New Zealand fans changed from doubters to believers after the Football Ferns pulled off a historic 1-0 victory over former champions Norway at the Women’s World Cup on Thursday, kicking off their campaign in a way no one would have imagined.

The Ferns had been short on confidence ahead of the World Cup on home soil, having won only once this year – against Vietnam in a warm-up friendly this month.

But when they took the field at Eden Park in Auckland, Jitka Klimkova’s side showed a fighting spirit and they went toe-to-toe with their Nordic opponents, who won the World Cup in 1995.

The defining moment for the Ferns came in the 48th minute when Hannah Wilkinson swept home Jacqui Hand's cross, sending the record crowd of 42,137 into a frenzy.

New Zealand could have ended the night with a 2-0 victory had Ria Percival not missed her penalty, but Wilkinson’s goal proved just enough for the co-hosts, who recorded their first win at a Women’s World Cup.

Before Thursday’s game, the Ferns had not won any of their 15 previous World Cup matches across five appearances at the tournament.

“I’m so, so proud,” Ferns captain Ali Riley said after the match.

“We’ve been fighting for this for so long and we had a clear goal that we wanted to inspire young girls, young people, in this country and around the world. And I really think we did that tonight — anything is possible!”

“I think there’ve been a lot of doubters because of the results we’ve had but we’ve believed.

“We believed in ourselves this entire game. We believed in ourselves from the very beginning and we showed it. We played with confidence and with poise.”

The victory fills fans with the belief that underdogs Ferns, after all, do stand a chance to make it out of the group stage. They currently lead Group A with three points and their next game is against debutants the Philippines before they face Switzerland in the final group game.

The top two teams from each group will proceed to the Round of 16, which New Zealand have never reached.

“It is an incredible, incredible feeling,” coach Klimkova told reporters after the win.

“We waited for this moment for such a long time. Hearing our fans behind us was just an unforgettable moment, for me as a coach and for all the players involved.

Klimkova added that after the match, New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins visited the squad in the locker room to congratulate the players.

“He was very, very proud," she said. "I believe we inspired even more his daughter playing football."