The All Whites may have to settle for playing in just four of the five international windows in 2023, due to a potential clash with the Oceania Olympic qualifying tournament.

A new national team coach to succeed Danny Hay is set to be appointed by Christmas and they will also take charge of the OlyWhites under-23 team, who will be hoping to make it to the Paris Olympics in 2024.

New Zealand Football chief executive Andrew Pragnell said the process of securing matches for the other four windows was underway while September remained up in the air.

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New Zealand Football is chasing matches in Europe for the All Whites in 2023.

There's a chance that that will be the OFC Olympic qualifiers so we will have to make some decisions there as to whether that will be the priority.

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Those qualifiers will be contested by a squad of players born 2001 and onwards, with up to three older players able to be added for the Olympic tournament if they make it.

Four players with All Whites caps fall into that age-group midfielders Matt Garbett, Ben Old and Marko Stamenic and forward Ben Waine though its possible club commitments will keep them from taking part in qualifying.

Otherwise, Pragnell said, 2023 is looking great, with NZ Football actively chasing high-profile friendlies in Europe in June, October and November.

In March ideally we will play at home and we've followed the Uefa [Euro 2024 qualifying] draw really closely.

There are Europe prospects potentially for at least three of the windows.

The qualifiers for Euro 2024 feature seven groups of teams and that means there are teams with byes on each of the 10 matchdays in 2023.

In November 2019, the All Whites played the Republic of Ireland and Lithuania when they had byes for the same reason during Euro 2020 qualifying, losing 3-1 in Dublin and 1-0 in Vilnius.

Organising matches against similar opponents or higher-profile ones would give the new coach a series of big challenges in their first year in the job leading up to the 2026 World Cup in North America.

NZ Footballs ability to secure such fixtures will also be an indication of its level of support for the All Whites, something that became a flashpoint during the latter stages of Hays tenure, the end of which was announced this week following an independent review of the teams 2022 World Cup qualifying campaign.

England, France and Scotland are the most notable of the 14 teams with byes in October, with Belgium, Greece and Norway the most notable teams free in November.

Options will be more limited in June, as four of the 10 teams with byes that month will use the free matchdays to contest the finals of the 2023-23 Uefa Nations League.

Poland, Serbia and Sweden will be the three teams available in the first half of the window, with Azerbaijan, Czech Republic and Montenegro the three available in the second half.

There will be opportunities that could be explored elsewhere if nothing eventuates in Europe, with teams in Asia and North and Central America and the Caribbean also largely free in 2023.

Pragnell said NZ Football had sent offers out to potential opponents for a home match (or matches) in March.

I'll stay optimistic on it and in the event it doesn't eventuate, so be it, but we are going to push really hard to try and get every single window between now and 2026 filled and play at home at least once a year.

The All Whites played their first home match in almost four years in September, losing 2-0 to Australia in front of a 35,000-strong crowd at Eden Park, in what turned out to be Hays last match in charge.

If NZ Football does arrange a home match in March, it will be the first time they have played at home in two consecutive windows since November 2016 and March 2017, when they had World Cup qualifiers against New Caledonia and Fiji.

It will also be just the sixth time a team has visited New Zealand for a friendly since the All Whites last World Cup appearance, in South Africa in 2010.

The mens international windows in 2023 are all nine days long, starting on March 20, June 12, September 4, October 9 and November 13.

New Zealand is set to host at least 46 womens internationals next year, with the Fifa Womens World Cup being held there and in Australia in July and August.

A total of 29 matches will be played during that tournament, with another 13 to be played in and around the final qualifying play-off tournament in February, which features 10 teams chasing three spots.

There are likely to be friendlies for the Football Ferns in the windows starting April 3 and July 10 and there could also be friendlies between World Cup teams on the eve of the tournament.

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Potential clash could keep All Whites from playing in every international window in 2023 - Stuff