Four hard and strenuous years in wait:
With the FIFA World Cup 2022 coming to a remarkable end, football fans all around the world were starved of the game, praying and hoping for more from the game, until the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 answered their prayers. New matches, new excitement, and new rivalries will keep viewers on the edge of their seats for an entirety of thirty-two days. Commencing on the 20th of July with the final being held on the 20th of August, here’s your guide to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 along with predictions regarding the two teams that will compete against each other on the day of the final for the official win.
When and where the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is scheduled to be held:
For the first time, Australia and New Zealand will be co-hosting the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at various stadiums that are crucial to the sport and culture of football itself for both countries. The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will call nine different cities between both countries home and will be played in ten stadiums across the neighbouring hosts. For Australia, those cities will include Sydney (Stadium Australia and Sydney Football Stadium), Melbourne (Melbourne Rectangular Stadium), Adelaide (Hindmarsh Stadium), Brisbane (Brisbane Stadium), and Perth (Perth Rectangular Stadium). New Zealand will witness the games in the cities of Auckland (Eden Park), Dunedin (Dunedin Stadium), Hamilton (Waikato Stadium), and Wellington (Wellington Regional Stadium). The tournament was scheduled to begin on the 20th of July and will be closing its curtains on the 20th of August. The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 schedule is tightly knit, with more than one game being played on certain days to fit the entire tournament into a span of thirty-two days. Thirty-two nations will be competing in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the most number of nations the tournament has ever seen. Of those thirty-two teams, eight of them will be playing their first-ever FIFA Women’s World Cup, namely Morocco, Zambia, Ireland, the Philippines, Vietnam, Haiti, and Panama.
The Format of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 schedule will see eight groups this edition competing within and against each other. Groups A, B, C, D, E, F, G, and H consist of four teams each that will compete against the nations within their groups for three games in what is called the ‘Group Stage’ of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.
Each winning team will be awarded three points, the losing team zero points, and if a game is to end in a draw after 90 minutes, each respective team is to be awarded one point. The two teams with the most points in each of the respective eight groups will be the ones to advance further to the ‘Knockout Stage’ of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. The Knockout Stage will eliminate half of the playing nations, leaving behind the best sixteen teams to compete at that stage. The Knockout stage will consist of a single elimination battle between the winner and runner-up of each of the eight groups. This process will eliminate the losing teams from the tournament, leaving the singular strongest team of each of the eight groups to take a leap toward the Quarter Finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. The Quarter Finals will then decide the four Semi Final teams, and eventually the long-awaited finalists.
The Prize Pool of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023
FIFA have detailed their allocation for this year’s FIFA Women’s World Cup, spending thrice as much as they did in the eighth edition of the tournament held in 2019. The tournament in 2023 will receive a total prize fund of US$110 million, according to FIFA.
For preparation financing and club perks, a further US$42.5 million has already been set aside. The Group stage winners will receive US$1,560,000, Knockout winners US$1,870,000, Quarterfinalists US$2,180,000, fourth place US$2,455,000, third place US$ $2,160,000, Runners up US$3,015,000, and the Winners US$4,290,000.
Keep a close eye on these players:
With incredible talents that will most certainly be seen throughout the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, there are a few that must be kept a close and focused eye on. Sam Kerr, without any question, is included in this list. The superstar of Women’s football, and football in general is bound to find herself as one of the key players of this tournament. The captain of the Matildas is a smart footballer with skills and an aim unlike any other, with a glimmering career to prove it. The striker’s success in the recent Women’s Super League and 2022 AFC Women’s Asian Cup exhibits the unbelievable form she is currently in which will certainly be pivotal to the Australians. Alex Morgan, a prominent figure throughout Women’s football is another player to watch for this World Cup. Having always shown up for her country when needed, the American striker will be shining throughout this tournament as she has in the past. Morgan has scored 121 goals in her career as an international footballer, and we will surely get to see that number rise during this year’s World Cup. Her speed, her strength, and her intelligence have led her to become one of the bests in the game which will be out for the world to see.
The Predicted Finalists for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023:
Thirty-two teams all with exceptional talent, but two are destined to compete against each other to attain the ultimate win at Sydney’s Stadium Australia: the FIFA Women’s World Cup itself. The first contenders are Australia for their hard work, their determination, and the blatant advantage of playing on home soil. With players like Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord, Ellie Carpenter, Steph Catley, and Hayley Raso, the Matildas have a clear pathway straight into the Finals. That being said, having won the tournament thrice before, the United States has cracked the code to reaching, and even winning the FIFA Women’s World Cup final. Retaining the World Cup for the fourth time is something the U.S. team will be striving towards, and reaching the finals is necessary for them to add the win to their books for the fourth time. Consisting of players with out-of-this-world talent such as Alex Morgan, Sophia Smith, and Julie Ertz, the U.S. have a colossal chance to win the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. Nevertheless, possibly seeing both teams rough it out in the finals will be an excruciatingly tense game of football, with two of the best teams ever giving everything they have for the win.
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