A-League Men: Wellington Phoenix coach Giancarlo Italiano on the intense rivalry with Auckland FC
Saturday, 6 December 2025
What: A-League Men round 7, Auckland FC v Wellington Phoenix. Where: Mt Smart Stadium, Auckland. When: 5pm Saturday, live on Sky Sport 2.
A clown jibe from Auckland FC fans and a ‘no one outside Auckland likes you’ riposte from the Wellington Phoenix coach provided the match eve fireworks for edition five of the Kiwi A-League Men derby.
It was an almost ceremonial lighting of the fuse for Saturday’s rematch at Mt Smart Stadium with the most important narrative looming in the background: do the Phoenix have what it takes to avert this horror 0-4 record against their noisy neighbours from up north?
Coach Giancarlo Italiano certainly thinks so, even as the first order of business was attended to: a churlish social media post from Auckland FC’s The Port depicting the coach with clown makeup, with the caption: “Chiefy is a f**king clown”.
“I am a clown so it’s good. It was very factual,” he quipped in a good-natured response.
Whether it provides the Phoenix with motivation is questionable for a match they don’t need much extra incentive, other than to knock Auckland FC down a peg or two and secure their third win of the season.
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Italiano had to at least return serve.
“Any victory against them would be satisfying. Outside of Auckland I think most of New Zealand is cheering for us. I haven’t heard anyone from outside Auckland say they like Auckland.”
The dislike will certainly be mutual at Mt Smart, which heaved with 27,009 fans for the sides’ previous Auckland joust in February. Yellow and black-clad fans won’t need reminding of that horror show - a 6-1 defeat.
It was much closer in the capital just four weeks ago in a gripping clash befitting this Kiwi rivalry. Wellington lad Jesse Randall - originally from Island Bay United - seared the turf past some flat-footed defence to set up both the visitors’ goals in a 2-1 win, which saw red cards dished out to Auckland FC stars Dan Hall and Logan Rogerson, while Nix enforcer Corban Piper memorably went nose to nose with Auckland FC ‘keeper Michael Woud.
Despite a two-man advantage the Phoenix couldn’t crack the visitors’ defence for an equaliser, and it left the overall ledger an alarming 12-3 in Auckland FC’s favour - to the delight of their 600 travelling fans.
They are still without injured captain Hiroki Sakai but welcome back former Phoenix man Rogerson from his two-match ban for a crude challenge on Lukas Kelly-Heald, which he described as a brain explosion.
“It’s a derby, we’re fired up, and the way the boys trained today you can feel the intensity has gone up another level. We’re excited,” Rogerson said.
He noted one relevant statistic from last weekend: it was the first time since Auckland FC’s entry to the A-League that they had lost (a 2-1 defeat to Newcastle Jets in an Auckland storm) on the same weekend the Phoenix had won (2-1 over Adelaide United at home).
That added an edge to Auckland training this week while Italiano felt his side were in the right shape for a clash he likened to a semifinal or final. Three points separate third-placed Auckland and sixth-placed Wellington, with the hosts red-hot bookies’ favourites at $1.52.
“We’ve been very good in the majority of the games, just not good for the whole 90 which is needed with this style. Last week was a good step. The boys have confidence. I think they had confidence prior to that but against Adelaide it was a good statement,” Italiano said.
The Phoenix scored goals from captain Alex Rufer - unmarked from a corner - and Ramy Najjarine from the penalty spot to beat the previously high-flying Adelaide. Striker Ifeanyi Eze is an increasing presence while Carlo Armiento showed his matchwinning qualities in the win over Brisbane as the Phoenix hope to match Auckland’s goalscoring threats.
Auckland FC coach Steve Corica - who once labelled Italiano “disrespectful” for pre-match comments - kept it clean this time.
“The derbys are special. Everyone looks forward to them. They’re for the fans as well, for bragging rights, but for us it’s about winning every opportunity and so far we’re doing a great job,” Corica said.
“But that can turn around very quickly if we don’t do the right thing. We have to make sure there’s no complacency and there shouldn’t be because we had a loss last week and we should be hungry to want to get back on track, back to winning ways.”
Squads
Auckland FC: Michael Woud, Jake Girdwood-Reich, Nando Pijnaker, Louis Verstraete, Cameron Howieson, Felipe Gallegos, Sam Cosgrove, Guillermo May, Marlee Francois, Liam Gillion, Francis de Vries, Callan Elliott, Oliver Middleton, Oli Sail, Jesse Randall, Jake Brimmer, Dan Hall, Logan Rogerson, Jonty Bidois, Lachlan Brook.
Wellington Phoenix: Josh Oluwayemi, Corban Piper, Manjrekar James, Fin Roa Conchie, Ifeanyi Eze, Carlo Armiento, Dan Edwards, Alex Rufer, Isaac Hughes, Gabriel Sloane-Rodrigues, Lukas Kelly-Heald, Ramy Najjarine, Xuan Loke, Kazuki Nagasawa, Matt Sheridan, Luke Brooke-Smith, Alby Kelly Heald, Anaru Cassidy, Jayden Smith, Eamonn McCarron.
TAB odds: Auckland FC $1.52, Phoenix $5.80, draw $4.10
Kiwi A-League derby results
November 8, 2025: Phoenix 1 Auckland FC 2
February 22, 2025: Auckland FC 6 Phoenix 1
December 7, 2024: Auckland FC 2 Phoenix 1
November 2, 2024: Phoenix 0 Auckland FC 2