Cyclone moves Women's WC qualifiers up
- Apr 10
- 2 min read
The Oceania Women's World Cup qualifying tournament has had a sudden chang of plans with semifinal matches in Hamilton rescheduled due to the looming threat of Cyclone Vaianu.
The severe weather warnings in place for Hamilton on Sunday 12 April have seen talks between Oceania Football Confederation, in consultation with New Zealand Football, local council, and the venue to move the games forward one day to Saturday 11 April.
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The decision has been made to ensure the safety of participants and fans attending the games.
Due to the late notice of the change of date, the event will now be made free entry to all fans.
Fans looking to attend do not need to book a ticket in advance, they can just arrive at the stadium.
All tickets booked for the original match day will be refunded by Ticketek.
Both matches will kick off at the same scheduled times, one day earlier:
12pm NZT – Papua New Guinea vs American Samoa
4pm NZT – Aotearoa New Zealand vs Fiji
The final of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2027™ Oceania Qualifiers will remain on Wednesday 15 April at North Harbour Stadium in Auckland, kicking off at 7pm NZT.
Lisa Jones, GM Competitions and International Events at New Zealand Football, said the move was not made lightly.
“It is very rare to move games like this, but we completely support this decision by OFC.
“From 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.
“With 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’t have people travelling in potentially dangerous conditions.
“We now look forward to two great semi-finals being played on Saturday ahead of next week’s final in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland.”
