Chelsea Women face Auckland at historic Eden Park

Photo: Katie Chan / CC BY-SA 4.0 / Wikimedia Commons

Chelsea Women open their pre-season tour of New Zealand and Australia with a match against Auckland at Eden Park on Saturday, kick-off 5am UK time.

Eden Park, located on the border of the Mount Eden and Kingsland suburbs in Auckland, is New Zealand’s national stadium and has hosted sport since 1900. A major redevelopment in 2010 gave it a permanent capacity of 50,000, with an option for 10,000 additional temporary seats.

The ground has been central to several landmark moments in women’s sport. It hosted three opening matches of the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup in a single day, before staging both semi-finals and the final, in which New Zealand defeated England 34-31 to claim a record sixth title.

In cricket, Eden Park staged two consecutive group-stage matches at the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup, including Australia’s win over India and England’s narrow victory over New Zealand. Australia went on to win the tournament.

Eden Park’s highest-profile women’s football moment came at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia. The stadium hosted the tournament’s opening game, in which New Zealand defeated Norway 1-0, then staged six group games in total and three knockout ties, including Spain’s 2-1 semi-final win over Sweden on the way to the title.