2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

Ipu Wahine o te Ao FIFA i 2023 (Māori)[1]
Tournament details
Host countries	Australia New Zealand
Dates	20 July – 20 August
Teams	32 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	10 (in 9 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Spain (1st title)
Runners-up	England
Third place	Sweden
Fourth place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	64
Goals scored	164 (2.56 per match)
Attendance	1,978,274 (30,911 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Hinata Miyazawa (5 goals)
Best player(s)	Aitana Bonmatí
Best young player	Salma Paralluelo
Best goalkeeper	Mary Earps
Fair play award	Japan
← 2019 2027 →

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by women's national teams and organised by FIFA. The tournament, which took place from 20 July to 20 August 2023, was jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.^[2][3][4] It was the first FIFA Women's World Cup with more than one host nation, as well as the first World Cup to be held across multiple confederations, as Australia is in the Asian confederation, while New Zealand is in the Oceanian confederation. It was also the first Women's World Cup to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.^[5]

This tournament was the first to feature an expanded format of 32 teams from the previous 24, replicating the format used for the men's World Cup from 1998 to 2022.^[2] The opening match was won by co-host New Zealand, beating Norway at Eden Park in Auckland on 20 July 2023 and achieving their first Women's World Cup victory.^[6]

Spain were crowned champions after defeating reigning European champions England 1–0 in the final. It was the first time a European nation had won the Women's World Cup since 2007 and Spain's first title, although their victory was marred by the Rubiales affair.^[7][8][9] Spain became the second nation to win both the women's and men's World Cup since Germany in the 2003 edition.^[10] In addition, they became the first nation to concurrently hold the FIFA women's U-17, U-20, and senior World Cups.^[11] Sweden would claim their fourth bronze medal at the Women's World Cup while co-host Australia achieved their best placing yet, finishing fourth.^[12] Japanese player Hinata Miyazawa won the Golden Boot scoring five goals throughout the tournament. Spanish player Aitana Bonmatí was voted the tournament's best player, winning the Golden Ball, whilst Bonmatí's teammate Salma Paralluelo was awarded the Young Player Award. England goalkeeper Mary Earps won the Golden Glove, awarded to the best-performing goalkeeper of the tournament.

Of the eight teams making their first appearance, Morocco were the only one to advance to the round of 16 (where they lost to France; coincidentally, the result of this fixture was similar to the men's World Cup in Qatar, where France defeated Morocco in the semi-final). The United States were the two-time defending champions,^[13] but were eliminated in the round of 16 by Sweden, the first time the team had not made the semi-finals at the tournament, and the first time the defending champions failed to progress to the quarter-finals.^[14]

Australia's team, nicknamed the Matildas, performed better than expected, and the event saw many Australians unite to support them.^[15][16][17] The Matildas, who beat France to make the semi-finals for the first time, saw record numbers of fans watching their games, their 3–1 loss to England becoming the most watched television broadcast in Australian history, with an average viewership of 7.13 million and a peak viewership of 11.15 million viewers.^[18]

It was the most attended edition of the competition ever held.^[19]