A Guide To The Women’s World Cup 2023
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8 months ago
From tickets and match info to where to watch the games from home
The ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup is coming to a close, with England team primed to go up against Spain in the final on Sunday. We’ve put together the ultimate guide to watching the tournament (whether onsite or from home), below.
Latest News
The Lionesses Take On Spain In The 2023 Women’s World Cup Final
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16 August 2023: ‘Am I in a fairytale or something?’ asked Sarina Wiegman, manager of England’s women’s football team, following the Lionesses’ 3-1 defeat against Australia in the semi-finals on Wednesday. Nerves are high as they prepare to face Spain in the final on Sunday (20 August) in Sydney. Kick-off is at 11am, and you can catch it live across the BBC.
England Face Australia In The Semi-Finals
16 August 2023:Â It’s a big day for the Lionesses, who take on the Matildas in Sydney in the semi-finals. Both teams are hoping to reach their first-ever Women’s World Cup final, which kicks off at 11am UK time today, with the game available to watch on the BBC and and ITV.
Lauren James Given A Two-Match Ban
10 August 2023:Â After being sent off the pitch last week, Lauren James was given a two-match ban, meaning she sat out during England’s 2-1 win against Colombia on Saturday. She will also have to miss playing in the semi-finals against Australia, taking place on 16 August, but if England are victorious, she’ll be able to return for the final.
Will Lauren James Be Pulled Out Of World Cup?
9 August 2023:Â The Lionesses are waiting on news from FIFA’s disciplinary panel following red carded-behaviour by Lauren James. The England forward faces being ruled out of the rest of the tournament after a game against Nigeria earlier this week, where James was caught stamping on the back of Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie.
The 21-year-old has since issued an apology to Alozie on social media: ‘All my love and respect to you. I am sorry for what happened,’ she wrote. ‘Also, for our England fans and my team-mates, playing with and for you is my greatest honour and I promise to learn from my experience.’
Alozie has since responded to the message, saying: ‘We are playing on the world’s stage. This game is one of passion, insurmountable emotions, and moments. All respect for Lauren James.’
James will be suspended from Saturday’s game against Colombia, but it has not been confirmed whether FIFA will extend the ban to future games in the tournament.
‘She is inexperienced on this stage and in a split-second lost her emotions,’ said England boss Sarina Wiegman. ‘It isn’t something she did on purpose. She apologised and felt really bad. She would never want to hurt someone. She is the sweetest person I know.’
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England Will Be Playing Colombia In Quarter-Finals
8 August 2023:Â A tense game between Colombia and Jamaica today revealed the team that will be playing off against the Lionesses on Saturday, with Colombia narrowly securing its place in the quarter-finals with a score of 1-0. The Colombian team is one to watch this season, having already knocked Germany out of the tournament.
England Reach Women’s World Cup Quarter-Finals
7 August 2023: The Lionesses have progressed through to the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals after a close call against Nigeria earlier today. Following a stream of big-name knockouts at this year’s tournament, with Brazil, Canada, Germany and the USA all being eliminated, it was thought England might follow the same fate – especially after Lauren James, after stamping on Michelle Alozie’s back in the 87th minute, was sent off with a red card.
It all came down to a dramatic penalty shoot-out, where England’s Chloe Kelly got in the winning kick. The team now advances to the next stage, where they will be playing Colombia or Jamaica on Saturday 12 August.
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Orange Release New Ad For Women’s World Cup
21 July 2023: A Women’s World Cup advert created by Orange has set the internet alight, discussing how gender bias still permeates the sporting world. The ad seemingly shows a montage of male players (mainly France’s Kylian Mbappé and Antoine Griezmann) scoring goals to high intensity music and cheers – but really, the play onscreen is the work of AI. Orange used AI to superimpose male player’s faces and bodies on the female French football team. That’s right: Mbappé and Griezmann are actually footballers Sakina Karchaoui and Selma Bacha.
A study published earlier in July by the University of Zurich revealed that when viewers know they are watching men play, they rate the quality of the football much higher than the women’s game. But, when viewers don’t know the gender of the footballers, they rate the quality of male and female players the same. This, and the Orange ad, are a blatant reminder that gender biases are still a massive hurdle in the beautiful game – and that female players deserve the same level of respect and celebration as the men currently receive.
You can watch the full advert below.
Official Song For The World Cup Released
17 July 2023: The official song of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is ‘Do It Again’ by BENEE ft. Mallrat, and is a collaboration between two artists from the host nations (BENEE us from Aotearoa New Zealand and Mallrat is from Australia). You can listen to the song below:
A Guide To The Women’s World Cup 2023
What Is The Women’s World Cup?
The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international football tournament that sees senior women‘s national teams compete against each other for top title. It’s held every four years, and takes place the year after the men’s tournament.
For the first time in the tournament’s history, 32 nations will be competing in the Women’s World Cup. The event started as a 12-team tournament in 1991, expanding to 16 countries in 1999 and 24 in 2015.
To compete, national teams vie for 31 slots (the 32nd is automatically given to the tournament’s host country) during a three-year qualification phase. The qualifying teams all go through to play games against each other in tournament groups.
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Who Is Hosting The 2023 Women’s World Cup?
Australia and New Zealand will be co-hosting the ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup, which will spread across 10 venues in nine cities. This marks the first occasion two countries have come together to host the tournament.
Previous hosts include China (1991 and 2007), Sweden (1995), the US (1999 and 2004), Germany (2011), Canada (2015) and France (2019).
Which Teams Have The Most Titles?
The USA women’s team is the current champion and has the most world cup titles (scooping four), but they’re closely followed by Germany (which has two), Norway and Japan (both with one). The England team has not yet won a world cup title, but the team’s UEFA Women’s Championship win last year makes them one to watch this time around.
What Are The Groups This Year?
There are 32 teams playing in the World Cup this year, spread across eight groups that first play against each other before the top two teams (with the most points) from each group advance to the knockout stage. You can see all the groups for this year’s tournament below:
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Group A
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Phillippines
- Switzerland
Group B
- Australia
- Republic of Ireland
- Nigeria
- Canada
Group C
- Spain
- Costa Rica
- Zambia
- Japan
Group D
- England
- Haiti
- Denmark
- China PR
Group E
- USA
- Vietnam
- Netherlands
- Portugal
Group F
- France
- Jamaica
- Brazil
- Panama
Group G
- Sweden
- South Africa
- Italy
- Argentina
Group H
- Germany
- Morocco
- Colombia
- Korea Republic
When Is The Women’s World Cup 2023?
The 2023 Women’s World Cup kicks off on Thursday 20 July, with games taking place throughout the next month. The final is on Sunday 20 August 2023.
England’s first match is on Saturday 22 July against Haiti, with another on Friday 28 July against Denmark and on Tuesday 1 August against China before the next stage of games begin.
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Match Schedule
The season kicks off with matches between New Zealand and Norway, and Australia and Ireland. You can find the full match schedule for the 2023 Women’s World Cup as a PDF here.
How To Get Tickets
You can get your hands on official tickets for the 2023 Women’s World Cup via the FIFA ticketing portal. A new release of Single Match Passes were made available for purchase by the general public earlier this month, and will be up for grabs until they are sold out. To get tickets, you’ll need a FIFA ticketing account. fifa.com
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is on track to become the most attended standalone women’s sports event ever, with over a million tickets already sold (as of 28 June 2023) and fans from over 150 different countries expected to attend.
Where To Watch If You Don’t Have Tickets
On TV & On Demand
Both the BBC and ITV will be showing every game live on its TV channels, which you can tune into for free. If you miss the game (or are on the move) don’t worry; you’ll also be able to stream games on BBC iPlayer and ITVX during and after the event.
At The Pub
Plenty of sports bars and pubs will be airing the FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer. Watch all the action with a drink in hand at one of our favourite spots in London.
Featured image: Jeffrey F Lin, Unsplash
