New Zealand Lutheran’s service honoured

New Zealand Lutheran Dr Johanna Wood has been awarded the Companion of the New Zealand Order of Merit ‘for services to football governance’.

Dr Wood, who is a member of the Manawatu Parsh in the Lutheran Church of New Zealand (LCNZ) and is a former LCNZ Council of Synod Chair, having served in that role from 2016 to 2019, has contributed to women’s and men’s football (soccer) in New Zealand since 2010.

She said she was ‘humbled and honoured’ by the award announced earlier this year and believed her recognition ‘was an acknowledgement of not just my work but the many people who volunteer and work in football, both on and off the pitch’.

‘I believe God gives us all gifts and we can use these in our service to others’, she said. ‘In all my work I have looked upon myself as a servant leader, using the gifts God has given me, seeking his support and guidance along the way.’

Dr Wood was chair of New Zealand’s Central Football between 2010 and 2018, a member of its board from 2006 and was made a life member in 2020.

She was elected to the New Zealand Football Executive Committee in 2018 and served as vice-president, before becoming the first woman president in 2019.

Dr Wood was appointed as the Oceania representative to the council of soccer’s world governing body, FIFA, in 2019 and was re-elected for a second term in 2023.

She led the bid for hosting rights of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, with New Zealand co-hosting the tournament with Australia. Dr Wood also was the inaugural chair of FIFA’s first World Cup Legacy Committee. The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was the most attended women’s sporting event in history, while attendance records for soccer matches in New Zealand were broken multiple times.

The LCNZ and LCANZ offer their congratulations to Dr Wood on this recognition of her service.