What Will Australia and New Zealand Be Like for the Women’s World Cup?
With Australia and New Zealand all the way across the world, many wonder what this Women’s World Cup might entail for players and fans. This is the ninth Women’s World Cup, and, for the first time, there will be 32 teams involved.
The Australian Women’s National Team’s first match came in 1979. The Matildas are currently the 10th-ranked team in the world. The New Zealand Women’s National Team played their first match in 1975. The Football Ferns are presently ranked 25th according to the FIFA rankings.
Interestingly, this isn’t Australia’s first time hosting a big tournament. They were, in fact, the host country for two Olympic Games, in 1956 and 2000.
Australia/New Zealand Previous World Cups
Australia has appeared in all but one World Cup. The only tournament they didn’t qualify for was the very first one, in 1991. In 2019, Australia had their best finish to date when they advanced to the Round of 16.
New Zealand will have been a part of six World Cups, having missed 1995, 1999, and 2003. This World Cup could be their chance to win their first-ever World Cup game and advance beyond the group stage.
Fans
This tournament is expected to draw a big crowd. Back in January, FIFA announced that over half a million tickets had been sold. They also revealed that fans from over 120 countries had purchased tickets for the World Cup.
There will surely be a large presence for the host countries, but fans from all over the world will be in attendance for the biggest tournament in the sport.
Aside from the matches, fans will be able to enjoy various events surrounding the tournament. For the first time, FIFA will be hosting the FIFA Fan Festival in all nine cities. The fan festival is free, and it will have food, music, entertainment, games, and more, all surrounding the 2023 Women’s World Cup tournament.
Travel
The games will be spread out around ten stadiums around nine cities between Australia and New Zealand. For Australia, they’ll have stadiums in Perth, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney, the only city with two stadiums. In New Zealand, games will take place in Auckland, Dunedin, Wellington, and Hamilton.
The cities are pretty far apart. For example, going from Melbourne to Sydney is over a ten-hour car ride.
The United States’ group stage matches are in Auckland, Wellington, and then back to Auckland. To drive from Auckland to Wellington would take over seven hours, but by plane, it’s less than two hours.
Weather
Australia and New Zealand’s winter season is from June to August. Since the World Cup will be in July, it will likely be fairly cold during the tournament. Normally, when we think about Australia, we think of nice weather and a lot of sunshine. Teams will be playing in temperatures around 50-70 degrees. This could be a bit of a shock for other teams.
As a fan, this is what you might expect when going to or watching teams play in Australia and New Zealand. Get excited because the World Cup is now less than four weeks away!
Featured image via Getty Images
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