FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 - Broadcast Opening Sequence
Copyright (c) 2023 Fédération Internationale de Football Association
Credits to The5 Football for the source video.
Running from 20 July to 20 August 2023, the ninth iteration of the FIFA Women's World Cup were jointly hosted by two of the largest countries in the Pacific - Australia and New Zealand.
It has not only marked the first instance of a Women's World Cup being taken place in the Southern Hemisphere, and in more than one host nation (this was the second senior FIFA tournament overall to have multiple host countries; the first being the 2002 Men's FIFA World Cup in South Korea and Japan, and it will be followed by the 2026 Cup jointly held in Canada, Mexico and the United States), but was also the first FIFA tournament being played across multiple confederations since Australia is in Asia's confederation (AFC), while New Zealand is in Oceania's (OFC).
The joint bid by Australia and New Zealand was chosen in an online announcement by FIFA on 25 June 2020, and this decision came after a vote by the FIFA Council, with the winning project earning 22 votes, while Colombia's garnered only 13. Initially during the early bidding process in 2019, Australia and New Zealand separately expressed interests in hosting the Women's Cup, but with FIFA's plan to expand the number of teams at the tournament, both nations later announced that they would merge their bids in a joint submission.
This edition saw the tournament itself being expanded to 32 teams from the usual 24 - replicating the same format used for its men's counterpart from 1998 to 2022, and it has resulted in the debuts for Haiti, Ireland, Morocco, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, Vietnam and Zambia. Of the 32 nations qualified for the 2023 Women's Cup, 20 countries competed at the previous tournament in 2019.
The 2023 tournament was won by Spain, clinching home their historic maiden World Cup title after defeating first-time runners-up England in the Final held at Sydney's Stadium Australia on 20 August 2023.
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