New Zeland Football Stadiums
When New Zealand is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is rugby and the famous All Blacks rugby team.
Nonetheless, apart from this popular sport, football has also won the heart of many Kiwis. In fact, the national soccer team is called All Whites and the nation became affiliated to FIFA in 1948.
This national team has participated in 13 FIFA World Cup qualification campaigns between 1970 and 2018 and qualified for two campaigns; the1982 World Cup in Spain and the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. As for the women’s national football, the nation will host the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. All these events bring interest to New Zealand casino brands at CasinoDeps.co.nz from the public that is willing to benefit from sports tournaments. With the growth of this sport, the country has invested highly in building bigger and better stadiums. Here are the top New Zealand football stadiums.
Eden Park Stadium
The largest sports stadium in New Zealand is Eden Park Stadium which is located in central Auckland. This biggest stadium was built in 1900 and has been renovated to increase the capacity from 48,000 to 60,000 since the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Eden Park has become the first ground in the world that hosted the Rugby World Cup Finals after having held the inaugural final in 1987.
Although this great stadium was used mostly for rugby union in winter and cricket in summer, it has also hosted several football matches. Aside from the great football matches hosted by this stadium, it will also be the site for the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, the 2021 Women’s Cricket World Cup, and the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup.
Forsyth Barr Stadium
Forsyth Barr is the only fully roofed natural turf stadium in the world in which the first pile was driven into the ground in 2009. This multi-purpose stadium is in Dunedin North close to the outflow of the Water of Leith into Otago Harbour. Forsyth Barr was also known as Awatea Street Stadium or Dunedin Stadium and has hosted several great matches.
For example, in the 2011 Rugby World Cup, the ground has hosted four matches as well as major music tours. Opened by New Zealand Prime Minister John Key on 5 August 2011, the pitch has changed the sports area in Aotearoa. Actually, it has replaced Carisbrook as the home stadium of the Highlanders team in Super Rugby and the Otago Rugby Football Union team in the domestic Mitre 10 Cup (a rugby professional competition for New Zealand unions).
Sky Stadium
Sky Stadium or Wellington Regional Stadium was built in 1999 and is located in Wellington city. This ground’s bowl site size is 48,000 m2 and is a major sporting venue in Wellington. Sky Stadium was, actually, built to replace Athletic Park because this latter was no longer considered adequate for international events. Apart from sporting events hosted by Sky Stadium, it is also home to many football matches.
Sky Stadium has, in fact, served as a major home venue for the New Zealand national football team and the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match against Bahrain. As for rugby, Wellington Regional Stadium has hosted the annual World Rugby Sevens Series for national rugby sevens teams, the Wellington Lions Mitre 10 Cup rugby team, and the Hurricanes Super Rugby team.
Rotorua International Stadium
Rotorua International Stadium was built in 1911 and has undergone massive improvements since. This multi-purpose stadium is located on Devon Street West in the Westbrook suburb of Rotorua and has a capacity of 26,000 people. Moreover, Rotorua International Stadium features a covered stand seating up to 5,000 people and has also a solid seating area located on the western side of the ground.
The stadium mostly hosts rugby union and rugby league matches and it was used for the 1987 Rugby World Cup matches. Furthermore, the Rotorua pitch also hosted three matches of the 2011 Rugby World Cup. Concerning the football matches, the ground was the site for many national and international football matches.
Mount Smart Stadium
Previously known as Ericsson Stadium, Mount Smart Stadium was built in 1953 and officially opened in 1967. With a capacity of 26,000, this ground is home to the New Zealand Warriors, a National Rugby League team. Mount Smart Stadium is located in Auckland and hosted several sporting events including football matches.
For example, during the 1990 Commonwealth Games, the stadium was chosen as the opening and closing ceremonies venue as well as the main Athletics Stadium. Besides, the All Whites team played their qualifying games for the 1982 FIFA World Cup. In this latter, as it was the first time that the country had qualified for a FIFA World Cup, this stadium has remained the nation’s best memory.
