Emma Rolston – during a women’s international friendly game between the New Zealand Football Ferns and the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, 2023.
Photo: DJ Mills / PHOTOSPORT
The Football Ferns will play the USA in Kansas City in October.
It is the first fixture for New Zealand in the October FIFA window.
The game against the World Number 2 and Olympic Champions will be at the home of the Kansas City Current NWSL team on Thursday 30 October (Wednesday 29 October local time).
The game marks the 22nd time the two sides have faced each other at senior international level.
This year the Ferns have had a win and a draw against Costa Rica and a win and a loss against Venezuela.
“Our strategy in the first half of 2025 was to use the initial international windows to really work on our playing style, and it has been great to see the players buy into that with some good success on the pitch,” Ford Football Ferns head coach Michael Mayne said.
“We now need to challenge ourselves against some really top sides to see how we are processing, and the USA are the ultimate test for that.
“Knowing we start our FIFA Women’s World Cup qualifying journey in early 2026, we want to use the rest of this year to make sure we are in the best place not just to qualify for, but perform at, the tournament.
“We have made progress, but we know there is still work to do to ensure we achieve our goal of getting out of our group in Brazil in 2027.”
The Ford Football Ferns will be playing in both the October and November 2025 FIFA match windows, before starting FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 qualifying in February 2026.
The finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027 – Oceania Qualifiers are set to be played in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland in April 2026.
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