Nick Becker: Auckland FC CEO ahead of their first A-League match

It’s the beginning of a new era of football in New Zealand. 

Auckland FC is set to kick off their A-League career tomorrow at Mt Smart Stadium, backed by big names in the industry. 

Bill Foley, Ali Williams, Anna Mowbray, and more recently, Steven Adams, have put their money behind the team. 

CEO Nick Becker told Mike Hosking that the team is super ambitious, and while he won’t say straight away that they’ll win, it’s what they’re intending to go out and do.  

He said that they’ve invested in the team, and it’s come together really well. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
A new you're in New Zealand. Football is underway this weekend,
with Auckland FC kicking off at Mount Smart tomorrow. See
Nick Becker's well there's Nick, very good money to you morning, Mike.
How are you very well? Indeed your assessment as to
where you're at as an entity before you've officially kicked
the ball off?

Speaker 2 (00:19):
We're going great guns. I'm really proud of what the
team's done. We're going to have it's looking like a
sell out tomorrow and go meet it. There's only a
few there's a couple of stand tickets left and there's
only a few in the GA in the upper south stands.
So being a good Warriors man, you'll know how important
it is to have a full house. And we're really
excited about that.

Speaker 1 (00:36):
Good stuff. Any sense of the quality of the side, Yeah.

Speaker 2 (00:40):
We've got it. We've invested well into the team. They've
come together really well. We've got a good solid Kiwi based,
really talented New Zealand players. We've got five all whites
and we've got five really exciting visa players with a
bit of a South American flare in there. And then
we've also got our captain Heroki who's Japanese international, has
been to three World Cups. He brings a to of
experience and he's a quality player.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
What are you expecting in the first season. Have you
got something on a whiteboard somewhere that says we will
end up X on the ladder?

Speaker 2 (01:09):
Yeah, well, we've all got our dreams. I mean, I
think we're going to have from day one. We've always
said we're not here to make up the numbers, and
we're super ambitious. We want to be super successful. So
I'm not going to say to you straight away that
that we're going to win. It might but that's what
we're intending to go out and do, and I want
to be in the business end of things at the
end of the season. Good on you.

Speaker 1 (01:27):
See Bill Foley, he started, as you were well aware,
he started a ice hockey team in Vegas and they
went out and pretty much won the Stanley Cup straight away.
So the precedent's been set, Unfortunately, hasn't it been that?

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Absolutely? I mean Bill's a fantastic owner, but he is
also one of the most competitive men I've ever met
in my life. So yeah, we know how much he
wants to win, and we want to win too. He's
got a great saying always advanced, never retreating. But we're
fully we're fully tied up to that as well.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
What about the celebrity money behind this from Ellie Williams down,
Is this a bus this or is this philanthropy.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
It's a bit more of the vision and seeing what
the potential of New Zealand football is. I think Auckland
has been ready for a professional team for a while
now and so it's fantastic that we've actually got one now.
But it's more around creating talent pathway so we can
actually genuinely take talented young poison girls from Auckland, from
all across New Zealand and if they're good enough, they
can play firstly in the a Leak at the top

(02:25):
competition down here, but then we're also connected into Europe
through Bournemouth and the other teams as well, and so
they've got a real genuine talent pathway to get up there.
And the people have come in and invested. They have seen that,
they've seen that potential. With the likes of ali Anna
but also Winston Reid, Tim Brown, Noahacky and Steven Adams,
they've all come and said we want to help you
that we want to see that development. We want to

(02:46):
see talent out on a global stage.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Are you going to get like a Steven Adams into
the locker room for a bit of a you know,
a bit of a bit of a g up that
sort of thing.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Yeah, I mean Stephen obviously he's got quite a busy
schedule of the season, just kicking off in Houston, but
we've been in contact to him about when he's next
over in New Zealand, actually sitting down with the boys
in the dressing room talking to him about his experience,
his journey. Absolutely, and that's what he's come on for.
That's what he's passionate about. He hasn't come on to
be sort of as a part of an ego player

(03:15):
anything like that. He genuinely wants to help the young
players and.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Do all the players get free all birds because of Tim.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Well that and also of course New Balance our our
kip partner both great great.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
Footwear, good on you may well done Nick Becker and
go well with at Auckland FC. He is the CEO
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