2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by women's national teams and organised by FIFA. The tournament, which took place from 20 July to 20 August 2023, was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand. It was the first FIFA Women's World Cup with more than one host nation, as well as the first World Cup to be held across multiple confederations, as Australia is in the Asian confederation, while New Zealand is in the Oceanian confederation. It was also the first Women's World Cup to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.

This tournament was the first to feature an expanded format of 32 teams from the previous 24, replicating the format used for the men's World Cup from 1998 to 2022. The opening match was won by co-host New Zealand, beating Norway at Eden Park in Auckland on 20 July 2023 and achieving their first Women's World Cup victory.

Spain were crowned champions after defeating reigning European champions England 1–0 in the final. It was the first time a European nation had won the Women's World Cup since 2007 and Spain's first title, although their victory was marred by the Rubiales affair. Spain became the second nation to win both the women's and men's World Cup since Germany in the 2003 edition. In addition, they became the first nation to concurrently hold the FIFA women's U-17, U-20, and senior World Cups. Sweden would claim their fourth bronze medal at the Women's World Cup while co-host Australia achieved their best placing yet, finishing fourth. Japanese player Hinata Miyazawa won the Golden Boot scoring five goals throughout the tournament. Spanish player Aitana Bonmatí was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball, whilst Bonmatí's teammate Salma Paralluelo was awarded the Young Player Award. England goalkeeper Mary Earps won the Golden Glove, awarded to the best-performing goalkeeper of the tournament.

Of the eight teams making their first appearance, Morocco were the only one to advance to the round of 16 (where they lost to France). The United States were the two-time defending champions, but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Sweden, the first time the team had not made the semi-finals at the tournament, and the first time the defending champions failed to progress to the quarter-finals.

Australia's team, nicknamed the Matildas, performed better than expected, and the event saw many Australians unite to support them. The Matildas, who beat France to make the semi-finals for the first time, saw record numbers of fans watching their games. Their 3–1 loss to England became the most watched television broadcast in Australian history, with an average viewership of 7.13 million and a peak viewership of 11.15 million viewers.

It was the most attended edition of the competition ever held.

Overview

The FIFA Women's World Cup is a professional association football (soccer) tournament contested by senior women's national football teams, organised by FIFA. The tournament, held every four years and one year after the men's World Cup, was first played in 1991 in China, and was expanded to 32 teams beginning with the 2023 edition. The tournament is contested with eight round-robin groups followed by a knockout round for 16 teams. The defending champions were the United States, who defeated the Netherlands 2–0 in the 2019 final. The event took place over a period of a month, from 20 July to 20 August, in Australia and New Zealand. This Women's World Cup was the first co-hosted tournament, and also the first senior World Cup to be held across multiple confederations. In addition, it was the first senior tournament to be held in Oceania, the first Women's World Cup in the Southern Hemisphere, and the third to be held in the Asia-Pacific region, after 1991 and 2007.

Schedule

The match schedule was announced by FIFA on 1 December 2021, with kick-off times confirmed on 24 October 2022, two days after the final draw.

The opening match of the tournament, between co-host New Zealand and Norway, was played on 20 July 2023 at Eden Park. The inaugural match played in Australia, was between Australia playing against the Republic of Ireland on the same day at Stadium Australia, after a venue change due to strong ticketing demand.

Prize money

The total prize pool was USD 110 million, $80 million greater than the prize pool of the previous tournament.

At previous tournaments, FIFA paid total prize money to the national associations, but for the 2023 Women's World Cup it was set to award prize payments directly to players as well as the associations. This came as a result of reports in the women's game that a number of national associations were withholding competition prize money from players and/or not paying them at all. In March 2023, global player union FIFPRO sent a letter signed by players from around the world to FIFA, challenging FIFA to make prize money in the men's and women's tournaments equal and to ensure at least 30% of prize money in the women's tournament made it to the players. While FIFA did not match the prize money of the men's tournament, it did significantly increase it, with more than half set to be paid to players directly.

Just before the tournament, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced that the player payments would still be paid to the associations, and that FIFA planned to audit the associations to make sure the money got to the players. Football administrator Lise Klaveness expressed concern over what she felt sounded like reneging on the promise, both for the players and for FIFA's credibility. During the tournament, Infantino admitted that FIFA had simply made recommendations to associations on how much to pay players, and they could not reasonably check.

Host selection

Bidding began for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup on 19 February 2019. Member associations interested in hosting the tournament had to submit a declaration of interest by 15 March, and provide the completed bidding registration by 16 April. However, FIFA revised the bidding timeline as the tournament expanded to 32 teams on 31 July. Other member associations interested in hosting the tournament then had until 16 August to submit a declaration of interest, while the completed bidding registration of new member associations and re-confirmation of prior bidders was due by 2 September.

Nine countries initially indicated interest in hosting the events: Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Japan, South Korea (with interest in a joint bid with North Korea), New Zealand and South Africa. Belgium expressed interest in hosting the tournament following the new deadline but later dropped out, as did Bolivia, in September 2019. Australia and New Zealand later announced they would merge their bids in a joint submission. Brazil, Colombia, and Japan joined them in submitting their bid books to FIFA by 13 December. However, both Brazil and Japan later withdrew their bids in June 2020 before the final voting.

On 25 June 2020, Australia and New Zealand won the bid to host the Women's World Cup. The decision came after a vote by the FIFA Council, with the winning bid earning 22 votes, while Colombia earned 13. Neither country had previously hosted a senior FIFA tournament. This was the first Women's World Cup to be hosted in multiple countries, and only the second World Cup tournament to do so, following the 2002 FIFA World Cup, held in Japan and South Korea. It was also the first FIFA Women's World Cup to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first senior FIFA tournament to be held in Oceania, and the first FIFA tournament to be hosted across multiple confederations (with Australia in the AFC and New Zealand in the OFC). Australia became the second association from the AFC to host the Women's World Cup, after China in both 1991 and 2007.

Format

In July 2019, Infantino proposed an expansion of the Women's World Cup from 24 to 32 teams, starting with the 2023 edition, and doubling the tournament's prize money. The proposal came following the success of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup and the prior edition of the tournament in 2015, which after increasing from 16 to 24 teams set an attendance record for all FIFA competitions besides the men's FIFA World Cup. Expanding the tournament to allow eight additional participating teams gave more member associations a greater opportunity to qualify for the final tournament. This fostered the growing reach and professionalisation of the women's game.

On 31 July, the FIFA Council unanimously decided to expand the tournament to 32 teams, featuring eight groups of four.

The astounding success of this year's FIFA Women's World Cup in France made it very clear that this is the time to keep the momentum going and take concrete steps to foster the growth of women's football. I am glad to see this proposal becoming a reality.