FIFA announced a news release on Thursday that the 2023 World Cup is set to become the most-attended women’s sporting event in history. With a total of 1,032,884 tickets sold to date, the sales figure has already surpassed the amount sold at the 2019 tournament in France. The games will be taking place in Australia and New Zealand and are over a month away from the start date. FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, expressed his appreciation to the fans who have supported the Women’s World Cup, calling it the “best FIFA competition” thus far in an Instagram post.
In May of last year, the Camp Nou stadium was filled with 91,553 fans for a UEFA Women’s Champions League match between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, setting a record for single-match attendance by a female team.
The US Women’s National Team (USWNT) will be competing in the 2023 World Cup alongside legendary players such as Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan, as well as rising stars like Sophia Smith, Rose Lavelle, and Trinity Rodman. The USWNT will aim for their third consecutive World Cup title. The final roster for the USWNT must be submitted to FIFA by July 10th.
The prize pool for the tournament has tripled from 2019 to $110 million, making it the highest ever for a Women’s World Cup. However, it is only a quarter of the total prize money awarded to men during the Qatar World Cup, which was $440 million, emphasizing the gender disparities that women’s soccer still faces.
The USWNT has long fought for equal compensation to their male counterparts, who have never made it past the Round of 16 in the men’s World Cup. The Women’s World Cup will begin on July 20th and conclude with the final match on August 20th.