{"id":535281,"date":"2026-07-20T14:50:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/535281\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:50:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T14:50:20","slug":"former-football-ferns-captain-abby-erceg-first-player-announced-for-auckland-fc-womens-invitational-xi-to-play-chelsea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/535281\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Football Ferns captain Abby Erceg first player announced for Auckland FC Women\u2019s Invitational XI to play Chelsea"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img  alt=\"Abby Erceg captained the Football Ferns 49 times. Photo \/ Photosport\" class=\"article-media__image responsively-lazy\" data-test-ui=\"article-media__image\"\/>Abby Erceg captained the Football Ferns 49 times. Photo \/ Photosport<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cHaving Abby as part of this team is incredibly special,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/auckland-fc\/chelsea-fc-women-follow-tottenham-hotspur-with-eden-park-showcase-in-august\/YNMUD5BHZZF3HFHGSRGH7CETPQ\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/auckland-fc\/chelsea-fc-women-follow-tottenham-hotspur-with-eden-park-showcase-in-august\/YNMUD5BHZZF3HFHGSRGH7CETPQ\/\">Bindon<\/a> said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe is a legendary Football Fern and someone who has helped shape women\u2019s football in New Zealand through the way she has played, led and represented our country.<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cTo have a player of Abby\u2019s calibre and character step on to the field at Eden Park against a club like Chelsea is something really special.<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">\u201cShe represents what is possible for the next generation, and I know her leadership, experience and presence will mean so much to this group and to the young girls watching from the stands.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">Erceg spent most of her club career in the United States\u2019 NWSL, winning one title with the Western New York Flash and two with the North Carolina Courage.<\/p>\n<p class=\"lRosKcBdZHd\" style=\"display:none\">The match against Chelsea is on August 8 and is part of the New Zealand International Football Festival, with Premier League team <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/auckland-fc\/auckland-fc-v-spurs-tottenham-hotspur-to-play-at-eden-park-for-july-26-friendly\/LIZBRVDP6NCZHIYULXJYGFFDKA\/\" target=\"_self\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.nzherald.co.nz\/sport\/football\/auckland-fc\/auckland-fc-v-spurs-tottenham-hotspur-to-play-at-eden-park-for-july-26-friendly\/LIZBRVDP6NCZHIYULXJYGFFDKA\/\">Tottenham Hotspur playing Auckland FC on July 26<\/a> also at Eden Park.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Abby Erceg captained the Football Ferns 49 times. Photo \/ Photosport \u201cHaving Abby as part of this team&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535282,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[119361,696,51,1558,13381,39307,8142,263949,26845,33736,10541,1888,5213,2082,2740,139153,19755,10543,111,139,69,8143,10538,9617,213,165,61,102,2834,79941],"class_list":["post-535281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-abby","tag-announced","tag-auckland","tag-been","tag-captain","tag-chelsea","tag-eden","tag-erceg","tag-fc","tag-fern","tag-ferns","tag-first","tag-football","tag-for","tag-former","tag-invitational","tag-join","tag-match","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-park","tag-play","tag-player","tag-sports","tag-their","tag-to","tag-with","tag-womens","tag-xi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535281","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535281"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535281\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535282"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}