OMAHA, Neb. – Creighton women’s soccer freshman Ella Findlay has earned a spot with New Zealand’s U20 National Team and will play in the 2022 FIFA U20 World Cup in Costa Rica next month.
The 2022 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup will begin on Aug. 10 with group play. New Zealand is slated to face Mexico, Colombia, and Germany from Aug. 10-16. Each of the top two teams from each group will advance to the knockout stages, which will begin Aug. 18 and run through the championship match on Aug. 28.
Findlay has been a member of the New Zealand’s U17 and U20 National Teams since 2018. She led her U17 National Team to the New Zealand women’s national cup in 2019. Findlay played for Eastern Suburbs AFC as a junior in high school, guiding her squad to the 2019 championship. A midfielder from Auckland, New Zealand, Findlay recently played for the Eastern Suburbs women’s team in the Northern Premier League.
Findlay will join the 20 other athletes on the Junior Football Ferns roster. She is one of four women on the team who are currently on collegiate rosters in the United States, joining Ava Collins (St. John’s), Aniela Jensen (Pacific) and Murphy Sheaff (Jacksonville).
The opportunity to play in a world cup is special for any player, but for this group it will be particularly meaningful. The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2020 and FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup 2020 were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, meaning that for many in this squad, Costa Rica 2022 will be their first FIFA World Cup.
New Zealand was nominated as the OFC participant at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2022 based on historical results in the competition after the 2021 OFC U-19 Women’s Championship was cancelled.
New Zealand’s best performance in the FIFA U-20 World Cup remains the quarterfinal appearance in Canada in 2014 when the Aaron McFarland-coached side went down to eventual finalists Nigeria, 4-1.
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