Eden Park (Auckland)

Eden Park is a sports venue in Auckland, New Zealand, opened in 1900, and located three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount Eden and Kingsland.

While the venue is mostly associated with rugby union and the All Blacks, cricket, and rugby league, Eden Park has also staged football on several occasions. Four All Whites, New Zealand men’s internationals, are some of the games on this list.

Friendlies against South Africa and FK Austria Wien were played in 1947 and 1957, respectively, before an Olympic qualifier against Israel for the Seoul Olympics in 1988, and then a friendly against the Australian Socceroos in 2022, with all four games ending in defeat.

Wellington Phoenix have used Eden Park to host occasional home games, with the first A-League clash coming in November 2011, which ended in a 1-1 draw with Adelaide United in front of a crowd of 20,078. A Phoenix friendly against West Ham United followed in 2014.

The venue hosted several matches of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, including the opening match in which New Zealand beat Norway 1-0. 43,217 fans attended the quarter-final tie between Spain and Switzerland.

The Kiwis qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup when they defeated New Caledonia 3-0 at Eden Park in March 2025, as 25,132 fans celebrated.

My visit

Wednesday 10th December 2002

I found myself in Auckland as I was visiting my old mate from Scarborough, Ron Heywood, who’d emigrated with his family and who were looking after me. A look around town meant going near Eden Park on the journey from Blockhouse Bay, and my mate obliged in the car.

It was possible to get inside easily enough, offering me the chance to take some photos and have a general look around, including a quick glimpse of the Eden Park Outer Oval, which is used for training and lesser games.

Once completed, we continued down to the Marina, where yachts were preparing for the upcoming Admiral's Cup, as well as grabbing lunch and then going up the Sky Tower to enjoy some incredible views.