(FILES) USA's forward Megan Rapinoe celebrates scoring her team's first goal during the France 2019 Women's World Cup quarter-final football match between France and United States, at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris on June 28, 2019. The Women's World Cup kicks off on July 20, 2023 in Australia and New Zealand. (Photo by FRANCK FIFE / AFP)
PARIS – The first-ever 32-team Women’s World Cup begins in Australia and New Zealand on July 20, with the United States aiming to win a third consecutive title in a landmark month for the women’s game.
The tournament has undergone a rapid expansion after featuring just 16 teams in Germany in 2011, when Nadeshiko Japan took the crown, and 24 in France in 2019, when the U.S. defeated the Netherlands in the final to earn its second straight title.
That reflects a dramatic rise in interest in women’s soccer over the last decade, and there will be a swarm of European teams eager to dethrone the Americans, who have won the tournament four times.
Meanwhile Australia, led by the brilliant Sam Kerr, will hope to make the most of its home-field advantage and go all the way to the final in Sydney on Aug. 20.
This World Cup is not just bigger in terms of the number of competing nations.
FIFA has tripled the prize money on offer compared to 2019, and the total pot, which also covers compensation for clubs releasing players, rose from $50 million in 2019 to $152 million this year.
It is a huge increase from the $15 million offered in 2015, and confirmation that women’s soccer is experiencing a boom, as club and international matches, in Europe in particular, draw huge crowds.
The prize money, however, still pales in comparison to the $440 million dished out at the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar.
Besides that, a standoff over the sale of broadcast rights in the biggest European countries — Germany, the UK, France, Italy and Spain — was only resolved last month.
The threat of a TV blackout was averted after FIFA President Gianni Infantino openly criticized the amount of money being offered by broadcasters.
“FIFA is stepping up not just with words but with actions. Unfortunately, this is not the case of everyone across the industry,” Infantino insisted in March, as he claimed soccer’s governing body was receiving offers amounting to just 1% of what was being paid for the men’s tournament. “Broadcasters and sponsors have to do more in this respect.”
One obvious stumbling block for Europe, admittedly, is the time difference, with London and Paris nine and eight hours respectively behind Sydney.
“It is actually terrible business if you are not tuning in,” said U.S. superstar Megan Rapinoe, a cultural icon who transcends the sport.
“You are missing out on a large cultural moment. This is the premier women’s sporting event in the world bar none and this is a paradigm shift globally, not just in the US.”
Rapinoe was one of the U.S. stars who led their fight for equal pay, which resulted in a landmark collective bargaining agreement last year that means the country’s men and women would evenly share World Cup prize money paid by FIFA.
The build-up to this tournament has also seen Canada’s national team, which won gold at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, threaten to strike in a dispute over pay, funding and contractual issues.
France’s players rebelled over conditions in their national team setup and a coaching change followed.
That prevented some of France’s top names from refusing to go to the tournament, but the World Cup will still be marred by the absence of numerous leading players due to a worrying plague of serious knee injuries.
England captain Leah Williamson and star striker Beth Mead have been ruled out, as have prolific Dutch forward Vivianne Miedema, French forwards Delphine Cascarino and Marie-Antoinette Katoto, and the U.S. duo of Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson.
At least Spain’s Alexia Putellas, the reigning Ballon d’Or winner, will be there, fit again after spending nine months out with an ACL injury she suffered before last year’s European Championships.
“The best of Alexia is still to come, and we’ll do everything on our side to make that happen,” Spain coach Jorge Vilda said recently.
Spain is among the armada of hopefuls heading from Europe into the southern hemisphere winter, led by European champion England and also featuring Germany, Olympic silver medalist Sweden and the Netherlands.
“The expectations are really high and yes, we have a dream,” England coach Sarina Wiegman said.
England plays its first game against Haiti — one of a number of World Cup debutants — in Brisbane on July 22, while the United States begins its defense on the same day against Vietnam.
The tournament kicks off two days before that, when New Zealand faces Norway, featuring 2018 Ballon d’Or winner Ada Hegerberg, in Auckland and Australia plays Ireland in Sydney.
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