In the opening match of the 2023 Women's World Cup, which Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting, World No. 26 New Zealand welcomed 12th-ranked Norway to their home ground at Eden Park in the opening thriller of Group A on Thursday (20). In what was a record-breaking spectacle for the highest ever attendance at a New Zealand soccer match, New Zealand relied on a crucial strike from homegrown goal scorer Hannah Wilkinson to secure a narrow 1-0 victory and the team's first-ever World Cup win.
This year's World Cup became the first to be co-hosted by the two countries and held in the southern hemisphere, and with the number of teams increasing from 24 to 32, the opening match attracted a huge number of fans and a packed house, with 42,137 spectators flocking to the match, the highest attendance in New Zealand's soccer history. However, despite a number of shots on goal at the end of the half, neither team was able to penetrate the opposing team's goal and the match ended in a 0-0 draw.
