New season at home
Wellington Phoenix will play their first-ever home A-League Women game at Sky Stadium on November 20 after being drawn to host Melbourne City in the opening round of the 2022-23 season.
The women are scheduled to play nine matches in New Zealand this season, after being forced to play inaugural campaign in Australia.
Eight of their home games are at Sky Stadium in Wellington, with the club hopeful of taking the other match to Auckland.
Five of their fixtures in the capital will be played as doubleheaders with the Phoenix men.
The club, which has branded its home campaign as ‘‘Unmissable’’, has scheduled all of the women’s matches at family-friendly times, with the latest kickoffs being 5:35pm on a couple of Saturdays.
New head coach Natalie Lawrence will lead the side out against Melbourne City. They return to Sky Stadium the following Saturday to host Western United.
The women’s next three home games, on Saturday, December 17, Monday, January 2 and Sunday, January 22 will all be doubleheaders with the men.
Their next individual fixture will be against beaten grand finalists Sydney FC on Sunday, February 25. The venue has yet to be confirmed, but the club is hoping to take the match to Auckland.
Subject to finalising venue availability, they will be back at Sky Stadium the following Saturday to play Brisbane Roar as part of a doubleheader.
The women’s final standalone fixture is against Perth Glory on Saturday, March 18 before rounding out the regular season a fortnight later with a doubleheader against Melbourne Victory.
Wellington Phoenix general manager David Dome has welcomed the release of the women’s draw.
‘‘As I’ve mentioned previously, I’ve never been this excited heading into a Phoenix season,’’ Dome said.
‘‘A big reason for that is that we’re able to bring the women home for the first time.’’