With the 2022 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Qatar just weeks away, excitement for international football is at a fever pitch. After that tournament finishes on 18 December, there’ll be just 7 months to wait for the women’s competition, which will run from 20 July – 20 August 2023. The Women’s World Cup is being held by joint hosts Australia and New Zealand, with 10 venues holding matches across 9 cities including Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Auckland, and Wellington.
The tournament has been expanded from 24 teams to 32, which is the same size as the men’s competition, albeit the next edition of that in 2026 will be expanded to 48 nations. With an expanded roster comes some new faces; the Republic of Ireland, Vietnam, Zambia, Morocco, and the Philippines will also make their Women’s World Cup debuts. There are still 3 teams yet to qualify; they will be decided in February.
The teams have been drawn into 8 groups of 4, with the top 2 in each progressing to the last 16 after a round-robin that sees every nation face their opponents once apiece. The draw is as follows:
Group A
- New Zealand
- Norway
- Philippines
- Switzerland
Group B
- Australia
- Republic of Ireland
- Nigeria
- Canada
Group C
- Spain
- Costa Rica
- Zambia
- Japan
Group D
- England
- Senegal/Haiti/Chile
- Denmark
- China
Group E
- United States
- Vietnam
- Netherlands
- Cameroon/Thailand/Portugal
Group F
- France
- Jamaica
- Brazil
- Chinese Taipei/Paraguay/Papua New Guinea/Panama
Group G
- Sweden
- South Africa
- Italy
- Argentina
Group H
- Germany
- Morocco
- Colombia
- South Korea
The United States are the 2-time defending champions, having lifted the trophy in 2015 and 2019. Indeed, they are the competition’s most successful team; in the 8 editions of the tournament thus far since it began in 1991, they have won it on 4 occasions, while Norway, Germany (twice), and Japan are the only other teams to win. In a repeat of the 2019 final, they'll face the Netherlands in their second group stage game.
Along with the former winners, Team USA will likely face competition from the likes of Brazil, France, and England. The Lionesses have reached the final 4 of the last 2 tournaments, and they took an enormous step by winning their first major trophy earlier this year when they won the UEFA European Women’s Championship.
Single-match ticket prices start at just $20 AUD/NZD ($11 USD) for adults and $10 AUD/NZD ($6 USD) for children. There several multi-match packages; the One Stadium Super Pass (OSSP) – which grants access to all matches played at a specific stadium (at least 4 games and can be as many as 9) – starts at $100 AUD/NZD ($57) for adults and $50 AUD/NZD ($28) for children.