page_title: Abby Erceg
section_title: International career
hierarchical_section_title: Abby Erceg / International career
caption_attribution_description: English: Abby Erceg playing for the New Zealand women's national football team against Australia.
context_page_description: Abby May Erceg is a professional New Zealand footballer who plays as a defender. She is the captain of both the New Zealand national team, and the North Carolina Courage in the National Women's Soccer League. She has previously played for Chicago Red Stars in the NWSL, Espanyol in the Superliga Femenina, and Adelaide United in the Australian W-League. Erceg was the first player from New Zealand to play 100 international matches.
context_section_description: Erceg made her full Football Ferns début in a 0–3 loss to China on 14 November 2006, and represented New Zealand at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup finals in China, where they lost to Brazil 0–5, Denmark (0–2) and China (0–2).
  Erceg was also included in the New Zealand squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics where they drew with Japan (2–2) before losing to Norway (0–1) and USA (0–4). In  the following tournament, Erceg helped New Zealand reach the quarterfinals, the Ferns' first ever knockout game in a FIFA tournament. There they lost 2-0 to the United States.
  She was included in the U-20 squad for the 2008 Women's U-20 World Cup finals in Chile.
  Erceg earned her 50th cap for New Zealand aged just 21 when starting New Zealand's 2011 Cyprus Cup opening match against the Netherlands on 2 March 2011 and becoming the third most capped female player in New Zealand Football history with 62 caps to her name. Erceg was also a part of the team that qualified for the Women's Football World Cup that took place in Germany, in 2011 where they finished 12th overall.
  Erceg's experience led her to be named captain of the Football Ferns in 2014. In the first game of the 2014 OFC Women's Nations Cup, she became the first player from New Zealand to reach 100 international caps.
  She featured in all New Zealand's three matches at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. Erceg was named for the 2016 Olympics squad, which will be her sixth international tournament representing New Zealand.
  In February 2017, Erceg announced her retirement from the international game on social media, writing "Due to the unfortunate and unfavourable circumstances within the organisation that is NZF, it is with regret and great sadness that today is the day that I announce my retirement from the international game. Without being able to justify my involvement any longer I will be stepping back in the hopes to create change for the current and future generations of NZ footballers."
  In February 2018, Erceg came out of retirement to play for New Zealand in their two friendlies against Scotland in Spain. She then retired again for the second time in May 2018 before New Zealand's friendly against Japan.
  In January 2019, Erceg came back out of international retirement ahead of the 2019 Cup of Nations and the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
  In April 2019, Erceg was named to the final 23-player squad for the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup.
caption: Abby Erceg at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
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