Napier gets a bit of the Fifa football action

Hannah Wilkinson of New Zealand in action during the 2019 Fifa Women's World Cup. Photo / Getty Images

Hawke’s Bay’s hitherto unsuccessful bid for a piece of 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup football action has been requited with the allocation to Napier of the New Zealand Football Fern’s last match before the tournament.

The Football Ferns will play a Monday evening match against No 33-ranked fellow tournament contender Vietnam at McLean Park on July 10, starting at 5.30pm, just 10 days before the New Zealand team opens the tournament on July 20 with a match against Norway at Eden Park, Auckland.

Tickets go on sale on April 28 through ticketek.co.nz, starting at $15 for adults and $5 for children, plus booking fees.

Napier had previously been overlooked as a venue and a training base for the tournament, which is being staged throughout New Zealand and Australia from July 20-August 20, and had hosted representatives of three nations interested in basing their teams in the city.

The home of Hawke’s Bay Rugby for more than a century, McLean Park has been used several times in the past for football, or soccer as it was long known in New Zealand.

Men’s side the All Whites played there in the 1980s, Under-17 men’s World Cup matches were played there in 1999, Chatham Cup finals have been played there and the Wellington Phoenix have played an A-League match on the park.

An NRL rugby league match between the Warriors and Brisbane Broncos will be played there on May 23, and the park will revert to its use as a rugby stadium just a few days later for the Hawke’s Bay Club finals on July 14-15.

Napier Mayor Kirsten Wise said: “Napier is the perfect place to hold world-class events of all kinds, and top sporting fixtures are a special highlight. We are very proud to be hosting the Football Ferns for the first time.”

The match in Napier is the eighth Ford Football Ferns home international fixture in the last 12 months, with Napier the first host outside the four main centres of Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland.

According to a Football New Zealand release Ford Football Ferns head coach Jitka Klimková sees the July 10 match as an important game for her side.

“We want to go into the Fifa Women’s World Cup in the best possible shape so playing a team like Vietnam just before the start of the tournament provides the right mix of opposition for us at this stage of our build-up campaign,” she said.

“We also know how difficult things have been for the people of Hawke’s Bay this year, including for our players’ friends and families in the region, so we wanted to make this game our final public match before the tournament and show our support to them.”