All Whites to take on Poland in friendly
- Dave Worsley
- Aug 14
- 2 min read
The All Whites have added No 37 ranked side Poland to a playing schedule that already has two other top-40 ranked sides las they continue the long build-up to next year's FIFA World Cup.
New Zealand will face Poland in Chorzów on October 10 at the second-largest stadium in the country, the 54,378-capacity Stadion Śląski.
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The game could feature a showdown between New Zealand's all-time leading goalscorer, Chris Wood (44 international goals), and Poland's all-time top scorer Barcelona's Robert Lewandowski, .
The match will take place five days before the team faces fellow European side Norway (FIFA rank 33) at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo.
The two October European games follow September's home-and-away Soccer Ashes series against Australia's Socceroos (FIFA rank 24).
All Whites head coach Darren Bazeley said getting games against top-50 ranked opposition was part of the plan ahead of the World Cup co-hosted by Canada, Mexico, and the USA.
"We want to make sure we are in the best place to perform come the tournament, so we're continuing to test ourselves against the kinds of top-ranked sides we could face next year.
"We've shown moments against higher-ranked sides so far in this cycle, but the win over African champions Côte d'Ivoire in June really gives us confidence that we can get results at this level, which is what we'll need to do to achieve our goal of getting out of the group at the FIFA World Cup.
"Poland are an experienced team with some major threats, so we're looking forward to taking them on and showing what we can do against a strong European side."
