The Blues are currently on pre-season tour in New Zealand and Australia, with the first leg taking in the former country, as the on-pitch action kicks off this Saturday against local side Auckland at Eden Park.

Located on the border of the Mount Eden and Kingsland suburbs in New Zealand’s largest city, Eden Park is considered the country’s national stadium, having hosted sport there since 1900.

That role has seen it host a number of major sporting events, primarily across football, cricket and both the union and league codes of rugby. The latter has helped it build a reputation as a daunting venue for visitors, with the All Blacks rugby union team undefeated in test matches there since 1994.

Cricket was the original sport Eden Park was created to host, with swampland and cattle fields converted to give Auckland its own major venue. It’s role in women’s sport truly took off in its modern era, after a large-scale redevelopment in 2010, which gave it a permanent capacity of 50,000 with the option of an additional 10,000 temporary seats for tournaments.

The original sport came home to Eden Park when New Zealand hosted the 2022 Women’s Cricket World Cup, with two games played at the Auckland venue on consecutive days during the group stage. That saw eventual champions Australia record a comfortable win over India, before the home nation New Zealand were narrowly beaten by England.

Eden Park had played a bigger role a year earlier, with two Auckland stadiums involved as two cities across New Zealand hosted the 2021 Women’s Rugby World Cup. The three opening games of the tournament were all played at Eden Park in a single day.

The competition then returned to the Auckland venue for both semi-finals and the final, as New Zealand claimed victory on home soil by defeating England 34-31 in the showpiece, lifting the trophy for a record sixth time.

Chelsea’s visit this weekend isn’t the first time a big football match has been held at Eden Park either, as Auckland was one of four New Zealand cities to hold games when that country jointly hosted the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup alongside Australia.

Eden Park was the venue for the first game of the tournament, when co-hosts New Zealand defeated Norway 1-0. That was one of six group games there, before three knockout ties were played, culminating in eventual winners Spain’s 2-1 victory over Sweden in the semi-finals.

The next piece of women’s sporting history to play out at Eden Park will see Chelsea visit to take on Auckland this Saturday, with kick-off at 5am UK time. That match will be streamed live for free on the Chelsea Official App and website.