Birthdate
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May 25, 1975
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Nickname
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Mai Mai, MJ, The Kerikeri Kid
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Individual Achievements
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46 SWANZ appearances, 11 goals
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SWANZ debut v. Canada, August 6, 1993
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2007 FIFA Women's World Cup squad member (3 games)
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Auckland rep. 1995-97, 1999- -
72 appearances, 24 goals
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Individual Honours
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1993
Auckland Young Player of the Year
Finalist, Maori Sports awards
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1996
MVP, WSANZ Knockout Cup Final
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1998
MVP, WSANZ Knockout Cup Final
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1999
Auckland Player of the Year
Three Kings United Premier Women, Player of the Year
Three Kings United Premier Women, Top Goalscorer
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2000
Finalist, New Zealand International Female Footballer of the Year
Three Kings United Premier Women, Supporters' Player of the Year
Three Kings United Premier Women, Top Goalscorer
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2001
Auckland Sportswoman of the Year
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2002
Finalist, New Zealand International Female Footballer of the Year
Northern Region Women's Soccer, Meritorious Achievement award
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2003
Finalist, Sport Auckland Sportswoman of the Year
Top Goalscorer, Oceania Women's World Cup qualifiers
First player in history of NZ soccer to score hat-tricks in three consecutive full internationals
Finalist, New Zealand International Female Footballer of the Year
Northern Region Women's Soccer, Meritorious Achievement award
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2004
Finalist, New Zealand International Female Footballer of the Year
Auckland captain
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2006
Finalist, New Zealand International Female Footballer of the Year
Three Kings United Premier Women, Player of the Year
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2007
FIFA Women's World All Stars
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Club Record
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Eden, 1992
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Avondale United / Lynn-Avon United, 1993-97
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Three Kings United, 1998-2000
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Ellerslie, 2001-03
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Dalian Shide (China), 2002
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Three Kings United, 2004-06
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Western Springs, 2007
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Waitakere City, 2008-
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Club Honours
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Northern Premier Women's League champions
1993, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2006
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Auckland Premier Women's Knockout Shield winners
1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2000
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Auckland Premier Women's Champion-of-Champions winners
1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999
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WSANZ Knockout Cup winners
1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2007
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WSANZ Knockout Cup runners-up
2003, 2004
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Representative Team Honours
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National Women's Soccer Tournament winners
1995, 1997, 1999, 2000
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National Women's Soccer League winners
2002, 2003, 2005, 2006
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![]() Recognise anybody?
Maia (right in the background with headband) awaits developments during a Trans-Tasman Secondary Schoolgirls clash at Mt. Smart #2 in 1993.
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Maia Jackman - A Brief Biography
by Jeremy Ruane
New Zealand women's soccer legend Maia Jackman boasts a footballing CV to die for.
Of all the honours she has earned and recognition she has been afforded throughout her illustrious career, though, one achievement stands out above them all - the first New Zealand female footballer, and only the second Kiwi in history, to be named in a FIFA World All Stars squad.
Being mentioned in the same breath as such legends of the women's game as Kristine Lilly, Birgit Prinz and Marta was beyond the wildest dreams of the thirty-one-year-old.
But when the FIFA Women's World All Stars squad took to the field in Wuhan to play China in late March, in the prelude to the draw for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals, the Whangarei native proudly took her place alongside her more illustrious team-mates for what will always be one of the greatest highlights of her career.
Of which there have been plenty to date. Captaining her country against China in February, 2004, for one. Taking up a professional contract with Dalian Shide in the 2002 Chinese Women's Super League is another.
And being the only player in the history of New Zealand soccer to achieve the rarely realised world footballing feat of scoring hat-tricks in three consecutive full internationals, a milestone recorded during the 2003 Oceania Women's World Cup qualifying tournament … little wonder her peers hold her in such high regard.
But their respect and admiration is not confined to her on-field achievements, nor her impressive athleticism - she is one of the fittest players in the game. The only player to twice be named MVP in New Zealand women's soccer's national cup final prior to its 2007 version, Jackman thinks nothing of giving something back to the community in her spare time.
Presenting the prizes at school prize-givings, or making the odd hospital visit to brighten the day of a few patients are a couple of the things she does with the minimum of fuss and fanfare away from the football fields on which this role model has carved her reputation.
Spotted by former All Whites coach Kevin Fallon at a Centres of Excellence course he was conducting in Northland in the early 1990s - he thought she was a boy!, Jackman's family took the plunge and moved south to Auckland in 1992, the betterment of Maia's footballing career the prime reason behind their decision to up sticks.
Within eighteen months, the future Small Whites ambassador was making her debut for New Zealand, as an eighteen-year-old substitute against Canada in New York.
Even here, Jackman broke the mould. She was sporting the silver fern over her heart before she had played for Auckland's standard-setting “A Team”, and long-term injury meant a further two years would pass before she first donned the famous blue-and-white colours of her province.
Club and representative honours, not to mention goals galore, followed, as the jet-heeled Jackman carved herself a niche in, primarily, a right-sided midfield role. Such are her strengths and versatility, however, that stints as a striker and, in the last couple of seasons, a central defender and, most recently, a fullback, have made her an invaluable member of any squad in which she has been named, level regardless.
The five-time finalist for New Zealand's International Women's Footballer of the Year award - the one individual honour in the game she has yet to win, Jackman intends to retire from the international stage in 2008, but not before ensuring two highly significant additions are entered on her glittering CV.
Playing in both the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Finals and the 2008 Olympic Women's Football Tournament are the twin ambitions which drive Maia Jackman on as she embarks on the final stages of her illustrious footballing career.
The latter event would be a fitting stage on which a genuine New Zealand women's soccer legend deserves to take her final bow in international football.
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