The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the first tournament to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. It will also be the first to feature 32 teams, up from 24 in 2019.
The 2023 tournament is expected to draw record crowds. According to Fifa, more than 500,000 tickets have been sold.
Hosts
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the first-ever co-hosted tournament by Australia and New Zealand. This will be the largest FIFA Women’s World Cup to date, with 32 teams and a total prize fund of $2 billion.
The tournament is set to be held between July 20 and August 20, making it the most important event in women’s football since the men’s World Cup in 2006. It will feature eight groups of four teams, followed by a knockout stage, featuring a final game between the top two finishers.
In a bid to display sporting unity, Australia and New Zealand joined forces in a joint bid for the Women’s World Cup. They have already hosted the men’s World Cup in 2014 and are known for their passion for soccer.
The two nations have expressed concerns that Saudi Arabia’s tourism authority, Visit Saudi, could be sponsoring the Women’s World Cup without their consent. The soccer federations in the countries have issued a statement saying they are “disappointed” at reports of this.
Groups
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will feature eight groups of four teams, each of which will advance to the knockout stage. The top two teams in each group will qualify for the round of 16.
The final draw took place on Saturday, October 22. The New Zealand Football Ferns were drawn into Group A alongside Norway, Switzerland, and the Philippines.
While this group will be the first time the Kiwis have competed at a women’s World Cup, they still have a lot to do before reaching their first big tournament victory. The other Europeans in this group include Sweden and Italy, who have both made their presence felt in major competitions over the past couple of years.
Among the other teams that will be making their debuts at the Women’s World Cup are Morocco, the Philippines, the Republic of Ireland, and Vietnam. This is also the first time that Zambia will compete at a world-level event, having qualified via an inter-confederation play-off.
Matches
The 64 matches at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be played across 10 stadiums in Australia and New Zealand. The opening match will be played in Auckland’s Eden Park, while the final will be held at Sydney’s Stadium Australia.
The tournament will be played from July 20 to August 20. There will be five group matches, one round of 16 matches, and one quarter-final.
Ticket sales for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup have been strong, with some games almost sold out. Single-match tickets are available from the FIFA website.
The knockout phase of the competition will be played from August 5 to 20, with the first game on August 4. England and Denmark are drawn into Group D, alongside either Senegal or Haiti.
Kickoff times
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to be hosted in Australia and New Zealand and will feature 64 matches. This is the first time that the World Cup has been co-hosted in Oceania and it will be the largest-ever FIFA tournament to be held in this region.
In addition to the group stage, the competition will also include a quarter-final and semi-final. Eden Park in Auckland and Stadium Australia in Sydney will host nine of the games during the tournament, while Lang Park in Brisbane and Wellington Regional Stadium will host nine more.
Kickoff times are important for fans as they can help to determine the time they will be able to watch their favorite team. The majority of matches will kick off around 11 pm local time, but some will begin at midnight in Australia and New Zealand.
The United States, defending champions and winners of four of the last eight Women’s World Cups, will be aiming to become the first team to win three consecutive World Cups in 2023. They’ll face Vietnam, Netherlands, and the winner of a group play-off between Portugal, Thailand, and Cameroon in Group E.