New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has confirmed the World Cup opener between New Zealand and former winners Norway will go ahead on Thursday evening.

It comes in the wake of confirmation from New Zealand police that a gunman opened fire at a central Auckland building site on Thursday in an “alarming incident” that left two people and the shooter dead.

The Women’s World Cup kicks off with New Zealand taking on Norway in Auckland (at 5pm AEST) before co-hosts Australia face the Republic of Ireland (8pm) in front of 80,000 fans in Sydney.

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New Zealand Police confirmed in a statement on Thursday morning that a “serious incident” occurred and that two people had died while the male offender is also deceased.

Multiple injuries have also been reported.

“What has unfolded is understandably alarming and we are reassuring the public that this incident has been contained and is an isolated incident. We can also advise that this is not a national security risk,” a statement read.

“Police are now commencing an investigation into what has occurred this morning. Cordons remain in place and we are continuing to ask the public to stay away from the area as our work continues.”

The incident is reported by local media to have taken place in a building close to the fan zone for the Women’s World Cup and near Norway’s team hotel on Quay Street.

Norway captain Maren Mjeldeb said, per Stuff.co.nz: “Everyone probably woke up quite quickly when the helicopter hovered outside the hotel window and a large number of emergency vehicles arrived. At first we didn’t know what was going on, but eventually there were updates on TV and the local media.

“We felt safe the whole time. FIFA has a good security system at the hotel, and we have our own security officer in the squad. Everyone seems calm and we are preparing as normal for the game tonight. Then we may have to adapt if there are any instructions from the authorities.”

The New Zealand Women’s National Team said it was “shocked” by the incident in a statement that confirmed all team and staff are “safe”.

It added: “Preparations for the game tonight at Eden Park will continue as planned.”

The US Women’s National Team, whose camp is based in Auckland, released a statement on Thursday confirming all 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,” added the statement.

The Phillipine Women’s National Team also confirmed all its players and staff were “safe inside Movenpick Hotel”.

“The team is preparing to depart for Dunedin for the match against Switzerland on Friday,” the statement read.

Auckland Mayor Wayne Brown, meanwhile, described it as a “scary situation” and advised people to “stay at home” and “avoid travel into the city centre”.

He told local TV network TVNZ: “This dreadful situation couldn’t have come at a worse time when the world has its eyes on us. It’s dreadful, particularly since we have never had an incident like this before. It’s very scary.”

Former Football Fern Maia Jackman was in the fan zone as the unfolded, providing her account of events to the NZ Herald.

“It’s pretty scary actually,” she said.

“So they pushed us to the back of the cloud where we are and we’re just trying to keep sane. There’s lots of security and lots of uncertainty.”

The Cloud, which was set up as the Women’s World Cup fanzone, was locked down in response to the incident with the Herald reporting people there are “safe”.

Journalist Suzanne McFadden, meanwhile, was a guest on the TVNZ Breakfast show that was broadcasting from The Cloud.

According to Stuff.co.nz, she said around 30 people — including girls from the Ellerslie Football Club and former Football Ferns — were moved towards the back of the venue into a kitchen area.

“The first thing we’d noticed was the police helicopter overhead and then we were moved out the back — we thought we were going there to be filmed. And then we were quietly told there was a gunman outside,” McFadden said.

WORLD CUP WILL ‘WAKE UP’ NEW ZEALAND’S LOVE OF FOOTBALL

New Zealand hosts Norway at Eden Park on Thursday to open the Women’s World Cup.

Jitka Klimkova said on Wednesdsay that staging the Women’s World Cup will “wake up” New Zealand’s passion for football.

Football remains well behind rugby, cricket and other sports in popularity in New Zealand, which is jointly hosting the World Cup with Australia.

New Zealand have never won a Women’s World Cup game in 15 attempts, but they hope to change that when they face the 1995 champions Norway in the first game of the tournament on Thursday.

“It is an opportunity for this country to not just be a rugby country but wake up their love for football,” said their Czech coach Klimkova.

Taking up the theme, captain Ali Riley added: “Hopefully this time we will achieve our goal of winning a World Cup game and doing that at home, and that will make it my greatest game of my career.

“This feels like an opportunity with the sporting culture, inspiring young people.”

After facing Norway at the 50,000-capacity Eden Park — better known for hosting the All Blacks rugby team — New Zealand face minnows the Philippines and Switzerland in Group A.

New Zealand are ranked 26th in the world and have won just once in their last 11 matches, but Klimkova is backing them to shine in front of their own fans.

“The hard work and preparation brought us to where we are now,” she said. “At this stage the preparation is done and now it is time to shine, and I really believe these players will shine.” Norway have fallen away since triumphing in 1995.

They were thumped 8-0 in the group stage by hosts and eventual champions England at the 2022 Euros.

Their Barcelona winger Caroline Graham Hansen said the World Cup was a chance to redeem themselves and a fresh start.

“It is a year ago, a long season behind us,” she said, casting her mind back to their Euro flop.

“I think everybody has had time to focus on their club while working on stuff with the new coaching team, so everything feels very different, nothing to compare with how we left the tournament last year.

“It is a clean slate, we have a possibility to start afresh and to get going again.

“That is the beauty of football — there is always a new chance, and now we have it again.”

— AFP

MATILDAS ‘VERY EMOTIONAL’ AFTER FREEMAN VISIT

Matildas captain Sam Kerr has repeatedly said she wants to lead Australia to World Cup glory and create her own ‘Cathy Freeman moment’.

But Kerr and her Tillies teammates last week received a very special visit from the Australian sporting legend herself.

The Sydney 2000 Olympic Games 400m gold medallist Freeman, a proud Kuku Yalanji woman, is the sporting hero of ‘over half the team’, and joined the team in Melbourne last Wednesday.

Kerr told Freeman: “You’re an inspiration to the whole team … You’ve been an idol for all of us for so long. What you did for us as a country, hopefully we can replicate even half of that. We’ll remember this night for the rest of our careers. It’s been amazing.”

“A lot of girls were very emotional,” Matildas veteran Aivi Luik said.

“I still can’t believe that happened because a couple years ago, we were going through some questions about who your sporting hero is and why, and over half the team said that Cathy Freeman was their hero.

“The staff, because of that, tried to get her in, and bless her heart, she came in.

“She doesn’t do a lot of public speaking but she did that for us. We asked her questions informally and she spoke back to us just like she was a friend, and we got a lot of good insight from that.”

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Freeman told the Aussies: “The power of you just being here is unimaginable. It’s beyond your wildest dreams what you’re going to be able to do.

“You’re going to be able to get into the blood of everybody who is on the journey with you. It’s just a crazy, wild ride.

“You’re writing your name in history, ladies. And you should be really proud of that.”

Luik said: “She told us was that we know who we are, we know why we do this, and while we want to perform and give results for others outside the circle, at the end of the day, you believe in yourself and you do it for yourself.”

“All athletes do what they do because they love the sport, and (Freeman said) to not lose track of that, and that gives you the confidence to go out there and do your job.”

Luik praised Freeman’s resilience to perform despite having the “weight of the nation” on her shoulders at the Olympics.

“She was just one and we’re a whole team, so I think we’re quite lucky in that regard that we have our friends and teammates there to support each other,” Luik said,

“We came away from that feeling a little bit of a weight off our shoulders, and just completely inspired.”

Freeman and her family joined the Matildas for a team dinner and was presented with a signed team jersey.

Australia’s opening match of the tournament is against Ireland on Thursday night in Sydney – at the same stadium where Freeman made history in 2000.

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