Wellington Phoenix have signed experienced New Zealander Dan Edwards for the upcoming Isuzu UTE A-League season.
Edwards joins Wellington from NPLM VIC premiers Avondale FC that represents the 27-year-old’s first professional contract.
He had all but given up hope playing professionally but after five seasons of semi-pro football in Melbourne, the Phoenix came calling.
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Edwards soared to new heights with Avondale in 2025 as the Victorian club won the NPL Premiership and reached the semi-finals of the Australia Cup.
Now, he has quit his full-time job to link up with Giancarlo Italiano’s Phoenix.
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“It wasn’t at the forefront of where I was in life,” Edwards – who grew up on the Whangaparāoa peninsula north of Auckland – said of playing professional football.
“I was at the point where I needed to start looking at trying to get a house or getting a unit somewhere and then the second you get a call and you’re told there’s a chance it’s right back at the front of mind again.
“I spoke to my family and my partner and they all said the same thing ‘not many people get the chance to live out their childhood dream so you’ve got to take it’ and I completely agreed.
“Being 27 and quitting your full-time job to become a fulltime footy player is special.
“It’s something you dream about since you’re five or six-years-old. It’s crazy to think that at 27 now I get the chance to live that.”
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Before moving to Melbourne in 2021, Edwards spent three years playing for Thundering Herd in the United States while studying accounting at Marshall University.
Edwards was a regular in Avondale’s starting XI at either left-back or deputising at centre-back, while holding down a full-time job in 2025.
Phoenix head coach Italiano had been tracking the defender for the past two years before recruiting Edwards heading into 2025-26.
“When the A-League season finished I went to see Dan play live,” Italiano said. “I wanted to get a good feel for him, and I was impressed with what I saw.
“I thought he was a very tidy player with the ball and off the ball. Defensively he’s very solid.
“Dan played more as a left-back for Avondale but I watched him play at Port Melbourne as a wing-back and that’s where I see him playing for us.
“He’s a good character as well which is very important.”
One fixture Italiano added to scout Edwards was Avondale’s NPL clash against Melbourne Knights and the Wellington recruit – who also spent time with Eastern Suburbs in Auckland – said: “I was covering playing centre back for a good few weeks and at half-time the coach made a change and put me back out to full-back, and I had a pretty solid second half.
“After the game the president of Avondale told me Chiefy was watching, and I thought it wasn’t a bad game for him to come and watch. I scored a goal and assisted another, so I was pretty happy.”
Edwards joins Ifeanyi Eze, Carlo Armiento, Nikola Mileusnic and Manjrekar James as Phoenix’s new signings.
