A World Football Federation spokesperson says that FIFA has supported every request made by the Netherlands womens team.

This includes ensuring the team's training conditions at the Bay Oval are up to the standards required.

FIFA made the statement following a controversy erupting after the Dutch Women’s World Cup team’s coach reportedly expressed frustration at “contentious” training conditions in Tauranga.

“FIFA is working collaboratively with the Netherlands to support all requests that they have at the tournament, including any related to their team base camp training site," says a FIFA spokesperson.

Netherlands head coach Andries Jonker has accused FIFA and the Women's World Cup of being 'amateurs' saying a cricket pitch had to be removed from the team's training field ahead of their group stage opener against Portugal on Sunday.

"The Bay Oval pitch has been converted to FIFA football standards by NZ Turf Institute and FIFA, with the support of Bay Oval staff," says a Tauranga City Council spokesperson.

The Netherlands team trained at Bay Oval on Friday as planned. On Saturday they were travelling for their match on Sunday in Dunedin.

Welcoming the Netherland team at Bay Oval. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

Criticising the conditions of their training grounds is nothing new for the Dutch coach.

Before arriving in New Zealand, instead of flying directly here, and after traveling more than halfway around the world, coach Andries Jonker’s army landed in Sydney, Australia on July 9.

The plan was to stay there for a week, play a friendly match with the Korean women’s team, and then move to New Zealand.

After two training sessions in Sydney however, coach Andries Jonker and the players of the Dutch women’s team were not satisfied with the quality of the grass there.

The 60-year-old coach told Dutch channel NOS: “Everywhere in the world you have different quality training surfaces. But our feet were like running on the carpet. In the Netherlands, you don’t have this grass, it’s a completely different grass. We want everything to be optimal, so we will definitely change.”

The Dutch women's team's coaching staff then set about looking for a new training ground in Sydney. According to NOS, the team moved from Macquarie Park to The King’s School in Parramatta for a few days before moving to New Zealand last week.

International news agencies The Independent and The Mirror are amongst a group of newspapers blasting the Women's World Cup as "amateurish" due to the Netherlands team having to train around the cricket pitch at Bay Oval.

“Netherlands made to train on cricket pitch at Women’s World Cup: It’s amateurism” is the headline from the Independent.

“Women's World Cup blasted "amateurish" as national team forced to train on cricket pitch” writes the Mirror in their headline.

The Netherlands national team, who were runners-up at the 2019 Women's World Cup, say they had to avoid 11v11 training sessions due to the cricket pitch in the middle of their training field.

Tauranga is the ‘home away from home' for the Netherlands team while they compete in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 - or FWWC2023.

Welcoming the Netherland team at Bay Oval. Photo: John Borren/SunLive.

The team were officially welcomed by the city with a powhiri at the Bay Oval this week, the same place that is hosting the team for their training.

The Mirror reports that while the Dutch did train on the pitch and continued to do so ahead of their opening Group E match against Portugal in Dunedin on Sunday, coach Andries Jonker has said that full pitch sessions were out of the question due to the threat posed to players’ physical safety.

"If you fall on it with your knee or your shoulder, you could have a problem. If you sprint from the grass to that pitch, that is also not good for muscles and tendons that are already under tension," says Andries.

“When we arrived here on Wednesday, I thought, 'now what is this now?' I will not train on this.

"We have raised concerns about the cricket pitch previously, we were promised things and now we are very disappointed and angry. We are not satisfied.

"We want to play a good first match against Portugal here, we want to have a top preparation, a top tournament and we also consider ourselves a top team. This does not fit. This fits with amateurism of the highest order."

He voiced his apprehension, fearing that this setup could lead to injuries, and disclosed that they had previously asked for the cricket pitch to be removed months ago.

The Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) say they communicated their worries to FIFA during two inspection visits in October and February and says they were promised that the hard pitch would be removed after the cricket season, well before the Dutch women arrived in New Zealand.

Andries says those promises fell flat, leaving the team feeling let down and incensed.

He minced no words, describing the situation as "amateurism of the highest order," which he says hardly befits the stature of the Dutch team.

“If you fall on it with your knee or your shoulder, you could have a problem. If you sprint from the grass to that pitch that is also not good for muscles and tendons that are already under tension.”

"With other exercises we can train around that pitch, but 11 against 11 doesn't work," the coach adds.

He emphasizes their desire to put on a stellar performance against Portugal in their opening Group E match in Dunedin, but says the subpar training conditions have thrown a wrench into their preparations.

But the Dutch did train at the Bay Oval ahead of their opening Group E match against Portugal in Dunedin on Sunday.

While they will not be able to carry out full-pitch practices due to the cricket pitch presence, they say they are making the best of a less-than-ideal situation.

Andries revealed that there were two alternative options considered.

The first involved heading to Dunedin earlier, but that would have necessitated rearranging accommodations and travel plans for the entire team, creating further logistical challenges.

The second option was to train in Hamilton, which seemed convenient at first, but the long hour-and-a-half drive raised concerns about exhausting the players before the tournament even begins.

Nicknamed the Oranjeleeuwin (Orange Lionesses), the Netherlands are currently ranked number six in the FIFA Women's World Rankings and were finalists in the FIFA Women's World Cup 2019 in France.

On Sunday, the Netherlands secured a vital 1-0 win against Portugal that should put them on course for the knockout stages.

In front of a crowd of 11,991 in Dunedin, a VAR-assisted goal from centre-half Stefanie van der Gragt was enough for the three points, but it may have come at a cost with star striker Lineth Beerensteyn forced off with a late injury in a game that was ill-tempered at times.

Netherlands coach Andries Jonker couldn’t offer any update on Beerensteyn after the match, and didn’t want to be drawn on the challenge that forced her off the field, but noted that Portugal had been “combative” throughout.

The coach was pleased with the result, but wasn’t taking anything for granted.

The Netherlands next face the USA in a blockbuster clash in Wellington on Thursday.

Group E points (games played): USA 3 (1), Netherlands 3 (1), Portugal 0 (1), Vietnam 0 (1).