{"id":840987,"date":"2026-08-03T02:39:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:39:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840987\/"},"modified":"2026-08-03T02:39:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-03T02:39:11","slug":"chelsea-name-star-studded-touring-squad-for-auckland-football-festival","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/840987\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea name star-studded touring squad for Auckland football festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>English women\u2019s champions Chelsea have named a 28-player squad packed with internationals for their tour match against an Auckland FC invitational squad at Eden Park.<\/p>\n<p>The London club will play the Auckland squad on Saturday August 8, 2026, and then meet the Women\u2019s A-League All Stars in Sydney four days later.<\/p>\n<p>England internationals Hannah Hampton, Lucy Bronze, Keira Walsh and Lauren James headline the touring party. They are joined by Scotland captain Erin Cuthbert, United States defender Naomi Girma and Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe.<\/p>\n<p>Australian defender Ellie Carpenter will enjoy a homecoming after joining Chelsea from Lyon during the European summer. United States winger Alyssa Thompson is another recent signing included for the Oceania tour.<\/p>\n<p>The Auckland FC invitational squad, to be coached by former Football Ferns goalkeeper Jenny Bindon, includes nine past and present Ferns, three American guest players and eight players from local clubs.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2026\/08\/02\/auckland-fc-complete-invitational-squad-to-face-chelsea-at-eden-park\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Auckland FC complete invitational squad to face Chelsea at Eden Park<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-74314\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Kadeisha-Buchanan.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"256\" height=\"300\"\/>Kadeisha Buchanan.<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC plan to join the women\u2019s A-League for the 2027-28 season. Their entry to the competition was delayed two years after the Australian Professional Leagues (APL) sought to address economic factors and review the competition.<\/p>\n<p>The Chelsea squad boasts a wealth of international experience.<\/p>\n<p>Canada\u2019s Kadeisha Buchanan is their most capped player with more than 170 appearances, followed by England defender Lucy Bronze with more than 140.<\/p>\n<p>Republic of Ireland captain Katie McCabe has made more than 110 appearances, while Australia\u2019s Carpenter and England midfielder Walsh have each played more than 90 senior internationals.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea\u2019s midfield again underlines the club\u2019s strength in depth.<\/p>\n<p>Walsh, Cuthbert, Wieke Kaptein and Germany international Sjoeke N\u00fcsken are all included, while Italy midfielder Giulia Dragoni continues her development after arriving from Barcelona.<\/p>\n<p>The attack features James alongside Colombia striker Mayra Ram\u00edrez, France internationals Melvine Malard and Sandy Baltimore, Japan\u2019s Maika Hamano and England forward Aggie Beever-Jones.<\/p>\n<p>The touring party also includes several emerging players expected to gain valuable senior experience. Goalkeeper Katie Cox, defenders Chloe Sarwie and Nelly Las, and midfielders Lola Brown and Lexi Potter are among the younger members of the squad.<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea squad<\/p>\n<p>Player, age, nationality<\/p>\n<p>Goalkeepers<br \/>Hannah Hampton, 25, England<br \/>Livia Peng, 24, Switzerland<br \/>Becky Spencer, 35, Jamaica<br \/>Katie Cox, 20, England<\/p>\n<p>Defenders<br \/>Ellie Carpenter, 26, Australia<br \/>Naomi Girma, 26, United States<br \/>Veerle Buurman, 20, Netherlands<br \/>Nelly Las, 21, France<br \/>Lucy Bronze, 34, England<br \/>Kadeisha Buchanan, 30, Canada<br \/>Chloe Sarwie, 17, England<br \/>Katie McCabe, 30, Republic of Ireland<\/p>\n<p>Midfielders<br \/>Sjoeke N\u00fcsken, 25, Germany<br \/>Erin Cuthbert, 28, Scotland<br \/>Wieke Kaptein, 20, Netherlands<br \/>Keira Walsh, 29, England<br \/>Lola Brown, 18, England<br \/>Lexi Potter, 19, England<br \/>Giulia Dragoni, 19, Italy<\/p>\n<p>Forwards<br \/>Mayra Ram\u00edrez, 27, Colombia<br \/>Melvine Malard, 26, France<br \/>Lauren James, 24, England<br \/>Sandy Baltimore, 26, France<br \/>Alyssa Thompson, 21, United States<br \/>Maika Hamano, 22, Japan<br \/>Aggie Beever-Jones, 23, England<\/p>\n<p>Fixtures<br \/>\nNew Zealand International Football Festival<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31278\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FOF-Weekday-Saturday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Saturday August 8, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Auckland FC Women\u2019s Invitational v Chelsea<br \/>Eden Park, Auckland, 4pm<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/premier.ticketek.co.nz\/shows\/Show.aspx?sh=FOFWOMEN26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-46312 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Buy-tickets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"40\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Women\u2019s All Stars fixture<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-31282\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/FOF-Weekday-Wednesday.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"225\" height=\"53\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Game to be played on Wednesday August 12, 2026<\/p>\n<p>Chelsea Women v Women\u2019s A-League All Stars<br \/>Allianz Stadium, Sydney, 9.45pm (NZT)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ticketmaster.com.au\/chelsea-f-c-women-v-a-league-all-stars-women-sydney-12-08-2026\/event\/25006383DFEE7F0D\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-46312 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Buy-tickets.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"40\"\/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/2026\/07\/22\/ferns-named-in-womens-a-league-all-stars-to-face-touring-chelsea\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">READ MORE: Ferns named in women\u2019s A-League All Stars to face touring Chelsea<\/a> &gt;&gt;&gt;&gt;<\/p>\n<p>This story was first published on August 3, 2026.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.friendsoffootballnz.com\/latest-news\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">More football stories<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"English women\u2019s champions Chelsea have named a 28-player squad packed with internationals for their tour match against an&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":840988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[563],"tags":[64,67092,63,6187,596,85],"class_list":["post-840987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-au","tag-auckland-fc","tag-australia","tag-chelsea","tag-football","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840987","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=840987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/840987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/840988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=840987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=840987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=840987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}