The New Zealand women's national football team, which FIFA calls Aotearoa New Zealand and is looked after by New Zealand Football (NZF). The New Zealand national team has played in the FIFA Women's World Cup six times. They first played in the world cup for the first time in 1991. In 2023, New Zealand and Australia together hosted the World Cup. However, they have never gone further than the group stage in any of the tournaments.
| Nickname(s) | Football Ferns[1] | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Association | New Zealand Football | ||
| Confederation | OFC (Oceania) | ||
| Head coach | Jitka Klimková | ||
| Captain | Ali Riley | ||
| Most caps | Ria Percival (163) | ||
| Top scorer | Amber Hearn (54) | ||
| FIFA code | NZL | ||
| |||
| FIFA ranking | |||
| Current | 19  1 (7 December 2018)[2] | ||
| Highest | 16 (December 2013, July 2015 – March 2016) | ||
| Lowest | 26 (June – August 2023) | ||
| First international | |||
 New Zealand 2–0 Hong Kong  (Hong Kong; 25 August 1975) | |||
| Biggest win | |||
New Zealand 21–0 Samoa  (Auckland, New Zealand; 9 October 1998) | |||
| Biggest defeat | |||
 North Korea 11–0 New Zealand  (Brisbane, Australia; 24 February 2004) | |||
| World Cup | |||
| Appearances | 6 (first in 1991) | ||
| Best result | Group stage (1991, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023) | ||
| OFC Women's Nations Cup | |||
| Appearances | 11 (first in 1983) | ||
| Best result | Champions (1983, 1991, 2007, 2010, 2014, 2018) | ||
| Summer Olympics | |||
| Appearances | 4 (first in 2008) | ||
| Best result | 8th (2012) | ||
In 1975, the New Zealand Women's Soccer Association was started. They were asked to join the Asian Women's Championship that year and they won. After that, they played in the Oceanic Championship.
When Australia left the OFC, New Zealand didn't have strong competitors in Oceania. This made it easier for New Zealand to qualify for the World Cup and Olympics. They've been in every edition of both tournaments since 2007.
2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
In 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, New Zealand co-hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup with Australia. They were given the opportunity on 25 June 2020 because they were more likely to win than the other candidate, Colombia. The Football Ferns got to be in the tournament automatically as co-hosts. They won their first match against Norway, but surprisingly lost to newcomers Philippines. Later, they tied with Switzerland in their final match and were knocked out. This was the first time the hosts were knocked out in the group stage. They only managed to score one goal during the tournament.[3]
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