FIFA Women's World Cup Kicks off Tomorrow as New Zealand vs Norway at Auckland

The FIFA Women's World Cup is set to kick off in Auckland with an exhilarating showdown between co-host New Zealand and Norway. The stage is set for an unforgettable opening match that promises to captivate football fans around the world.

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Between July 20 and August 20, 32 teams will compete across 64 matches at 10 different venues, making this year’s tournament the biggest to date.
The US Women’s National Team (USWNT) arrives as the two-time defending champion and arguably the favorite to win an unprecedented third consecutive title and a record-extending fifth overall.

For the first time ever, the Women’s World Cup will be hosted across two countries: Australia and New Zealand. It is also the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.
Games will be held in six stadiums across Australia in Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney whereas four in New Zealand in Dunedin, Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington and the final is set to be held in Sydney’s 81,500-capacity Stadium Australia.

A record 32 teams will take part in the World Cup, eight more than the previous two editions.
In the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup there are eight groups of four teams with the top two from each group progressing to the round of 16.
Group A: New Zealand,Norway,Philippines and Switzerland
Group B:Australia,Republic of Ireland,Nigeria and Canada
Group C:Spain,Costa Rica,Zambia, and Japan
Group D:England,Haiti,Denmark, and China
Group E:United States,Vietnam, Netherlands and Portugal
Group F:France,Jamaica,Brazil, and Panama
Group G:Sweden,South Africa, Italy , and Argentina
Group H:Germany,Morocco,Colombia, and South Korea

FIFA has announced that prize money for the tournament will increase to $110 million. A further $31 million has been awarded to teams for preparations and $11 million to clubs for their players.
The $110 million prize money is a nearly three-fold increase on the 2019 figure and almost seven times more than in 2015, but still considerably lower than the $440 million total prize money awarded at the men’s World Cup in Qatar last year.

However, FIFA president Gianni Infantino earlier this year said that he hopes that 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s World Cups will have equal prize money.
The United States are looking to defend their back-to-back titles, while European champions England are chasing a first World Cup crown.

The Republic of Ireland is competing in their first World Cup and joint-hosts Australia and New Zealand hope to make it a memorable one.