Time difference for Women's World Cup: Kickoff times for matches around the world

The Women's World Cup is just around the corner, with the 32 participating nations undergoing their final preparations before the tournament begins on July 20.

For the first time ever a World Cup is being hosted in Australia and New Zealand; not only is it also a rare instance of two countries co-hosting a World Cup, but it also presents different kickoff times for the key matches than many fans are used to.

Fans in Europe and the USA in particular will be having to either stay up late or set their alarms for an early wake-up if they are to watch their country compete at women's football's biggest sporting event, and it can become confusing remembering which times the games kick off in your country.

Luckily, The Sporting News has all that information right here in one place, with the kickoff times for the Women's World Cup for regions around the world.

MORE: Complete Women's World Cup schedule

Time difference for Women's World Cup: Kickoff times

USA

With the opening match of the World Cup beginning at 7:00 p.m. New Zealand time, fans in the United States will need to set their alarms for the early start of 3:00 a.m. ET.

All of the USA's group matches will be in New Zealand, meaning fans have two clashes beginning at 9:00 p.m. ET, and their final group clash beginning at 3:00 a.m. ET; the World Cup final will begin at 6:00 a.m. ET.

Canada

Canada's opening match of the World Cup, which begins on July 21 at 12:30 p.m. local time, will kick off at 10:30 p.m. in Eastern parts of the country such as Toronto, and at 7:30 p.m. in the Pacific region.

Their second match against Nigeria will begin at 8:00 a.m. ET, as will their final group clash against Australia.

Australia

All of Australia's group games are taking place at 8:00 p.m. AEST, with the games being hosted in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne respectively.

The opening match of the tournament kicks off on July 20 at 5:00 p.m. AEST, while the final hosted in Sydney will begin at 8:00 p.m. AEST.

United Kingdom

Fans in the United Kingdom — and indeed much of Europe — are going to have to get used to the odd experience of watching World Cup football in the morning hours when many would be at work.

Fans in England will have to tune into the Lionesses opening match at 10:30 a.m., with the second and third matches taking place at 9:30 a.m. and 12:00 p.m. respectively. If the Lionesses make the final, they will be treated to the rarity of a mid-morning World Cup final, with the match kicking off at 11:00 a.m.

India

For fans in India wanting to tune into the World Cup action, the opening match kicks off at the reasonably friendly time of 12:00 p.m.

The earliest matches of the tournament will mean football at breakfast time for Indian fans with some games beginning at 7:00 a.m. IST, with the latest kickoff time being 6:00 p.m. IST; the final begins in India at 3:30 p.m.

New Zealand

There are a wide range of kickoff times for the games taking place in New Zealand, with the USA-Vietnam clash on July 22 taking place at 1:00 p.m. local time.

All of New Zealand's matches in the group stage will be taking place at 7:00 p.m. local time, with fans wanting to watch the later matches in Australia having to stay up till the early hours of the morning, with some matches beginning at 12am NZT.

Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore

Due to having the same timezone as host city Perth, Malaysia, Singapore and Hong Kong will be able to enjoy watching five World Cup matches in their timezone, including the final match of England's group stage campaign against China on August 1 at 9:00 p.m. local time.

The opening match of the tournament will begin on the afternoon of July 20 at 3:00 p.m., with the final kicking off at 6:00 p.m. on August 20.