I want to talk about football. Why? If you’re a follower of this inarticulate blog, then you know I love football. I failed to discuss the 2022 FIFA World Cup, so I thought I would rectify that by ranting about the upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup. Because of my OCD, I’ve made the executive decision to break down the World Cup into sections, because…well, I can. I’m sorry, but this blog is short and quite factual than anything else.
On 20th July 2023, the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup will begin. It will run until the final on the 20th August.
Hosts
There are two firsts for the host country for this World Cup. This will be the first time, that we have two host countries instead of one.1 The second fact is that it’s the first time the tournament will held in Oceania, with previous tournaments having been hosted in North America (United States and Canada, Asia (China), and Europe (Sweden, Germany, and France).
The co-hosting countries are Australia and New Zealand, with 64 games being played, covering nine cities and 10 venues.
In Australia we have:
- Sydney: Stadium Australia (mainly used for rugby league, rugby union, football, cricket, and Australian Rules Football). Will host the fourth quarter-final, second semi-final, and the final.
- Sydney: Sydney Football Stadium (mainly used for rugby league, rugby union, football, and concerts).
- Brisbane: Lang Park aka The Cauldron (mainly used for rugby league, rugby union, and football). Will host the third quarter-final and playoff for third place.
- Melbourne: Melbourne Rectangular Stadium aka AAMI Park (mainly used for rugby league, rugby union, football, and Australian Rules Football).
- Perth: Perth Rectangular Stadium aka HBF Park (mainly used for rugby league, rugby union, football, cricket, and Australian Rules Football).
- Adelaide: Hindmarsh Stadium aka Coppers Stadium (mainly used for football).
For New Zealand we have:
- Auckland: Eden Park (mainly used for rugby union, cricket, and concerts). Will host the second quarter-final and first semi-final
- Hamilton: Waikato Stadium (mainly used for rugby union).
- Wellington: Wellington Regional Stadium aka The Cake Tin (mainly used for rugby union, cricket, football, and concerts). Will host the first quarter-final.
- Dunedin: Forsyth Barr Stadium, aka The Glasshouse (mainly used for rugby union and concerts).
Teams
There are 32 teams across eight groups. The draw looks like this:
Group A: New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, and Switzerland.
Group B: Australia, Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, and Canada.
Group C: Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, and Japan.
Group D: England, Haiti, Denmark, and China.
Group E: United States of America (defending world champions), Vietnam, Netherlands, and Portugal.
Group F: France, Jamaica, Brazil, and Panama.
Group G: Sweden, South Africa, Italy, and Argentina.
Group H: Germany, Morocco, Colombia, and South Korea.
After the first edition in 1991, there have been only four different countries that have won the FIFA Women’s World Cup:
United States of America: 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019
Norway: 1995
Germany: 2003 and 2007
Japan: 2011
This brings me to ask a question: Why should you care about the FIFA Women’s World Cup?
Maybe football is not popular in your community or country. Maybe you may hate football, or your country may not have qualified for the tournament. Maybe you don’t watch women’s sports, or possibly, you may not even watch any sport. Many different reasons could drive you to not watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
But before you completely write the World Cup off, with 100% certainly, let me tell you a story.
Having grown up2 in New Zealand, sport is part of our culture and identity. I’ve played many sports over the years, but there are four sports that I follow and support; rugby union, rugby league, cricket, and of course, football.
My definition of following a sport is having a favourite team (professional club(s) and/or national team) and doing seven things:
1.) Attending live games.
2.) Watching live games via television or streaming platform.
3.) Purchasing and wearing your team’s merchandise.
4.) Watching highlights on YouTube of your team’s game, whether you saw the game or couldn’t because of time zone difference.
5.) Watching highlights of games involving other teams, because you want to know what the competition are doing; just in case they’re cheating.
6.) Reading articles and news updates about the squads, and religiously checking draws, results, and table standings.
7.) Talking about sports to your non-sporting spouse.
I do all of these things, except money plays a large part in attending live games and streaming the games. I have to save up to selectively choose what months I can afford the service.
Anyway, a few years ago I made the observation that I was only watching male sports. With exceptions for the Summer and Winter Olympics, and the Commonwealth Games, the only female sport I would watch was international netball.
This resulted in me asking myself an awkward question. If I liked watching and following males playing rugby union, rugby league, cricket, and football, then why do I not watch females play?
This led me to conclude that if I truly cared, supported, and followed my four favourite sports, then I couldn’t just care about the players with Y chromosomes; I needed to care about all the players.
I’ve taught UMC1 and UMC2 that sport is sport, so I needed to listen to my own advice.
So this has been a goal3 of mine since then: for every male team that I support in rugby union, rugby league, cricket, and football, I now try to give the women’s teams of that sport, the same amount of support; whether with club or national teams. Granted the coverage is not the same as males, but I’m trying.
I wrote a blog about women’s sports last year, if it helps to reinforce my point.
We’ve now arrived back at the beginning: Why should you care about the FIFA Women’s World Cup?
You should care, because this is the biggest women’s single sporting tournament on the planet. 32 teams containing the best female football players in the world, are representing their countries and competing in a knock-out tournament, to see which team will lift the FIFA Women’s World Cup.
So what can you do to show support? If possible, go buy a ticket and attend a live game. If not, you can do the next best thing by watching some games. As for me, I’m doing both. I’ll be watching live games through my overpriced streaming service, and watching highlights through YouTube.
I’m also attending a game. Back in October 2022, I saved some money and purchased tickets for UMC1 and myself to watch New Zealand vs. Switzerland in Dunedin. To be honest, I’m not sure which one of us is more excited; him or me. I’ve never been to any World Cup match in any sport before, so I’m riding a wave of excitement. I’m planning on writing a blog about the experience, so we will have to wait and see what happens.
What World Cup games are you planning on watching? What team will you be supporting? Please let me know.
Well, that’s another rant finished for another week. Thanks once again for reading, following, and subscribing to Some Geek Told Me. Don’t forget to walk your dog, read a banned book, go watch some football, and I’ll see you next week.
1 In 2002, Japan and South Korea became the first co-hosting countries in the men’s tournament, with Canada, Mexico, and The United States of America, co-hosting the men’s tournament in 2026.
2 There is a subtle difference between growing up and getting older.
3 Pun very much intended.
SOME GEEK TOLD ME 
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