Veteran New Zealand defender Abby Erceg will return to the Ninja A-League for the first time in almost 14 years when she lines up for Wellington Phoenix this season, ending an absence from the competition that began at Adelaide United in 2013.
Erceg, 36, last played in the Australian domestic competition, then known as the W-League, across two seasons with Adelaide United between 2011 and 2013. Since leaving Adelaide, she has played in Germany, for four clubs in the United States, and in Mexico, before signing with the Phoenix.
One of those American stints produced the biggest trophy of her club career, a 2019 NWSL Championship with North Carolina Courage.
Erceg told aleagues.com.au reporter Teo Pellizzeri that a key factor in her move to Wellington was her existing relationship with Phoenix coach Bev Priestman, who worked in New Zealand football in the early 2010s, including as an assistant coach with the national team.
"I knew who she was and what she was about, kind of the culture that she drives in her team," Erceg said.
"I think she's really brought the professionalism up in Wellington and in football in New Zealand."
Erceg will line up alongside Tameka Yallop, another player who featured in the 2012-13 season and remains in the Ninja A-League more than a decade later.
She will also play alongside 20-year-old forward Milly Clegg, who left the Phoenix for Western Sydney Wanderers in 2023 before stints with Racing Louisville, Halifax Tides in Canada and Vittsjo in Sweden, and has since returned to Wellington.
"I like playing with Milly. I think she's got a lot of talent. She's a dribbler," Erceg said.
Erceg retired from international football in January 2023, a decision that ruled her out of the home FIFA World Cup co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia later that year. She finished her Football Ferns career with 146 caps and six goals, the third-highest appearance tally in the team's history.
She debuted for New Zealand as a 17-year-old, captained the side from 2014 to 2017 across 49 matches, and was the first New Zealander to reach 100 senior international caps.
Erceg confirmed she does not intend to reverse that retirement despite her return to football in the region.
"I don't really have any plans to go back to play with the Ferns again," she said.
Asked about the state of the women's game in New Zealand, Erceg pointed to resourcing as a continuing challenge for the national programme.
"We just don't have the resources at the moment to be able to develop the players in the way that we want to play, to be successful on the world stage," she said.
Erceg also reflected on what it has felt like returning to play in the region after more than a decade largely based in Europe and North America.
"I feel a bit of a visitor in my own country sometimes," she said.
Erceg is set to make her long-awaited Ninja A-League return when the 2026 season gets under way in October.