When does the 2023 Women’s FIFA World Cup start?

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is scheduled to take place from July 20 to August 20. This is the ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup. The tournament will be held in Australia and New Zealand, making it the first-ever co-hosted Women’s World Cup.

The 2023 edition of the Women’s World Cup is the first edition to feature 32 teams. Previous editions all had 24 teams participating. The format of the World Cup has not changed, it will be a round-robin format in eight groups of four followed by the knockout games. Co-Hosts New Zealand will face Norway at Eden Park, Auckland, to kick off the World Cup.

The women’s game has recently grown exponentially in both importance and quality. Interest in the World Cup has seen a rapid boom in the last decade. FIFA is looking to get around 2 billion in viewership this term, a big leap from 1.12 billion in 2019.

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Where will the FIFA Women’s World Cup be held in 2023?

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to be held jointly in New Zealand and Australia. The 9^th Edition of the celebrated event is the first to be co-hosted by two countries. This is also the first World Cup to feature hosts from different confederations, as Australia is in the Asian Confederation, while New Zealand is in the Oceanian Confederation.

The proceedings start with the First match being played in New Zealand, as the Kiwis face Norway. The second match will be played in Australia, where the Aussies face the Republic of Ireland. The final and the third-place matches are set to be contested in Australia.

Which 10 stadiums are allotted for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 and in which cities?

The World Cup is set to be spread out, with nine cities hosting matches. Five cities in Australia and four in New Zealand will be hosting matches for the World Cup. Australian cities with the following stadiums allotted will be hosting matches: Sydney (Accor Stadium and Allianz Stadium), Brisbane (Suncorp Stadium), Melbourne (AAMI Park), Perth (HBF Park), and Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium).

The following cities in New Zealand will be the venues with corresponding stadiums: Auckland (Eden Park), Wellington (Sky Stadium), Dunedin (Forsyth Barr Stadium), and Hamilton (Waikato Stadium). The finals will be played in Australia, with the only exception of Semi-Final 1, which will be played in Auckland, New Zealand.

Teams will have to travel a lot as the venues are spread across Australia and New Zealand. Sydney has two stadiums, Accor Stadium and Allianz Stadium, which are only 20 kilometers apart from each other. Perth and HBF Park are the farthest from all other venues as they are located on the other coast of Australia, with the nearest other venue to them being Adelaide, at 2131 km from Perth.

The distance issues across New Zealand are lesser. The only outlier is Dunedin, which is located at a distance of roughly 800 km from the capital of Wellington. The teams will be facing the challenge of managing travel fatigue during their matches.

Why is the FIFA World Cup in Australia and New Zealand audience friendly?

Although the tournament is spread wide across the globe, the 2023 Women’s World Cup is set to be a majestic one. The nine different host cities offer rich heritages of their own. There is also the opportunity to explore Australia and New Zealand. There is a particular focus on stadium accessibility for disabled people and those with restricted mobility, including accessible services like audio descriptive commentary for partly sighted and blind fans, which will be offered at certain matches.

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