A 26-player Chelsea Women squad is on the way to Auckland for the first leg of a pre-season tour presented by Constant Contact. They will be based in New Zealand before heading to Sydney, Australia for the second part of our 2026/27 preparations.
The Chelsea players and staff have been hard at work already at Cobham, and a match against Auckland FC at Eden Park plus a further game against an A-League All-Stars team in Sydney will step up our preparations.
Our first match of the season will see us face Aston Villa at Stamford Bridge on 5 September at 12.30pm, and there's plenty for Sonia Bompastor and her players to put in place before then. All of our home Women's Super League fixtures will be held at Stamford Bridge next season, and ticket information for the first four of those games is available here.
The Blues have brought in Giulia Dragoni, Nelly Las, Melvine Malard, Manaka Matsukubo and Katie McCabe this summer, and four of that quintet will be heading out with the existing members of the squad to make the long journey to the other side of the world.
See below for the full list of players who are travelling on our pre-season tour…
Chelsea Women's travelling squad
Goalkeepers: Katie Cox, Hannah Hampton, Livia Peng, Becky Spencer
Defenders: Lucy Bronze, Kadeisha Buchanan, Veerle Buurman, Ellie Carpenter, Naomi Girma, Nelly Las, Katie McCabe, Chloe Sarwie
Midfielders: Lola Brown, Erin Cuthbert, Wieke Kaptein, Giulia Dragoni, Sjoeke Nusken, Lexi Potter, Keira Walsh
Forwards: Sandy Baltimore, Aggie Beever-Jones, Maika Hamano, Lauren James, Melvine Malard, Mayra Ramirez, Alyssa Thompson
You can follow the Blues' activities in New Zealand and Australia across the official Chelsea website and app, and social media channels.