Two weeks to go until the Women's World Cup
July 6 marks two weeks to go until Australia and New Zealand will co-host the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, making it the first tournament to have more than one host nation.
The global soccer showpiece, which is also the first Women's World Cup to be held in the southern hemisphere, will kick off in Sydney and Auckland on July 20 when Australia's Matildas and New Zealand's Football Ferns play their opening matches. Eden Park will host the opening ceremony before New Zealand play their Group A match against Norway, while Australia will face Group B opponents Ireland at Stadium Australia, the venue for the final on August 20.
This is the first Women's World Cup to include 32 teams. There will be 64 matches, to be played across nine cities - five in Australia and four in New Zealand. The host cities are Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Dunedin, Hamilton, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Wellington.
In March, FIFA president Gianni Infantino announced that prize money for the 2023 Women's World Cup will be $150 million, 10 times what it was in 2015 and three times the amount of 2019. The figure, however, is still considerably lower than the $440 million total prize money awarded at the men's World Cup in Qatar last year
The United States are reigning champions and are looking to become the first ever nation to win three consecutive World Cup titles in the women's or men's game.
The U.S. begin their campaign against Vietnam on July 22, while European champions England kick off their campaign against Haiti later the same day.
The following are the eight groups in the tournament:
GROUP A: New Zealand (co-hosts), Norway, Philippines, Switzerland.
GROUP B: Australia (co-hosts), Canada, Nigeria, Ireland.
GROUP C: Costa Rica, Japan, Spain, Zambia.
GROUP D: China, Denmark, England, Haiti.
GROUP E: Netherlands, Portugal, United States, Vietnam.
GROUP F: Brazil, France, Jamaica, Panama.
GROUP G: Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Sweden.
GROUP H: Colombia, Germany, South Korea, Morocco.
The group stage will be a round-robin format, with each of the 32 teams playing three matches. The teams will get three points for a win and one for a draw. The top two in each group advance to the round of 16.
The first knockout round kicks off on Aug. 5, followed by the quarter-finals from Aug. 11 and the semi-finals from Aug. 15.
The knockout rounds feature one-off matches which can go to extra time and then penalties to decide the winner.
The third-place playoff between the two losing semi-finalists takes place on Aug. 19 at Lang Park in Brisbane.
WHEN IS THE WORLD CUP FINAL?
The World Cup final will be held on Sunday, Aug. 20. The match will kick off at 1000 GMT (8 p.m. local time).
WHICH STADIUM IS HOSTING THE FINAL?
Stadium Australia in Sydney will host the World Cup final. It is the largest venue being used for the tournament and seats some 70,000 spectators.
WHO ARE THE FAVOURITES?
Bookmakers William Hill and Ladbrokes have listed holders and four-time champions United States as the favourites.
