FIFA Announces Host Cities for 2023 World Cup

FIFA has announced which cities and stadiums will host the 2023 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The tournament is set to be co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the first Women’s World Cup tournament to be hosted in the Southern Hemisphere, and the first World Cup tournament (for either men or women) to be held in Australia or Oceania. When submitting their bid for consideration for hosting, the two countries had a list of possible cities and stadiums that they proposed would host the tournament, six and four sites for Australia and New Zealand respectively. That list has been narrowed down and finalized. We’ve listed it for you here:

Australia

City (Stadium)

Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium)

Brisbane (Brisbane Stadium)

Melbourne (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium)

Perth (Perth Rectangular Stadium)

Sydney (Stadium Australia, and Sydney Football Stadium)

New Zealand

City/Maori name (Stadium)

Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau (Eden Park)

Dunedin/Ōtepoti (Dunedin Stadium)

Hamilton/Kirikiriroa (Waikato Stadium)

• Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Wellington Stadium)

The 9 host cities in Australia are split across the country, with the largest city, Sydney, hosting two stadiums. The Sydney Football Stadium set to host matches is currently under construction. The four host cities/stadiums in New Zealand are similarly spread across the country, though only one is in the southern island. The ten stadiums between the two countries range in size from a capacity of 16,500 (Hindmarsh Stadium) to 83,500 (Stadium Australia). The stadiums are all multi-purpose facilities, serving as hosts to different combinations of cricket, Australian-rules football, rugby, and soccer teams.

In addition to the host cities and stadiums, FIFA also announced the sites for the opening and closing matches. The opener will take place in Eden Park, in Auckland in New Zealand, while Australia gets to host the finale in Sydney’s Stadium Australia. This also means that New Zealand will host the opening match.

The USWNT will be entering the tournament as the reigning champions and will look to win a third-consecutive tournament, potentially their fifth total. The selection looks like an interesting set of cities and sites and I’m looking forward to the tournament. It might be a good time to start planning that trip to the other side of the world.