, Nando Pijnaker and Francis de Vries will expect to be in the squad alongside the usual crop of Wellington Phoenix stars.
Still however, the star name remains Chris Wood. The Nottingham Forest striker is already his nation’s all-time leading goalscorer with 45 international goals and he’ll likely become their most-capped player before the tournament kicks off, fitness depending. A nation’s hopes will be pinned on the 34 year old who has struggled for fitness with his Premier League club so far in the 2025/26 campaign.
The extended tournament has led to at least one qualifying place being assigned to the OFC, which made New Zealand’s task much easier this time around. Where they have traditionally lost out to opponents in the Americas in an inter-confederation play-off before, the Kiwis avoided that altogether this time and cruised through to the finals – with rivals Australia choosing to play in the Asian Football Confederation instead.
But the reality is that those games don’t offer much of a test to this New Zealand side who will now need to dramatically step up their game against much stronger opponents this summer.
New Zealand odds to win Group G
Even the odds on New Zealand simply winning Group G are long, with the bookmakers pricing the Oceania outfit at around 14/1 to top a table that will also include African giants Egypt, 2018 semi-finalists Belgium and a talented Iran outfit led by Olympiakos striker Mehdi Taremi.
Belgium are the strong odds-on favourites to top this group. Although their star power is waning a little with the likes of Kevin de Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku probably past their best at this stage of their careers, there’s a clear gap in quality between them and the other teams in this group.
| Team | Odds from Bet365 | Odds from BOYLE Sports | Odds from Sky Bet |
|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 4/7 | 4/7 | 4/9 |
| Egypt | 11/4 | 11/4 | 11/4 |
| Iran | 6/1 | 6/1 | 6/1 |
| New Zealand | 14/1 | 14/1 | 14/1 |
New Zealand stage of elimination odds
Hugely popular bookmaker bet365 are offering odds on every team’s stage of elimination across the World Cup. Despite three teams qualifying from the majority of groups at this tournament, the bookmakers haven’t given New Zealand much chance of making it through to the knockout stages for the first time. You can get odds of 2/5 on the All Whites to be knocked out in the group stage as expected.
| Stage of elimination | Odds from Bet365 |
|---|---|
| Group stage | 3/6 |
| Round-of-32 | 9/4 |
| Round-of-16 | 9/2 |
| Quarter-finals | 33/1 |
| Semi-finals | 150/1 |
| Runners-up | 400/1 |
| Winners | 1000/1 |
New Zealand World Cup Top Goalscorer Odds
Unsurprisingly there’s only one man in the New Zealand considered to be in the running for the World Cup top goalscorer gong by the bookmakers. Chris Wood is priced at around 250/1, which reflects the fact the bookmakers don’t expect the All Whites to play enough games for any player to really threaten the Golden Boot market. Elijah Just has stormed above his attacking partner, with odds of 50/1 after his brace against Iran.
At the time of writing, Wood has only managed eight Premier League appearances this season due to injury, but when fit he remains a goalscoring threat having scored 20 times in 36 Nottingham Forest appearances last term. He is New Zealand’s all-time top goalscorer with 45 goals in 88 appearances and he’s been in particularly good form for his nation in the last two years, scoring 11 times in 14 outings.
You can find full World Cup Top Goalscorer odds here
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