Fifa says tonight’s Fifa Women’s World Cup opener, between hosts New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park, will continue as scheduled, after the fatal shooting in the Auckland CBD this morning.
Kick-off is at 7pm.
But there is a question mark over when a fanzone at The Cloud will open. The venue is within a couple of blocks of where the CBD shootings took place earlier today.
At 1.50pm, football fans arriving on Quay St to attend the event were being turned around and told it’s shut.
“The opening hours of the Fifa Fan Festival in Auckland city centre will be confirmed in due course,” Fifa said in a statement.
A smartphone-based system has e-tickets delivered to a Fifa app on fans’ mobiles.
Around midday, the Herald began to field queries from gamegoers concerned they were still seeing a “Ticket is not ready yet” message in the Fifa app.
A Fifa spokeswoman told the Herald, “The tickets will go live three hours before kick-off, one hour before gates open.”
Gates open at 4.30pm.
The tickets would go live automatically in Fifa’s app, with a QR code appearing.
There was no technical issue. Tickets were always supposed to go live close to the gates-open time for security reasons.
Punters were asked to make sure their phones were charged.
Separately, Fifa released a statement on this morning’s incident.
“Fifa extends its deepest condolences to the families and friends of the victims who lost their lives following the incident which occurred this morning in Auckland, New Zealand, and our thoughts and prayers remain with those who have been injured in this tragic incident,” the statement said.
“Immediately following the incident, President Gianni Infantino and Fifa Secretary-General Fatma Samoura were in communication with the New Zealand authorities. Fifa has also been in constant contact with the participating teams affected by this incident.
“Fifa has been informed that this was an isolated incident that was not related to football operations and the opening match tonight at Eden Park will proceed as planned.”
Several teams are staying in downtown Auckland, within blocks of shooting - including the US Women’s National Team (USWNT).
The US Soccer account tweeted this morning: “Regarding the incident in downtown Auckland, all of our USWNT players and staff are accounted for and safe. Our security team is in communication with local authorities and we are proceeding with our daily schedule.”
It later posted: “US Soccer extends its deepest condolences to the families of the victims who were killed in the shooting in downtown Auckland today.
“We are saddened by the inexcusable loss of life to gun violence, and our thoughts are with the people of Auckland/Tamaki Makaurau and Aotearoa New Zealand.”
The UK team, the Lionesses, was among the other World Cup participants who posted messages of support.
“Our thoughts are with the World Cup co-hosts and the people of Auckland,” the team tweeted.
Former Football Fern Maia Jackman said she was in the fan zone at The Cloud - near the building at 1 Queen St where the shootings took place - as the incident unfolded.
“It’s pretty scary actually. So they pushed us to the back of the cloud where we are and we’re just trying to keep sane,” she posted.
“There’s lots of security and lots of uncertainty”
Police later said a 24-year-old man, who was on home detention for domestic violence and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet, stormed a building being renovated in lower Queen St near Britomart and opened fire. Three people were killed, including the gunman. Five people were injured, including a police officer.
Chris Keall is an Auckland-based member of the Herald’s business team. He joined the Herald in 2018 and is the technology editor and a senior business writer.
The family-owned business has been the company of colour for 78 years.