Millions supporting Swiss superstar Lehmann

Three more sleeps until the Swiss football team begin their campaign for the Fifa Women’s Football World Cup at Forsyth Barr stadium and superstar Alisha Lehmann cannot wait.

She said the team were over their jet-lag, had settled into the Dunedin winter and were ready to take on the Philippines on Friday.

Although, seeing some young fans in T-shirts and shorts had caught her off-guard.

"I was surprised because they were wearing, like, shirts and shorts and I was, like, ‘why don’t they put proper clothes on?’"

Swiss football team superstar Alisha Lehmann cannot wait for the Fifa Women’s World Cup. PHOTO:...
Swiss football team superstar Alisha Lehmann cannot wait for the Fifa Women’s World Cup. PHOTO: CRAIG BAXTER

With nearly 14million followers on Instagram, Lehmann has a massive global influence on social media.

The platform was a good way for her to communicate with fans and let them know what she was doing at the World Cup, Lehmann said.

"It’s good to use this platform and yeah we get more support if it’s here or on the TV. I think it’s good that we use this."

She said a Dunedin landmark might even feature in one of her posts.

Lehmann plays with Football ferns goalkeeper Anna Leat, who was born in Arrowtown, for Premier League team Aston Villa and they had talked about Leat’s "weird accent" before.

"I think it sounds like Australian a bit but when you speak more and more you hear the difference but at first when I met with her I thought she was Australian, I’m so sorry."

Lehmann said she had not visited the stadium yet but was really happy with the training facility for the team, Tahuna Park.

"It’s really nice. It’s a good pitch to train on. We have a good gym as well so we got everything we need to prepare."

mark.john@odt.co.nz