An appointment sure to pique the interest of many New Zealand football followers

Olympic gold medal-winning coach Bev Priestman's penned a two-year deal to take charge of the Phoenix women's side.

Priestman - who led the Canadian women's team to Olympic glory in 2021 - has just finished serving a one-year ban from the game for her role in the Canadian team's misuse of drones at last year's Olympics.

That misuse included flying a drone over a New Zealand team training ahead of their opening game in Paris.

Priestman has coached at four World Cups and three Olympics - and has twice been shortlisted for Fifa's Best women's coach award.