From Hospital Corridors to the World Stage: Inside the Doctor Football World Cup
World Medical Football Championship Costa Rica 2026
Search for doctor football, "Doctors World Cup", or "World Medical Football Championship", and you will quickly realise this is no novelty side event.
It is a serious international tournament. The athletes just happen to prescribe antibiotics between training sessions.
In 2025, Dublin hosted the World Medical Football Championship, where qualified doctors from around the world represented their countries on the pitch. Blugibbon was there supporting the New Zealand Medical Football teams, proudly sponsored by us, and what unfolded was far more than a sporting event.
"It was a reminder that behind every clinician is a competitor, a teammate, and a human being who needs connection as much as purpose."
Kim - Blugibbon on WMFC2025
The next chapter takes place in San José, Costa Rica, from 12 to 19 December 2026.
Official tournament information:
The Docceroos and Medtildas: Australia’s Medical Football Royalty
Australia fields two of the most recognisable teams in doctor football.
If the Medtildas are the queens of the clinic, the Docceroos are the undisputed kings of the consultation room dad joke.
You suspect the board meeting to name the Docceroos involved three orthopaedic surgeons and a paediatrician, high-fiving over the fact that it rhymes with the national team and subtly reminds everyone they can prescribe a Z Pak.
It is the ultimate medical flex.
They are not just sprinting across the pitch. They are sprinting with a stethoscope bouncing against their ribs and a bag of oranges that has almost certainly been assessed for optimal Vitamin C content.
You have not truly experienced the Doctor's World Cup until you have seen a striker celebrate a goal by theatrically checking the goalkeeper’s pulse or a midfielder attempting to out-refer the referee’s yellow card to a specialist.
One suspects the only way to make it more official would be to replace the team bus with an oversized ambulance and conduct the halftime talk via a PowerPoint on cholesterol management.
The Medtildas, meanwhile, carry themselves with clinical precision and competitive steel. The Australian Women’s Medical Football Team has grown into a formidable presence at the World Medical Football Championship, combining elite fitness with the composure of doctors who have handled far more pressure than a penalty shootout.
Docceroos Official page:
https://docceroos.com.au/world-championships/
Medtilda's official page:
https://docceroos.com.au/medtildas
Medtildas Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/medtildas
Medtildas Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/medtildas
Dublin 2025: A Global Medical Community on Display
Last year, Kim, our BG recruiter based in our UK office, travelled to Dublin to support the New Zealand Medical Football teams. What she experienced was far more than just a football tournament.
"Teams featured doctors from New Zealand, Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and several European and Mediterranean nations.
Despite competing under different flags, many players had worked in New Zealand at some stage in their careers, creating a unique bond amid fierce competition.
Although these athletes are consultants, GPs, emergency physicians and paediatricians rather than professional footballers, the level of competition was intense.
What stood out most was the spirit. Juniors supported consultants. Consultants supported juniors. Women backed men and men backed women.
It was heart.
It was unity.
It was medicine and sport coming together in the best possible way."
Kim - WMFC 2025
Meet the International Doctor Football Teams
The World Medical Football Championship continues to expand, with teams representing a remarkable cross-section of the global medical community.
New Zealand Medical Football Team
Official Website:
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/NewZealandMedicalFootball
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/newzealandmedical
Women’s Team Instagram (NZ Manaias):
https://www.instagram.com/nzmanaias
Blugibbon proudly sponsors and supports the New Zealand Medical Football Team as they prepare for WMFC Costa Rica 2026.
Great Britain Medical Football Team
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/GBRMedicalFootball
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/gbrmedfootball
X:
Ireland Medical Football Team
Official Website:
https://irishmedicalfootball.com
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/irelandmedicalfootball
X:
Brazil Medical Football Team
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/futebolmedicobrasil
Costa Rica Medical Football Team
Selección Nacional de Médicos de Costa Rica
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/SeleccionNacionalDeMedicosDeCostaRica
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/crfutmed
Tournament Host:
Canada Medical Football Team
Official Website:
Instagram Men:
https://www.instagram.com/canadamedicalfootball
Instagram Women True North FC:
https://www.instagram.com/cdnwmft
Facebook Group:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MedicalTeamCanada
South Korea Medical Football Team
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thekmft
Organisation: Korean Medical Football Association
How to Get Involved with Blugibbon and WMFC Costa Rica 2026
If you are a doctor searching for a doctor football team, Doctors World Cup Costa Rica or medical football championship registration, here is how to get started.
Contact Blugibbon directly and let us know you are aiming for WMFC 2026.
Send your CV if you are fully registered in New Zealand, Australia, the UK or Ireland.
Discuss your football commitments so we can structure locum roles around training, trials and travel.
We specialise in flexible locum placements that allow doctors to maintain income continuity while pursuing opportunities like the Doctors World Cup.
Get in touch:
02 8960 6445
hello@blugibbon.com.au
How to Join the New Zealand Medical Football Team
If you are searching New Zealand medical football team or how to play in the Doctors World Cup, you will generally need a recognised medical degree, current registration and active clinical practice.
Monitor the official NZ Medical Football website and social channels for trial announcements.
If you need locum flexibility in Australia or New Zealand to support your preparation, Blugibbon can guide you through registration and placement options.
For doctors searching doctor football, Docceroos, Medtildas or WMFC Costa Rica 2026, the message is simple.
You do not have to choose between medicine and the things that make you feel alive.
Sometimes the path from hospital corridors leads all the way to a World Cup pitch.
And Blugibbon will be there when it does.
And This Time, The Whole Blugibbon Family Is Coming
If Dublin 2025 was special, Costa Rica 2026 will be personal.
Because this time, the entire Blugibbon family is coming.
Not just as sponsors. Not just as recruiters.
But as supporters.
If you have seen the Blugibbon story, you know it is not corporate. It is not transactional. It is not a faceless agency behind a logo.
It is families. It is children. It is mateship. It is real relationships.
In Costa Rica, the Blugibbon team will be there wearing their New Zealand football shirts with pride. The kids will be in black and white. The supporters will be on the sidelines. The flags will be out.
Because when the New Zealand Medical Football Team runs onto the pitch, they are not just representing a country.
They are representing a community.
And that community includes Blugibbon.
The image says it all. Doctors, families, travel, connection, five-star reputation, adventure. The Blugibbon logo beside campfires and beaches rather than boardrooms. A life built around medicine, not consumed by it.
That is the difference.
Doctor football is not just about competition. It is about creating lasting memories. It is about children watching their parents play for their country. It is about colleagues becoming lifelong friends.
It is about building a career that leaves room for moments like this.
When the New Zealand Medical Football Team steps onto the field in San José in December 2026, there will be more than teammates behind them.
There will be a sea of New Zealand shirts.
There will be Blugibbon.
And there will be pride.
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