It has reached the World Cup Finals only once, in 1982, but lost all three games. Because of the lack of a high-quality domestic league, most talented New Zealand footballers ply their trade in the higher-class leagues of Europe, the United States, and Australia.

New Zealand formerly battled Australia for top honours in the OFC. However, this is no longer the case as Australia now play in the Asian Football Confederation. New Zealand have won the OFC Nations Cup four times, in 1973, 1998, 2002 and 2008. The white strip was originally based on the colour of England's strip and name is in contrast with the rugby union team, the All Blacks.

Despite its large player numbers, New Zealand football struggles to compete with other sports such as Rugby union, Rugby league and cricket, financially and for media exposure. The performance of the national team is further hindered by a relatively young semi-professional domestic league, the New Zealand Football Championship having been established in 2004. However, New Zealanders are represented in professional football by Wellington Phoenix FC, who compete in the Australian A-League.

The best known current players are Blackburn Rovers defender Ryan Nelsen and Celtic striker Chris Killen. Several young players have shown promise in breaking through into the senior side, including Tampere United midfielder Chris James and Jeremy Brockie.

New Zealand at the FIFA World Cup

New Zealand has competed in one FIFA World Cup Spain 1982 and in two Confederations Cups Mexico 1999 and France 2003. In each of these tournaments, the All Whites have failed to progress past the first round. New Zealand has also qualified for the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, and have the opportunity to compete in the World Cup the next year should they defeat the 5th-placed AFC nation.

New Zealand have competed in every OFC Nations Cup since the tournament was established in 1973, when New Zealand both hosted and won the competition. The All Whites have won the Nations Cup four times, including the most recent tournament (2008 OFC Nations Cup)