When Darren Bazeley, an English footballer who had spent his career playing in the country’s lower leagues, travelled to New Zealand to continue his professional journey, little did he know he was taking his first steps in breaking a never-before-seen FIFA record.

With more than 450 appearances for Watford, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Walsall in England, Bazeley had signed with the newly formed New Zealand Knights to compete in the inaugural season of Australia’s A-League.

At 33-years-old, Bazeley’s decision to venture abroad was not unusual – many footballers have taken a similar route when nearing the end of their careers – but it is what happened afterwards that makes the former England under-21 international’s story a world first.

When the New Zealand national team walks out at Los Angeles Stadium on 15 June 2026, Bazeley will become the first person in history to have coached this unique set of FIFA men’s international tournaments: FIFA U-17 World Cup™, FIFA U-20 World Cup™, Men’s Olympic Football Tournament and a FIFA World Cup™.

From 1930 to 2026, there have been 1,282 coaches that have managed at one or more of these tournaments, with Italy’s Francesco Rocca, China PR’s Gao Fengwen and Argentina’s Carlos Pachame each coaching at the three underage tournaments. However, it is Bazeley who is in pole position to complete the quartet of men’s FIFA tournaments, earning the Northampton native a unique honour in the global game.

“When I was told about the record, I thought it was a pretty cool fact and I was surprised that nobody else had ever done that,” said Bazeley. “I really enjoyed coaching the U-17s, then got the privilege of taking the U-20s and the Olympics. I then got this role and now we're going to the FIFA World Cup. The experience of all those different FIFA World Cups and Olympics has been amazing.”

FIFA World Cup 2026™ will be Bazeley’s sixth FIFA tournament as a head coach, adding to the FIFA Club World Cup 2007™ he participated in as a player for Waitakere United.

Bazeley made history for New Zealand in 2015 when his U-20 side won the nation’s first ever match in the FIFA U-20 World Cup, defeating Myanmar 5-1 and earning progression to the knockout rounds. Another impressive showing in the Round of 16 saw them edged 2-1 by Portugal.

That was the first of three-successive appearances in the knockout rounds of the FIFA U-20 World Cup for Bazeley with further successes in 2017 and 2023. Bazeley also helped New Zealand win only their second match in Olympic history when the U-23s defeated Guinea 2-1 at the Men’s Olympic Tournament Paris 2024.

Having earned his place as head coach of the senior men’s national team, Bazeley wasted no time in moulding the team in his image – guiding them to a courageous and possession-based game which has been highlighted by the success they have experienced in the past two years.

A promising showing in the FIFA Series 2024 was followed by victory in the OFC Men’s Nations Cup 2024: New Zealand remaining undefeated on their way to lifting the trophy for the sixth time.

The crowning achievement though was their qualification for their third FIFA World Cup, conceding only a single goal in the process. With Oceania gaining a direct qualification slot for the first time due to the expanded 48-team tournament, the All Whites’ 3-0 victory over New Caledonia in a tense qualification final was enough to secure their first appearance at the FIFA World Cup in 16 years.

“Did I ever think I would be coaching at a FIFA World Cup? Probably not. I’ve been through coaching in New Zealand with the age groups and I’ve been to a lot of age group FIFA World Cups, but this is going to be something completely different, and I’m really excited.”

Bazeley’s deep-rooted connection to New Zealand youth football helped speed-up the success in the national team with players entering camp knowing what to expect in terms of culture, playing style and expectations. An impressive 14 members of New Zealand’s FIFA Series 2026 squad have played under Bazeley in youth teams, while several more remain in contention for the final FIFA World Cup squad.

“Having worked with many of these players before does help. I’m lucky enough that I’ve probably coached all of them at some stage in the last 10 years whether that was U-17, U-20 or at an Olympics,” said Bazeley.

“Some of our players went to school together, grew up together, played club football together, played in the U-17s, U-20s, and the Olympics together so they've built great relationships between each other, and between players and staff. That cohesion is a real bonus for us when we’re trying to compete against these top-level teams.”

The All Whites’ squad is rich with stories and global connections, with strong Māori and Pasifika roots including ties with some of the most populous (India – Sarpreet Singh) and least populous (Cook Islands – Max Crocombe; Samoa – Marko Stamenić, Michael Boxall, Bill Tuiloma) nations on Earth. This makes New Zealand a team likely to resonate with people supporting in the stadium and tuning in from afar.

“That’s New Zealand, we’re a multicultural country. We’re diverse,” Bazeley continued. “Everybody feels Kiwi, everybody feels New Zealand. But, like myself, a lot of people have got backgrounds of families, one generation, two generations, three generations from different parts of the world. The best part is when we bring everybody together, everyone just can't wait to connect back to New Zealand and the culture.

“We pride ourselves on having a good culture, we lean on that a lot. It gives us strength and I feel like everybody – whether they’re first generation, second generation or long-term Kiwi families – when we get together, it’s just all about feeling Kiwi.”

New Zealand made their World Cup debut at Spain 1982, while the All Whites’ undefeated campaign at South Africa 2010 is now part of New Zealand football folklore.

Ahead of the 2026 showpiece, New Zealand will host a FIFA Series group with matches against Finland and Chile.

“We don’t look at them as friendlies – these are international games, and we’ve got this opportunity to bring a European and a South American team to New Zealand,” said Bazeley. “Even though Finland and Chile haven’t qualified for the (FIFA) World Cup, they’re very good teams with good players… and allow us to be the home team with a home crowd playing against these higher-ranked teams.”

Once the World Cup gets underway in North America, New Zealand will play their group stage matches in Los Angeles, California and Vancouver, British Columbia. The team is scheduled to meet IR Iran in California on Monday, 15 June, before playing Egypt and Belgium in British Columbia on Sunday, 21 June and Friday, 26 June respectively.