What to know about FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
Australia and New Zealand are jointly hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 scheduled to take place from July 20 to August 20.
The ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup will break new ground by being jointly hosted by two nations. The tournament will see increased participation, with 32 teams competing compared with the previous 24 teams in recent editions.
South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria, and Zambia are the four countries representing the African continent at the global women’s competition. CAF President Dr. Patrice Motsepe has urged them to follow the example set by Morocco, who achieved a historic milestone reaching the semi-finals of the men’s tournament a few months back.
Qualified teams and groups
The following teams will be competing in the Women’s Football World Cup:
World Cup venues
A total of 10 stadiums located in nine different cities across Australia and New Zealand will serve as venues for the matches.
Among the cities, Sydney stands out as it will host matches at two venues – the Sydney Football Stadium and Stadium Australia. Stadium Australia will also be the site for the final on August 20.
How much money will each team receive?
The total prize money for the 32 participating nations will be $110m, three times more than the previous edition. The total purse at the men’s tournament held in Qatar was $440m.
FIFA will award the winning team $10.5m, with $6.21m going to players and $4.29m to the federation.
Opening ceremony
The Women’s World Cup 2023 opened on July 20 with a greeting from the Maori people of New Zealand and the First Nations people of Australia. The roughly 10-minute ceremony was intended by FIFA to stress the cultural roots of tournament co-hosts New Zealand and Australia, along with international unity.
The ceremony ended with the official match ball being presented to the United States, the 2019 and 2015 World Cup champions, and 2011 champion Japan, at midfield to represent the Maori koha, a gift to the other 30 competing teams.
The 32 countries were then introduced on the stadium’s video screens, while dancers performed a unity routine in costumes inspired by the 32 jerseys that each country will wear. BENEE and Mallrat performed the official song of the tournament, Do It Again, as the ceremony came to a close.
Source: Al Jazeera
Abeeb Lekan Sodiq is a Managing Editor & Writer at theafricandream.net. He is as well a Graphics Designer and also known as Arakunrin Lekan.
