Agency :
Australia celebrated 500-day countdown to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup (WC) on Monday.
Football Australia, in partnership with FIFA, local government and football associations, marked this moment on the journey to 2023 at the Sydney Opera House. Other activities were also held in Adelaide and Melbourne.
The 2023 tournament will be contested by 32 teams and hosted by two nations for the first time in Australia and New Zealand.
Some players from Australia’s national team were joined by junior participants in the celebrating events to mark 500 days until the opening match next year.
“It’s always a dream of ours to come home and play, but to have a World Cup to inspire the next generation is something that I would have never been able to imagine growing up and playing,” said Chloe Logarzo, the Australian national team midfield player.
“It’s incredible to be able to have this in front of us with only 500 days to go.”
Sarah Walsh, Football Australia’s head of women’s football, said this tournament will take women’s football to another level, and the governing body is committed to leveraging it to escalate the growth of the sport in Australia.
“Through Legacy ’23 (Football Australia’s development plan) we will deliver meaningful change including 50/50 gender participation, greater female representation in leadership roles and greater access and pathways at all levels of the game,” she said.
The tournament will be played in nine host cities at 10 stadiums across Australia and New Zealand.
The opening match will take place on July 20, 2023 in Auckland, and Sydney will host the final a month later on August 20.
The two hosts will have a two-match international series in April as part of the preparation for the Women’s World Cup.
The friendlies will also mark the Matildas’ first game since being knocked out of the Asian Cup by South Korea in January after entering the tournament as a top contender.
China, having secured a berth in the 2023 World Cup, rallied back from 0-2 down to beat South Korea 3-2 in the Asian Cup final on February 6.
