Chelsea Women have spent this week in New Zealand taking their preparations for the 2026/27 campaign to the next level during the first leg of our pre-season tour, culminating in a match against local side Auckland on Saturday, which will be shown live and for free on the Chelsea Official App and website.

Ahead of that game, Bronze filled us in on how pre-season has been going so far for Sonia Bompastor’s squad, with the experienced defender taking plenty of satisfaction from her and her team-mates’ work.

‘I've not had a full pre-season in a long time, but I like pushing myself,’ she explained. ‘I love working hard. I think pre-season is the time that you get to do that.

‘It’s trying to help other people in your team push harder as well. I think that's part of being in a team, being able to push each other, and pre-season is the best moment to do that.

‘It reminds me of being young again, and you just run yourself into a wall for everybody. I think that's why you play. Pre-season is the part when you don't have the pressure to win a trophy. You don't have the pressure of anything.

‘You're just working hard, playing with your team-mates. We won't analyse the other team too much because it's about ourselves still. You can enjoy the moment.’

The Blues have received quite the reception since they arrived in Auckland, from a traditional Māori welcome ceremony to the excited reaction from the public on the street.

It’s fair to say the reaction to Chelsea’s presence in the city has been even more enthusiastic than the players expected, but a very welcome surprise.

‘I don't think we quite realised how much it means to the people of New Zealand, but we're really honoured to be here,’ Bronze continued.

‘I think just spending every morning in and around Auckland and walking around meeting the locals, everybody is so excited.

‘I actually bumped into a lady the other day, and she started crying! It’s in those small moments we do realise, and there have been so many of them over the past few days. We're so excited to be here.

‘Being involved in the culture as well as the football and representing Chelsea – we know it's such a huge club globally – so being all the way around the world representing the club is exciting for us and obviously exciting for the people around.’

For Bronze, this pre-season tour is also a chance to revisit the scene of one of the formative moments in her early career – when she helped England to reach the semi-finals of the inaugural FIFA Under-17 Women’s World Cup in 2008 – and reflect on how far she and the sport have come in the nearly two decades since.

She continued: ‘Everything has changed since I started playing. It's funny because my first big experience was actually in New Zealand when I was 16 years old - I played in the World Cup here with the Under-17s.

‘It was my first experience playing in the stadiums. Obviously not in front of many people because back then there weren't a lot of people coming to those games.

‘Comparing that to now when we play at Stamford Bridge in front of all the fans, and with the Lionesses when we play at Wembley – we travel all around the world, we're known around the world, as a team and as individuals.

‘It's just exciting to be part of the growth of the game, and I guess the most exciting part is that it's still not at the end point. There's still a lot further for this game to go and many places for us to visit as players, in terms of the media and the reach that we can have on kids and people around the world.’

There will no doubt be plenty of young fans in attendance on Saturday when Chelsea take on Auckland at Eden Park, kick-off at 4pm local time (5am UK time), ready to be inspired by Bronze and her fellow Blues showing their talents on the pitch.

‘It's exciting to play at Eden Park,’ added Lucy. ‘The fact that we've been able to train here every day is so nice as well. It's an amazing stadium.

‘I think we're excited for the fans to actually enter and it not just be us shouting at each other on the training pitch. So, we’re looking forward to tomorrow, and it's been a very nice experience so far.’