His Motherwell captain feared the worst for him. Now All White Eli Just is starring in Scottish football
Saturday, 21 March 2026
Twelve months ago, Eli Just was playing club football for SKN St. Pölten in Austria's second-tier 2. Liga, a competition you can be forgiven for not having heard much about in New Zealand.
A year on, he is starring for Motherwell in the Scottish Premiership – said this week by The Athletic to be 'Britain's most tactically interesting football team' – and is the All Whites' most in-form player, three months out from New Zealand’s return to the FIFA World Cup after 16 years away.
The 25-year-old attacking midfielder has scored seven goals and assisted six others in 27 appearances this season, his seventh since moving to Europe as a teenager and his second under coach Jens Berthel Askou, who he previously played for at AC Horsens in the Danish Superliga three years ago.
His total of 13 goal contributions for fourth-placed Motherwell, who have turned heads with eye-catching displays of possession-based football, has only been bettered by three others in the league, one of whom is the team-mate he has set up four times – Zimbabwean striker Tawanda Maswanhise.
Speaking to Stuff last month, Just said it was “brilliant” to be making such an impact in a more well-known league, with the World Cup fast approaching: “Goals are something that I've always been trying to improve on in my career. Sometimes I look back and say, I had a lot of good performances, but the goals weren't there.
“The assists are great. I think there have been some good ones, and there have also been some where I pass the ball, normally to [Maswanhise], and he does the rest.”
There is the distinct possibility Just’s performances could earn him a move to one of world football's most iconic clubs in the coming off-season.
In Austria, where he was at St. Pölten on loan from Horsens, who are now in the Danish second tier, he regularly played in front of crowds of a few hundred people.
Not a surprise, when you consider that on statistics provider Opta's league power rankings, the 2. Liga sits 147th, between Mozambique's first-tier Moçambola in 146th and Peru's second-tier Liga 2 in 148th.
Last weekend in Scotland, Just played in front of a 59,000-strong crowd at Celtic Park, where he scored the goal that gave Motherwell a first-half lead against the four-time defending champions in the 40th-ranked Premiership.
Celtic recovered to win 3-1, going ahead only after Motherwell were reduced to 10 men with 20 minutes to play, while Just was on the receiving end of three tackles that earned his opponents yellow cards, having his most painful afternoon yet in what is regarded as a particularly rough-and-tumble league.
His captain, Paul McGinn, told Scottish media after that match that he feared the worst when he first laid eyes on Just, who stands just 1.74m tall, upon his arrival in the off-season: “I looked at him and thought, ‘Scottish football? You could be in bother here!’'
But he now stands among the chorus of many singing the Palmerston North-born, Olé Football Academy product’s praises: “He's brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. When you look at a player like that, a guy who is diminutive and left footed, you think, ‘He’s a flair player’. But he's not.
“He's a grafter. He works his socks off. I don't know if the stats will back this up, but he's good at winning the ball back. He's so sharp. He's such a clever footballer. He knows where to be and when to be there.
“When we went down to 10 men against Celtic he moved to left back and he was good – really good. You could see him grow in confidence. He was still going on runs. His goal was not a fluke either – you have seen him do it countless times. He is just absolutely immense.
“I would hate to lose him but if he keeps playing like that, then he doesn't stay at Motherwell. Hopefully it's not soon.”
But it quite well might be.
Celtic have won 13 of the last 14 Scottish Premiership titles, losing out to fierce Old Firm rivals Rangers in 2021, but this season it is Hearts of Midlothian who are leading the way, threatening to become the first team other than one of the two famous Glasgow clubs to triumph since Aberdeen in 1985, more than 40 years ago.
After some early struggles, Celtic are on to their third permanent manager of the season, Martin O'Neill, and have closed within two points of Hearts with eight matches to go, but it is expected they will be looking for a new coach regardless of what happens between now and the end of May.
Berthel Askou is one of the leading contenders to take over and if he does, Just is likely to sit pretty high on his shopping list. Even if he doesn’t, the Kiwi’s form this season has put not just Celtic, but also Rangers, on notice, according to local media reports.
Before bringing him to Motherwell, Berthel Askou tried to sign Just at IFK Göteborg, the Swedish club he moved to after leaving Horsens in 2023, but a deal was unable to be done in early 2024.
The repeated interest came after Just made just nine starts for the coach in Denmark, playing a total of 1082 minutes across 27 matches and contributing only three assists as Horsens were relegated from the Superliga.
“The way that he wanted to play didn't quite suit me,” Just said, referring to a more defensive, men-behind-the-ball approach employed at the time. “I don't know exactly the reasons why he plays so differently now, but I think at that time, he didn't quite have the squad that he wanted.
“Obviously, when he brought me to that club, [possession-based football] was the idea. Then he wanted to bring me to Sweden and it didn't work out. Then when he called me in the summer and talked to me about how he wanted to play, it aligned with how I want to play. Even though it been a few years since he last worked with me, he knew the qualities I brought.”
Just is now at his fourth different club in a third different country in Europe, having started at FC Helsingør in Denmark in 2019, after starring for Wellington’s Western Suburbs and Auckland’s Eastern Suburbs in New Zealand as a top teen prospect.
He said a connection like the one he’s found with Berthel Askou this season in Scotland is “what you chase”.
“Unfortunately, I would say it's probably more uncommon than common to have a manager who is willing to take so many risks and really commit to a certain style of play that comes with a lot of risk.
“I've played under a lot of managers in my career, and some have been better than others for me personally, and I think at the moment, it's kind of a perfect fit.”
The Scottish Premiership splits into a top and bottom six in three rounds, which means Motherwell will play Hearts (who they first face in the final round of the first phase), Celtic and Rangers again in the final five weeks of the season in April and May.
They won’t be crowned champions themselves – they sit fourth, 10 points back from the leaders, after last weekend’s loss – but they will have a big say in determining the king.
After that comes the World Cup, where Just is a certain starter in All Whites coach Darren Bazeley's attacking midfield trio. Whether he lines up on the left, the right or in the centre in the United States and Canada, he will be a key figure in New Zealand’s push for a first World Cup win and a place in the knockout stages.
From his first call-up in November 2019 under Danny Hay – he debuted on the left wing against the Republic of Ireland – until October last year, Just was ever-present in All Whites squads. A minor injury early in his time at Motherwell meant he missed two matches then, but he returned last November and all going well this weekend, he will be there next week when they host Finland and Chile in Auckland.
Just already has 40 international caps – enough to sit 33rd on the All Whites' all-time list – and eight goals – enough to sit 20th – to his name. He is on track to join the 50-cap club by the end of the year. At present it has 20 members, but current team-mates Tim Payne (48) and Bill Tuiloma (47) are likely to make it before him.
With Bazeley juggling a lengthy injury list, an in-form Just is set to be a key figure as the All Whites try to snap a seven-match winless run in rare matches against European and South American opponents on home soil.
“For this March window, the biggest thing for us is putting on a good performance for the home fans, because unfortunately, not everybody that wants to go and support us at the World Cup is going to be able to,” Just said.
“This is our moment to be grateful and thank the fans for supporting us and putting on a good performance also, so that people can see that we're a serious team and we can achieve something at the World Cup.”