On Thursday, July 20, the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup will begin in Australia and New Zealand, as the two Oceanian countries co-host the 2023 edition of the prestigious tournament, which was first hosted in China in 1991.

Reigning African women’s champions, Banyana Banyana of South Africa will be leading Nigeria alongside Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses and the Copper Queens of Zambia as Africa’s representatives seek new heights at the quadrennial championship after 24 years.

Despite South Africa being the continent’s champions at the moment, the focus and expectations of football fans and stakeholders will be high on Nigeria – Super Falcons have participated in every edition of the tournament since its inception.

How far can African teams go? 

The Atlas Lions of Morocco at the 2022 Qatar FIFA World Cup shocked the world by becoming the first African country to reach the semifinals of the men’s World Cup in history, beating Spain, Belgium, and Portugal to achieve the feat. 

Definitely, African representatives for the women’s event would be hopeful of building on the recent hype and focus surrounding the continent to create surprises at the world level and reach historic heights for Africa.

Until today, Nigeria is the only African country to reach the FIFA Women’s World Cup quarter-finals, which the Super Falcons achieved in the 1999 edition of the tournament hosted by the United States of America.

Even though Super Falcons have struggled in recent events, including the 2022 Women’s  Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), where the Nigerian ladies shockingly finished fourth, the female team is nevertheless considered by many as Africa’s best chance of reaching the new World Cup heights since the antecedent they set more than two decades ago.

Super Falcons have participated in every edition of the tournament and the experiences the country has garnered at the biggest stage are expected to play crucial roles for the team at the tournament.

However, latest negative events in the team, which Peoples Gazette reported, may hamper Nigeria’s performances at the tournament. Reigning African champions Bayana Banana of South Africa are another team from Africa that will be at the centre of discussions when the tournament begins.

They made their World Cup debut in the 2019 edition, where the team exited in the group stage. On paper, the South African side will definitely not be so high on people’s lists. Still, considering the development of the team since then, it is believed that the Bayana Bayana are capable of matching Nigeria’s record at the tournament.

Nigeria is drawn in Group B alongside host Australia, Republic of Ireland and Canada while South Africa, Sweden, Italy and Argentina are drawn in Group G. Meanwhile, Morocco in Group H got Germany, Colombia and South Korea.

Zambia, who surprisingly played a three-all draw with Switzerland and defeated Germany 3-2 in their last two preparatory matches before the tournament, are in Group C alongside one-time champions Japan, Spain and Costa Rica.

Peoples Gazette looks at other details of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup ahead of the opening match between New Zealand and Norway at Eden Park, New Zealand. 

32-team tournament

The World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will feature 32 countries instead of the previous 24 nations for the first time in the history of the competition. UEFA (Europe) has the highest number of participants with 12 countries, AFC (Asia) is next with six teams, including host Australia.

CAF (Africa) and CONCACAF (North America, Central America and the Caribbean) both have four and six representatives, respectively. CONMEBOL (South America) has three countries, while OFC (Oceania) has just one slot.

Reigning champions and tournament favourites 

Ahead of the opening game, the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) have been picked by bookies as the favourites to win this year’s edition of the FIFA  World Cup. 

They have won the last two editions of the tournament and are also the number-one-ranked women’s national team in the world going into the tournament. 

Meanwhile, two-time winners Germany, one-time finalists Sweden, and reigning European champions England and France occupy the next four positions in descending order. They will all be heading to the tournament also as favourites.

One-time winners Norway and Japan, one-finalists Brazil, Netherlands and China are all capable of creating surprising results and have the potential to become champions in Australia and New Zealand.

Debutants

Eight nations, including two African countries, Morocco and Zambia, will be making their debut at a FIFA Women’s World Cup when the tournament kicks off. Also, Portugal, Haiti, the Philippines, Panama, Republic of Ireland and Vietnam are also newcomers to the global stage.

The Women’s World Cup will be the first-ever FIFA tournament in which the Philippines have participated. Morocco became the first-ever Arab country to qualify for the Women’s World Cup, while Zambia is the first landlocked nation to qualify for both the men’s and women’s senior World Cup.

History-maker Heba Saadia

By the time the tournament kicks off, Heba Saadia will make history as the first Palestinian and Arab female referee to officiate at a World Cup of either gender. Reacting to the news, the Palestine Football Association labelled Saadia “a role model for Palestinian women who aspire to achieve success and greatness.”

Officiating

The semi-automated offside technology, which was first used at the 2022 Men’s World Cup in Qatar, will also be involved in the Women’s event – It is a support tool for the video match officials and the on-field officials to help them make faster, more reproducible and more accurate offside decisions.

Also, decisions made by Video Assistant Referees (VAR) in Australia and New Zealand will be explained through broadcast across the stadium alongside videos via television. FIFA introduced the system to give more transparency to often-controversial decisions.

The technology was used at the 2022 FIFA Club World Cup in Morocco and the 2023 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Argentina.

Some records to be broken

Action Network has gathered some records that are up to be broken at the 2023 FIFA World Cup, including the possibility of Nigeria extending their record for the total number of losses (19) as well as the most goals conceded (63).

Either Super Falcons captain, 40-year-old Onome Ebi or Christine Sinclair of Canada could extend their record as the player with the most matches lost in Women’s World Cup (10 matches lost) – they are currently tied for this record alongside Florence Omagbemi (Nigeria), who is not playing this year.

If any player scores 6 times, they will break the record for the most goals scored during one match currently held by Michelle Akers (USA) and Alex Morgan (USA), who both scored 5 goals – Akers in 1991 against Taipei and Morgan against Thailand in 2019.

USA could extend their record for most consecutive wins (12 wins since the 2015 match against Nigeria) and most consecutive matches without a loss (17 wins/draws since 2011’s match against Brazil) in the World Cup.