All Whites’ latest FIFA World Cup hero Eli Just a role model for ‘small, skinny’ kids everywhere
Tuesday, 16 June 2026
Eli Just wrote his name into New Zealand football folklore with a double in the All Whites’ World Cup opener against Iran.
The 26-year-old, who plays his club football for Scottish side Motherwell, is a proud product of Porirua’s Olé Football Academy.
Just is among the early pacesetters for the prestigious World Cup golden boot.
Eighteen months ago, Eli Just was playing in front of crowds that numbered in the triple digits as a stop-start club football career took him to the backwater that is Austria’s second tier.
Now – on the back of the best season of his club career, starring for Motherwell in the far more prominent Scottish Premiership – he’s gone and scored two goals in his first FIFA World Cup match as the All Whites made their long-awaited return to the competition after 16 years away.
His strikes might not have been enough to give the All Whites their first World Cup win – they had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Iran at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles – but they will have made him someone even the most casual of sports fans in New Zealand is now taking an interest in.
Standing only 1.74m tall, Just is a proud product of Porirua’s Olé Football Academy – and someone academy chairman Dave Wilson holds up as an example to “nearly every small, skinny little nine-year-old who gets pushed around on the field down here”.
“When [they're] not comfortable with being pushed around by the bigger kids,” Wilson told Stuff before the tournament, “I have on my phone Eli at the same age and I show them what he looked like. He was very lightweight, I'll put it that way.
“It's a great example for all the young players to see somebody like Eli come through and look what he's doing for Motherwell at the moment. Absolutely brilliant.”
Just has been known by football obsessives to be a player of great potential since he was a teenager, but now he will be going mainstream.
Hailing from Palmerston North, he first came to prominence playing for Wellington club Western Suburbs as part of a talented group of players brought through at Olé by coach Declan Edge, a former All White, a decade ago.
Just has been ever-present in the All Whites since making his debut against the Republic of Ireland in November 2019, alongside good friend Callum McCowatt, a fellow Olé product who was also there on Monday night in LA as he earned his 45th cap.
Since mid-2024, he has been a regular starter for coach Darren Bazeley, able to play in all three positions in the team’s attacking midfield trio, and consistently popping up as the creator and scorer of goals.
The two against Iran were his 10th and 11th for his national team – and also two of the best they have ever scored, featuring brilliant short-passing combinations.
In the seventh minute on Monday, Just became the fifth All White to score a World Cup goal, joining Steve Sumner and Steve Wooddin from 1982 and Winston Reid and Shane Smeltz from 2010.
Then, in the 54th, he went and did what none of them ever managed by scoring a second.
Sixteen teams at this 48-team World Cup are still waiting to play their first match, but, for now, Just has a share of the lead in the golden boot race as a result.
“What I can remember of the goals was a lot of short passes,” he said afterwards.
“The first one – Woodsy brought it down so well, and it kind of opened up a channel through the middle.
“I hit both of them on my weak foot and when it hit the back of the net it was an incredible feeling. I’m just happy I could help the group pick up a point.”
The way Just stepped up against Iran – ending a 404-minute goalless streak the All Whites had going in 11 v 11 action – was evidence of the iron-clad mentality that has impressed every coach that has worked with him. As Edge told Stuff recently: “Eli is able to put [outside noise] aside and just play”.
Over the past 18 months he has gone from playing in front of no-one to playing in some of the most imposing arenas in European club football – the home grounds of Scottish giants Celtic and Rangers – but hasn’t batted an eyelid.
His talents were summed up earlier this year by his captain at Motherwell, Paul McGinn, who told Scottish media that when he first saw Just’s diminutive figure, he feared the worst for him, knowing the game in that country has quite a rough reputation.
“I looked at him and thought, ‘Scottish football? You could be in bother here!’
“He's brilliant,” McGinn also said of Just, in the week following an away trip to Celtic in March where the Kiwi scored in a 3-1 loss. “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.”
Just has been floated as potential transfer target for one of Scotland’s big two, after scoring seven goals and assisting eight for Motherwell and McGinn was already anticipating losing him a few months back.
Now that Just has made a statement on the world stage, it might not only be Scottish clubs taking an interest.
For now, with the team heading back to San Diego to prepare for their second match against Egypt in Vancouver on Sunday night (kickoff 1pm Monday NZ time), his focus is on getting ready to go again, against an opponent that will now know all about him and his team-mates and won’t be underestimating them one bit.
“It’s the World Cup. It’s the biggest football event in the world. When you turn up, you have to expect that every team is going to be a challenge.
“I think we showed today we’re a dangerous team – a team that’s good with the ball and without the ball.
“I’m sure Egypt will have watched that game and will know what to expect.”