{"id":597179,"date":"2026-04-10T04:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T04:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597179\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T04:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T04:44:10","slug":"ferns-match-brought-forward-24-hours-with-free-admission-to-stadium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/597179\/","title":{"rendered":"Ferns’ match brought forward 24 hours \u2014 with free admission to stadium"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spectators will gain free admission to the Football Ferns\u2019 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup qualifier in Hamilton after the series\u2019 semi-finals were brought forward by 24 hours.<\/p>\n

Both semi-finals at FMG Stadium Waikato will have free admission with the games kicking off at 12-noon and 4pm on Saturday April 11, 2026.<\/p>\n

The decision to reschedule the matches was taken in light of severe weather warnings for Sunday as a result of Cyclone Vaianu.<\/p>\n

Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) announced the change, after consultation with New Zealand Football, the Hamilton City Council and the stadium.<\/p>\n

Fans looking to attend do not need to book a ticket in advance, they can just arrive at the stadium.<\/p>\n

All tickets booked for the original match day will be refunded by Ticketek.<\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea will play American Samoa in the first semi-final, followed by New Zealand\u2019s match against Fiji.<\/p>\n

The winners of the semi-finals will meet in the series final at North Harbour Stadium, Auckland, on Wednesday April 15, with the winner qualifying to represent Oceania at the 2027 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup in Brazil.<\/p>\n

Lisa Jones, NZ Football\u2019s general manager competitions and international events, said:\u00a0\u201cIt is very rare to move games like this, but we completely support this decision by OFC.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the advice we have been given, we strongly feel this is the best option to allow the fixtures to be played and to ensure the safety of everyone attending the matches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith a considerable number of people looking to attend the games, this is a decision we wanted made as early as possible to ensure we didn\u2019t have people travelling in potentially dangerous conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe now look forward to two great semi-finals being played on Saturday ahead of next week\u2019s final in T\u0101maki Makaurau Auckland.\u201d<\/p>\n

New Zealand<\/p>\n

(Player, caps\/goals, club)<\/p>\n

Goalkeepers
Victoria Esson (32\/0), Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Alina Santos (2\/0), University of Denver, United States<\/p>\n

Defenders
Liz Anton (27\/0), Canberra United, Australia
Claudia Bunge (40\/1), Melbourne Victory, Australia
Michaela Foster (33\/1), Durham FC, England
Ally Green (19\/2), FC Copenhagen, Denmark
Meikayla Moore (77\/4), Calgary Wild, Canada
Rebekah Stott (110\/4), Melbourne City, Australia
Kate Taylor (30\/2), Dijon FCO, France<\/p>\n

Midfielders
Manaia Elliott (7\/2)Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Maya Hahn (8\/1), FC Viktoria Berlin, Germany
Deven Jackson (8\/1), Melbourne City, Australia
Grace Jale (37\/10), Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Katie Kitching (26\/7), Sunderland AFC, England
Charlotte Lancaster (3\/0), Newcastle Jets, Australia
Emma Pijnenburg (11\/0), Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand
Grace Wisnewski (7\/0), FC Nordsj\u00e6lland, Denmark<\/p>\n

Forwards
Hannah Blake (10\/3), Durham FC, England
Kelli Brown (11\/4), Newcastle Jets, Australia
Milly Clegg (23\/4), Vittsj\u00f6 GIK, Sweden
Jacqui Hand (37\/9), FC Basel, Switzerland
Gabi Rennie (45\/2), Eskilstuna United DFF, Sweden
Pia Vlok (3\/1), Wellington Phoenix, Aotearoa New Zealand<\/p>\n

Withdrawn<\/p>\n

Indiah-Paige Riley (37\/9), Crystal Palace, England (injured)<\/p>\n

Head coach
Michael Mayne<\/p>\n

How to buy tickets for Wednesday\u2019s final<\/p>\n

Tickets are on general sale for the third round final to be staged in Auckland.<\/p>\n

You can buy tickets for the series final at North Harbour Stadium.<\/p>\n

For the series final in Albany, prices are $22.50 (adult) and $5 (children aged 3-14).<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Final standings \u2014 Round 2<\/p>\n

FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup qualifiers \u2014 Group A<\/p>\n

P
\nW
\nD
\nL
\nGF
\nGA
\nGD
\nPts<\/p>\n

New Zealand
\n3
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n19
\n0
\n+19
\n9<\/p>\n

American Samoa
\n3
\n2
\n0
\n1
\n2
\n3
\n-3
\n6<\/p>\n

Samoa
\n3
\n1
\n0
\n2
\n2
\n10
\n-8
\n3<\/p>\n

Solomon Islands
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n3
\n1
\n11
\n-10
\n0<\/p>\n

FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup qualifiers \u2014 Group B<\/p>\n

P
\nW
\nD
\nL
\nGF
\nGA
\nGD
\nPts<\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea
\n3
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n10
\n0
\n+10
\n9<\/p>\n

Fiji
\n3
\n2
\n0
\n1
\n6
\n1
\n+5
\n6<\/p>\n

New Caledonia
\n3
\n1
\n0
\n1
\n2
\n10
\n-8
\n3<\/p>\n

Vanuatu
\n3
\n0
\n0
\n3
\n1
\n9
\n-7
\n0<\/p>\n

Fixtures \u2014 Round 3<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Games to be played on Saturday April 11, 2026<\/p>\n

Semi-final 1<\/p>\n

Papua New Guinea v American Samoa
FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton, 12pm (NZT)
*Date of game changed after cyclone warnings for Sunday<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Oceania qualifiers \u2014 semi-final 2<\/p>\n

New Zealand v Fiji
FMG Stadium Waikato, Hamilton, 4pm (NZT)
*Date of game changed after cyclone warnings for Sunday<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Game to be played on Wednesday April 15, 2026<\/p>\n

Final<\/p>\n

Winners semi-final 1 v winners semi-final 2
North Harbour Stadium, Albany, Auckland, 7pm (NZT)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This story was first published on April 10, 2026.<\/p>\n

More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Spectators will gain free admission to the Football Ferns\u2019 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup qualifier in Hamilton after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597180,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[254398,64,63,261732,291464,596,242357,85],"class_list":["post-597179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-2027-fifa-womens-world-cup","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fifa-womens-world-cup","tag-fmg-stadium","tag-football","tag-football-ferns","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597179\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}