Australia and New Zealand, organizers of the 2023 Women's Soccer World Cup, marked the 100-day countdown to the start of the tournament on Tuesday with a call for gender equality in sport.
The ball will begin to roll on July 20 at the Eden Park stadium in Auckland with the match between the teams of New Zealand and Norway, and will run until August 20, when the final of the championship will be played, in which they participate 32 national teams.
Spain, still pending whether any of the 15 internationals who resigned from the team asking for improvements will return, debuts on July 21 against Costa Rica. They will also face Zambia and Japan in the group stage, so finishing in the top two shouldn't be too much of a challenge for Jorge Vilda's team.
The Australian soccer federation took advantage of the countdown today to highlight the "advances" made in favor of gender equality in sport, but also to stress that there is still a lot of work ahead.
"Currently, only 40% of soccer facilities across the country are classified as suitable for women," the entity underlines in a statement, calling for "investment" for the more than 2,400 women's clubs in Australia.
"The Women's World Cup is crucial to provide opportunities that increase the participation of women and girls in football and sport in general. We must work together to ensure that this becomes a reality," the country's Minister of Sports said in the same statement. Oceanic, Anika Wells.
Meanwhile, the director of the Australian federation, James Johnson, highlighted in the text the entity's plan to "revolutionize" national women's football as a result of the tournament with the aim of "becoming the first community sport in Australia to achieve parity of gender".
For his part, the New Zealand Sports Minister, Grant Robertson, stressed this Tuesday in another statement that "co-organising an event of this magnitude will generate enormous social and economic benefits for New Zealand and will leave a lasting legacy for football and women's sport in this country".
Coinciding with the 100-day countdown for this important event for all of world football to start, FIFA has opened the last ticket sales window. To date, nearly 650,000 tickets have been sold for the 64 matches in Australia and New Zealand since they first went on sale in October last year. All fans who were left without their ticket in autumn, will now be able to purchase their tickets.
For its part, FIFA, soccer's highest governing body, presented today in Australia and New Zealand a campaign called "Unity Beat" ("Rhythm of Unity"), described as a song that tries to "capture the energy" of tournament and put sound to the championship celebration.
"When 'Unity Beat' plays in each of the tournament's nine host cities, fans around the world will know it's time to come together and create a truly unforgettable atmosphere. From the streets to the stadiums, Unity Beat will be a call to action. that fans remember what unites them: football," FIFA Secretary General Fatma Samoura said in a statement.
The captain of the United States team, Becky Sauerbrunn, thanked today, in a letter sent to the New Zealand newspaper Stuff, the "hard" work of the two hosts to make this edition "the best World Cup in history."
"This tournament will not only showcase the talent and ability of the best female soccer players in the world, but will also demonstrate the value of women's soccer empowerment and growth," the soccer player remarked, praising New Zealand, where she will play during the first round of the tournament, "for her commitment to gender equality and women's rights.
