Hawke\u2019s Bay football fans will get their first chance to see New Zealand\u2019s newest football powerhouse in action, with Auckland FC confirmed to play a pre-season fixture against Western Sydney Wanderers at Napier\u2019s McLean Park on Saturday 19th September.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The match brings the reigning A-League Champions to Napier as they build towards the 26\/27 A-League season, which kicks off in mid-October.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Napier City Council Events Manager Kevin Murphy is expecting a strong crowd, with football riding a wave of popularity following Auckland FC\u2019s remarkable first two seasons in the A-League, along with the All Whites\u2019 recent FIFA World Cup 2026\u2122 campaign.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Tickets will go on sale via Ticketek on Wednesday, 2nd September.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAuckland FC are the A-League champions and have built an incredible fan base across New Zealand in just two years. We\u2019ve been keen to get them to Napier, as they\u2019re one of the country\u2019s top sporting franchises,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
Auckland FC\u2019s rise has been one of New Zealand sport\u2019s great stories. They topped the table in their debut A-League season before falling in the semi-final, then went on to win the title outright in year two.<\/p>\n
That form carried them to the inaugural OFC Pro League championship in May, securing a place in the 2026 FIFA Intercontinental Cup\u2122, a knockout series they exited this week following a loss to Al Ahli.<\/p>\n
Auckland FC Chief Executive Nick Becker said the club is excited to bring one of the biggest fixtures on its pre-season calendar to Hawke\u2019s Bay, with players and management keen to connect with fans across the region.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is going to be a great game for the region and one we\u2019re really excited to play in. We have a lot of fans in Hawke\u2019s Bay who are keen to see a winning team but can\u2019t always make it to Auckland\u2019s Go Media Stadium.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll be out in the community beforehand, living our values and giving fans a chance to meet the players. We\u2019re working closely with Napier City Council on what these will look like and thank them for their support in making this game possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
Central Football Chief Executive Darren Mason says for Hawke\u2019s Bay, the fixture is a chance to see a hugely successful football side play on home turf.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlayer participation in football is on the rise in Hawke\u2019s Bay, and there\u2019s a strong football fan base here that we expect to front up to McLean Park.\u201d<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Napier hosted a pre-season Warriors match that drew a crowd of more than 12,000. In 2023, the NZ Football Ferns played a pre-World Cup game against Vietnam, which attracted over 6,000 fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be great to get more than 8,000, as it will give Auckland FC the confidence to look at bringing an A-League game here in future,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n
MATCH DETAILS<\/p>\n
\u26bd\ufe0f Auckland FC vs Western Sydney Wanderers
\ud83c\udfdf\ufe0f McLean Park, Napier
\ud83d\uddd3\ufe0f Saturday 19th September
\u23f0 3pm KO
\ud83c\udf9f\ufe0f Tickets via Ticketek, on sale from Wednesday, 2nd September. Adults from $20 (in Family Zone) \u2013 www.ticketek.co.nz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hawke\u2019s Bay football fans will get their first chance to see New Zealand\u2019s newest football powerhouse in action,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":582795,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[25192,1259,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-582794","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-a-leagues","tag-community","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582794","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=582794"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/582794\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/582795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=582794"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=582794"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=582794"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}