The start date of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 has been thrown into uncertainty after reports of a possible postponement surfaced in recent days.
Australia and New Zealand are set to host the 32-team tournament in July next year, but according to a French publication, FIFA is considering a date switch.
The Sporting News unpacks all the latest news on the showpiece event in women's football.
Why could the FIFA Women's World Cup could be postponed?
Leading French sports publication L'Equipe has reported that FIFA have held informal discussions with European football stakeholders about postponing next year's Women's World Cup due to issues in securing broadcast deals.
With the tournament being held in Australia and New Zealand during the European summer, FIFA has reportedly struggled to secure lucrative rights deals for the tournament, with the income currently due to be lower than the 2019 Women's World Cup.
The report states FIFA would like to move the tournament to the later months in 2023, which would be Australian/NZ summer and European winter, as it would be easier to lock in a more favourable broadcast deal.
There was no official comment from FIFA in the L'Equipe article.
What have FIFA said about a possible Women's World Cup postponement?
FIFA has denied that there will be any changes to the start date of the Women's World Cup.
"After a successful ‘One Year to Go’ event, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is scheduled to kick off on 20 July 2023, " a FIFA spokesperson told SMH.
"No changes to the dates of the competition are foreseen."
When does the Women's World Cup start?
- Opening group stage matches: July 20, 2023
- Final group stage matches: August 3, 2023
- Round of 16: August 5-8, 2023
- Quarterfinals: August 11-12, 2023
- Semifinals: August 15-16, 2023
- Third place match: August 19, 2023
- Women's World Cup final: August 20, 2023
The 2023 Women's World Cup will begin on July 20, 2023 (local time) with both Australia and New Zealand to play their first group matches. The host traditionally opens the tournament, and New Zealand has been proactively assigned to Group A, while Australia is slotted into Group B.
Exactly one month later, the 2023 Women's World Cup final will then be played on August 20, 2023 at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
The draw for the 2023 Women's World Cup will take place on October 22, 2022 from Auckland, New Zealand. The three intercontinental playoff participants will not have been determined by that time.
How many teams are in the Women's World Cup?
In 2019, FIFA unanimously voted to expand the Women's World Cup from 24 to 32 teams from the 2023 tournament onwards.
This brings it temporarily in line with the men's version - but that is expanding from 32 to 48 teams in 2026.
The 2023 Women's World Cup will consist of a certain number of sides from each confederation which is as follows:
- Asia (AFC): 5 slots + 1 host slot (Australia)
- Africa (CAF): 4 slots
- North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF): 4 slots
- CONMEBOL (South America): 3 slots
- Oceania (OFC): 0 slots + 1 host slot (New Zealand)
- Europe (UEFA): 11 slots
- Play-off tournament: 3 slots
A play-off tournament consisting of 10 teams will see three nations book their place at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
The tournament will be played in February 2023 and will involve three groups consisting of seeded and unseeded sides with places allocated as follows:
- Asia (AFC): 2 slots
- Africa (CAF): 2 slots
- North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF): 2 slots
- South America (CONMEBOL): 2 slots
- Oceania (OFC): 1 slot
- Europe (UEFA): 1 slot
Which teams have qualified for the Women's World Cup?
Despite still being over a year away, 10 teams have already booked their place at the 2023 Women's World Cup.
The full qualification picture won't be known until February 2023 when the play-off tournament is played but many more sides will qualify in the months prior.
The table below will be updated as nations secure qualification:
| No. | Nation (FIFA Ranking) | Region | Date qualified | How they qualified | World Cup apps | Titles (Last) |
| 1 | Australia (12) | AFC | Jun. 25, 2020 | Co-hosts | 8 of 9 | — |
| 2 | New Zealand (22) | OFC | Jun. 25, 2020 | Co-hosts | 6 of 9 | — |
| 3 | Japan (13) | AFC | Jan. 30, 2022 | AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists | 9 of 9 | 1 (2011) |
| 4 | South Korea (17) | AFC | Jan. 30, 2022 | AFC Asian Cup sem-finalists | 4 of 9 | — |
| 5 | China (16) | AFC | Jan. 30, 2022 | AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists | 8 of 9 | — |
| 6 | Philippines (54) | AFC | Jan. 30, 2022 | AFC Asian Cup semi-finalists | 1 of 9 | — |
| 7 | Vietnam (32) | AFC | Feb. 6, 2022 | AFC Asian Cup play-offs | 1 of 9 | — |
| 8 | Sweden (2) | UEFA | Apr. 12, 2022 | Group winners | 9 of 9 | — |
| 9 | Spain (7) | UEFA | Apr. 12, 2022 | Group winners | 3 of 9 | — |
| 10 | France (3) | UEFA | Apr. 12, 2022 | Group winners | 5 of 9 | — |
| 11 | Denmark (15) | UEFA | Apr. 12, 2022 | Group winners | 5 of 9 | — |
| 12 | United States (1) | CONCACAF | Jul. 6, 2022 | Group winners | 9 of 9 | 4 (2019) |
| 13 | Canada (6) | CONCACAF | Jul. 8, 2022 | Group winners | 8 of 9 | — |
| 14 | Costa Rica (37) | CONCACAF | Jul. 8, 2022 | Group runners-up | 2 of 9 | — |
| 15 | Jamaica (51) | CONCACAF | Jul. 11, 2022 | Group runners-up | 2 of 9 | — |
| 16 | Zambia (103) | CAF | Jul. 13, 2022 | WAFCON semi-finalists | 1 of 9 | — |
| 17 | Morocco (77) | CAF | Jul. 13, 2022 | WAFCON semi-finalists | 1 of 9 | — |
| 18 | Nigeria (39) | CAF | Jul. 14, 2022 | WAFCON semi-finalists | 9 of 9 | — |
| 19 | South Africa (58) | CAF | Jul. 14, 2022 | WAFCON semi-finalists | 2 of 9 | — |
| 20 | Colombia (28) | CONMEBOL | Jul. 26, 2022 | Copa America Fem. finalists | 3 of 9 | — |
| 21 | Brazil (9) | CONMEBOL | Jul. 26, 2022 | Copa America Fem. finalists | 9 of 9 | — |
| 22 | Argentina (35) | CONMEBOL | Jul. 29, 2022 | Copa America Fem. 3rd place | 4 of 9 | — |
*Last updated July 31, 2022
Where will the 2023 Women's World Cup matches be hosted?
The host cities and stadiums are:
| Venue | Location | Capacity |
| Hindmarsh Stadium | Adelaide | 16,500 (expanding to 22,000) |
| Eden Park | Auckland | 50,000 |
| Suncorp Stadium | Brisbane | 52,500 |
| Forsyth Barr Stadium | Dunedin | 30,748 |
| Waikato Stadium | Hamilton | 25,800 |
| Melbourne Rectangular Stadium | Melbourne | 30,050 |
| Perth Rectangular Stadium | Perth | 22,500 |
| Stadium Australia | Sydney | 83,500 |
| Sydney Football Stadium | Sydney | 45,000 |
| Wellington Stadium | Wellington | 34,500 |
