By: Pei-Yu Tsai
In a grand moment for women’s football, the 2023 Women’s World Cup is all set to make its way to Australia and New Zealand, neither of which have hosted the game before. For the first time, this highly-anticipated tournament is being co-organized by the two nations, and will include 32 participating team, including 8 debutants.
The year 2023 will host the 9th edition of the Women World Cup. This quadrennial event is organized by FIFA (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), which was established in Paris in 1904. Its first edition was held in China in 1991.
During this upcoming term, not only have the number of participating teams shattered the record in the history of women’s football, but the 2023 Women’s World Cup is also set to be the largest event ever held in the history of the tournament. According to the Guardian News, close to 1.4 million tickets have already been sold for 64 games taking place until August 20th, surpassing the previous record set 8 years ago in Canada.
For the first time ever, the Women’s World Cup is being held in the Southern Hemisphere. It will be played in ten stadiums in nine cities, six of which are in Australia, two of which are in Sydney, and four of which are in New Zealand. The biggest one, Stadium Australia, which has capacity of about eight thousand spectators, will host the tournament’s opening match between Australia and Ireland, as well as the final match. (Source: the DW report)
Among the standout teams in previous editions of the tournament, Germany has dominated by winning the championship in both 2003 and 2007. However, the most remarkable country is the United States, who won the competition last time in 2019, marking their fourth Women’s World Cup championship.
According to FIFA’s announcement, The first match will begin between New Zealand and Norway of Group A in Eden Park.
Resources:
https://www.fifa.com/fifaplus/en/tournaments/womens/womensworldcup/australia-new-zealand2023
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2023/jul/18/womens-world-cup-2023-australia-matildas-legacy
https://olympics.com/en/news/fifa-women-world-cup-2023-full-schedule