Team Wellington U18

New Zealand Premiership U18
29 Aug 2026
Saturday
Process
Squad Staff Tactics News 4 Relations Scouting Academy Schedule Stats Transfers
4 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets24 Aug 2026

The paperwork begins on Liberato Bell

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Team Wellington have done the hard part with Waitakere United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad24 Aug 2026

A row about effort at Team Wellington

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Ruon Tongyik was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad24 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Team Wellington

Petar Djuricic and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

In brief

Back issues
3 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

The paperwork begins on Sam Kirwan

A medical, a signature, a shirt held up in front of a sponsor’s board. Team Wellington have done the hard part with Hawke's Bay United, and the part that remains is the part supporters actually see.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Tempers go at Team Wellington

Steven Lustica was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Door shut on Mark Mason

Team Wellington asked and Hawke's Bay United said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.

Squad17 Aug 2026

Team Wellington are still strangers to each other

13 new signings in one window. Every one may be an upgrade and the side can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild the verdicts never mention.

Transfer targets17 Aug 2026

Team Wellington try to borrow Liberato Bell

Waitakere United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Squad17 Aug 2026

The formation has left Michael Garbett behind

Every shape has positions in it and this one does not have his. Team Wellington will either change the shape, change his job, or change his club, and he is waiting to hear which.

In brief

2 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad10 Aug 2026

A muscle injury sidelines Hassan El Hattab for 14 days

Nobody makes a documentary about a hamstring and everybody in the game fears one. Team Wellington will be careful with the return date, because the second one is always worse than the first.

Squad10 Aug 2026

A falling-out at Team Wellington

Steven Lustica and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

No deal for Jordan Vale at that price

Team Wellington offered $29.0K; Auckland City said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.

Transfer targets10 Aug 2026

Team Wellington rebuffed over Oliver Cacace

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Southern United have kept their man, and Team Wellington go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Squad10 Aug 2026

Words at Team Wellington training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ruon Tongyik is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Market10 Aug 2026

Team Wellington promote Sam Stamatelopoulos from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Sam Stamatelopoulos has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Market10 Aug 2026

One of our own: Marco Stamatelopoulos joins the Team Wellington first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Marco Stamatelopoulos is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market10 Aug 2026

Sam Cacace steps up from the Team Wellington academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Sam Cacace has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market10 Aug 2026

Deklan De Vries steps up from the Team Wellington academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Deklan De Vries has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

In brief

1 Edition

The Team Wellington Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad3 Aug 2026

Walter Scott gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Walter Scott has just signed for Team Wellington, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Hassan El Hattab signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Hassan El Hattab commits to Team Wellington for another 2 years.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Words exchanged at Team Wellington

Steven Lustica and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

An offer of $25.0K for Jordan Vale

Team Wellington have gone to Auckland City with a bid, and the supporters have gone to the internet with an opinion about it. Whether either changes anything is up to the selling club.

Market3 Aug 2026

A stepping stone, not a home, for Christian Bracco

He is doing his job and he is not settling. Team Wellington were supposed to be a step up in his own reckoning, and his own reckoning has been adjusted since he arrived.

Squad3 Aug 2026

Steven Lustica needs a bigger stage

He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and Team Wellington know which stage they are at.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Team Wellington ask about Petar Djuricic

A loan enquiry to Hawke's Bay United: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Team Wellington try to borrow Michael Garbett

Waitakere United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

Transfer targets3 Aug 2026

Team Wellington try to borrow Oliver Cacace

Southern United have been asked whether they would lend him. Loans are agreed quickly or not at all, and this one will be one or the other by the weekend.

In brief