Beyond Greatness™
Breaking records
The ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup was co-hosted by Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in what was a record-breaking tournament of firsts.
Opening Day brought its share of thrills on the pitch, with a big upset win for one host country and a tense match that ended in victory for the other. With over 115,000 fans attending two Stadiums on the first matchday, the football world turned its attention to a FIFA Women’s World Cup filled with excitement, drama, passion, and records.
The tournament showed that standards were rising and generated USD 570 million, allowing it to break even.
FIFA Women’s World Cup to be staged in two countries
senior FIFA tournament hosted in Oceania
With 32 teams and 64 matches
FIFA tournament to be staged in 2 confederations
Where nations from all 6 confederations won a match
Ever in fan attendance (1,978,274)
Ever to break even (USD $570m in revenue)
Continued to break new ground
The expansion of the tournament gave more countries the chance to experience the global showpiece. In line with this expansion, FIFA implemented even more tournament firsts in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand in order to grow the competition:
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First with dedicated Team Base Camps
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First with a coordinated Legacy Working Group
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First to honour Indigenous people & culture
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First with FIFA Fan Festivals – 777,000 visitors
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First to feature over 160 goals
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First with ringfenced performance-based funding for all 736 players
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23 Aug 2023
Stadiums
With ten total stadiums spread across nine cities and two countries, this is the first time a Women’s World Cup took place in two different countries.
Australia
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Sydney/Wangal: Stadium Australia (Capacity: 75,784)
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Sydney/Gadigal: Sydney Football Stadium (Capacity: 40,583)
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Brisbane/Meeanjin (Capacity: 49,461)
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Melbourne/Naarm (Capacity: 27,706)
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Perth/Boorloo (Capacity: 18,727)
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Adelaide/Tarntanya (Capacity: 13,557)
Aotearoa New Zealand
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Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau (Capacity: 43,217)
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Wellington/Te Whanganui-a-Tara (Capacity: 33,132)
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Dunedin/Ōtepoti (Capacity: 25,947)
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Hamilton/Kirikiriroa (Capacity: 18,009)
More teams, more competition
This year’s Women’s World Cup was bigger than it’s ever been. It featured more teams – 32, up from 24 – played in front of bigger crowds and watched by bigger audiences around the world on screens large and small.
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Compared to France 2019 and Canada 2015, goals per game decreased from approximately 2.80 to 2.55 per match.
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There were more clean sheets in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand than ever before. 43% of performances resulted in a clean sheet – an increase of over 10% compared with the last two editions of the tournament.
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84% of players named in squads took to the field in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. This is an increase from 80% at France 2019.
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34 goals were scored from set plays, including 28 goals from corners and six from free kicks. Significantly, finalists Spain and England did not concede a goal from a set play throughout the tournament.
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FIFA’s Technical Study Group identified that teams that went further in the tournament generally had more efficient pressing strategies.