Impact

One of the many legacies of hosting a major sporting event such as the FIFA Women’s World Cup is the infrastructural improvement of stadiums, training sites and community facilities. This contributing area details all building projects and upgrades undertaken in both host countries and includes performance-driven infrastructure such as stadiums and training site upgrades, as well as community renovations through the provision of gender-equal club facilities and upgraded football pitches to increase playing capacity.

Stadium investments

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 used ten stadiums across the two host countries and nine Host Cities. There were six in Australia and four in Aotearoa New Zealand. Each one experienced upgrades to varying degrees that will generate benefits long after the FIFA Women’s World Cup and will be experienced by multiple sports, not just football. It should be noted that the funding models differed for both host countries with financial contributions from central and state government, councils, venues, Host Cities, football clubs, local boards and community investors.

National community facilities programme

Making the numbers count

Before the crisp winter set in and the hype of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 took over, the counting began. In May 2022, Football Australia and its nine member federations implemented the national facilities audit tool to assess the current state of infrastructure and facilitate future planning. Its objective was clear: to identify the infrastructure gaps impeding the nation from reaching its ultimate goal of 50:50 gender parity in football by 2027. Analysis from more than 10 million data fields, 1,900 facilities and 4,350 pitches was quietly collected across the country, painting an accurate and somewhat alarming picture of the state of community football in Australia.

The numbers tell the story. After revealing that only 36% of changing-room facilities were gender equal, the national facilities audit tool became a game-changer. Football Australia launched #Equaliser, a targeted campaign unveiled during the 2022 federal election to address the gender-based facilities gap and advocate for funding. The campaign has since secured AUD 7,750,000 for community facilities across four states. Upgrades are under way, but there are layers of work to be done. Only a third of pitches were deemed to have good drainage and only 71% have lights. These numbers are slowly improving. Going forward, Football Australia’s goal is to leverage the audit tool to shape future community infrastructure investment policies and work with all tiers of government to align with the needs and priorities of the community and ultimately secure funding where it is most needed. The audit data will be updated annually, with facilities needing to meet the minimum criteria defined by Football Australia. In the meantime, communities in urgent need of improvements to changing rooms, drainage, irrigation and lighting are receiving a much-appreciated boost.

The economy and finance contributing area is an overview of investment in relation to the tournament and future projects through impact funding. It includes FIFA and host country investment and branding strategies, highlighting the commercial potential of the women’s game as a product and market.

Investments

Investment in the women’s game is critical for its development and growth. The advantage of hosting the world’s largest women’s sporting event is the engagement from various stakeholders motivated to invest in the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023. Investments from FIFA, MAs, governing, federal and sporting bodies play a significant role in augmenting women’s football in the host nations through the programmes and opportunities created.

FIFA investment

The overall investment from FIFA in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 increased from USD 155 million in 2019 to USD 499 million. This massive surge was reflected in the increased tournament footprint and higher number of teams but also, importantly, improved service levels and standards across all areas of the tournament. In terms of financial contributions to the participating teams, FIFA tripled its overall figure for the 2023 edition (USD 152 million compared to USD 50 million). Of note, USD 110 million was distributed to the participating MAs as prize money based on their performances in the tournament. For the first time in history, each player participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup received a defined amount of money depending on the performance of their team on the pitch. The 2023 Setting the Pace – FIFA Benchmarking Report: Women’s Football revealed an average female professional footballer’s gross salary as USD 16,825. This highlights the significant impact of the financial remuneration for players taking part in the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, some of whom received more than a year’s salary. This has raised the standard of player payments for football competitions and allows players to put their focus on their performance on the pitch. FIFA also increased the funds offered through the Club Benefits Programme, which rewards clubs releasing players for the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament as well as those that trained these players from 12-22 years of age. FIFA recognises the importance of club football in developing the women’s game and improving its professionalisation. Clubs offering high-performance environments for their female players are rewarded for providing professional football pathways. This amounted to USD 8.46 million in 2019 and increased to USD 11.3 million in 2023.

Investments in A-League Women professionalisation

Investment in high-performance environments leads to an exciting and competitive product on the pitch, as witnessed through the growth of the A-League Women. Investment in the A-League Women in Australia has driven the professionalisation of the competition, with the minimum wage rising to AUD 25,000. The increased salary supports players in focusing primarily on football. The league runs from October to April and includes the only professional Aotearoa New Zealand-based team, Wellington Phoenix. A second franchise based in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau in Aotearoa New Zealand is due to compete in the women’s league for the 2025-2026 season. The professionalisation of the league through domestic contracts was critical for developing players in the lead-up to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023. Eight Matildas and ten Football Ferns were playing for A-League clubs in the 2022-2023 season prior to their selection for the tournament. Additionally, clubs have implemented enhanced and more equitable standards throughout their high-performance environments.

Local economic benefits

The profound economic and social impact of co‑hosting the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was documented by the New Zealand government in a report released in December 2023.

Highlights

Further highlights have been captured in the government’s Puawānanga Leverage and Legacy Report.

The operations and delivery contributing area details how the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was coordinated to support the aim of growing and developing women’s football. Above standard operations, it includes team activities, volunteering, youth programmes and workshops.

Tournament operations

Increased service levels

For the 2023 edition, FIFA improved service levels compared to those offered to teams at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France. These enhanced service levels covered class of international travel, level of in-competition domestic travel, implementation of a Team Base Camp concept, accommodation standards and ancillary services. On top of that, the delegation size for all participating MAs was increased to 50 people and each one had the option of accommodating players in single or in twin rooms, or a combination of both, according to their preferences. Starting from the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023, all service levels are now identical in the men’s and women’s editions of FIFA’s premium competition and will serve as a standard for other competition organisers of women’s football and other sporting events to aspire to.

Team activities

Team activities include training sessions (which can be either open to the public/media or closed) and official press conferences. In total, the 32 participating teams engaged in 128 official press conferences and 454 training sessions (comprising 116 official training sessions and 338 regular training sessions), and the 32 that were open to the public boasted 4,511 guests and 325 media representatives in Australia and 1,224 guests and 96 media representatives in Aotearoa New Zealand. Open training sessions provided invaluable exposure to the teams’ professional training environments. Communities and fans could interact and engage with their role models up close, while community coaches and players also took the opportunity to observe and learn from world-class players and coaches in their backyards.

The engagement contributing area portrays the impact of the FIFA Women’s World Cup through connections made with fans, communities and people.

It showcases audience data, the FIFA Fan Festival and Fan Zones, Unity Pitch, Trophy Tour plus digital and in-person engagement. Also included are initiatives and programmes that show how fans are created, perceptions changed and stories told to increase the popularity and attraction of women’s football. According to Isentia’s Media Coverage report of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the tournament generated a Potential Cumulative Audience of:

The Potential Cumulative Audience is based on average print readership, average online story audience and surveyed television/radio programming that covered the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

The significant viewership of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 globally and records broken in both host countries have contributed to a change in perception of women’s sport and created more opportunities for female athletes. In Aotearoa New Zealand, following the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the marketability of female athletes has risen by 21%, driven by increased awareness. More New Zealanders think women’s sport is exciting and has a positive influence on society, while viewership of women’s sport has increased by 29% in the last year. In Australia, a Nielsen survey showed the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 has increased the visibility of women’s sport in Australia and 86% of those surveyed believe the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 has made Australia a more enjoyable place to live.

Ticketing

The strategic aim was to fill the stadiums and encourage as many people as possible to attend by offering affordable ticket prices. Adult tickets started at AUD/NZD 20 and child tickets at AUD/NZD 10. Based on the spectator survey, 90% deemed the tickets good value for money. National records were smashed in both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. The cumulative attendance at the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 was 1,978,274, which equated to an average attendance of 30,911 and 86.82% of stadium capacity.

The social and cultural contributing area details upgrades, programmes and initiatives that aimed to provide open and accessible football opportunities for all. Examples include improved accessibility and experiences for people with a disability and engaging diverse community groups. It also delves into football as an approach to connect people to cultural and Indigenous heritage.

Shift in perceptions

Increasing the visibility, engagement and support for women in football has been shown to have a follow-on impact on the broader social and cultural context within which the sport operates. For example, the presence of female leaders and coaches in the OFC’s Just Play Programme has resulted in a 49% decrease in the number of children who think that only women and girls should do chores at home and a 24% increase in participants who think females can coach just as well as males. For this reason, it was important for the social and cultural impact of this tournament to track the change in perceptions among fans, volunteers and those involved in ancillary events and activities to show how this tournament can elevate women’s football and, in doing so, support social change toward a more equitable environment on and off the pitch.

The development contributing area is an overview of initiatives impacting the growth of the game from grassroots through to high performance, on and off the pitch. This includes FIFA and host country women’s football strategies and global, regional and local programmes.

Included in development are all realms of participation, from players and coaches to referees, leaders and boardroom executives. It also includes drivers such as competition and clubs and how they grow and develop females in football.

Preparing national teams for the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023

FIFA supported the preparation of the 32 MAs ahead of the tournament through the provision of dedicated preparation money. In comparison with the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019, when each team received USD 480,000, in 2023 they received USD 960,000, twice as much as in the previous edition. On top of that, a physical preparation pilot programme was made available to support qualified MAs, as well as prospective participating MAs. The aim of this programme was to help increase the competitiveness of teams in relation to the strategic decision to expand the tournament to 32 teams. The programme comprised a mentor for the national-team coaches and support staff and targeted education around the physical preparation of female players for international tournaments. Five of the ten teams participating in the Play-Off Tournament for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 embarked on this pilot programme. They were Haiti and Panama (Concacaf), Papua New Guinea (OFC), Portugal (UEFA) and Thailand (AFC); three of which qualified for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 by taking the last three remaining slots, namely Haiti, Panama and Portugal. The programme continued after the Play-Off Tournament right up until the tournament kicked off on 20 July.

Within this time frame, multiple teams benefited, with the competitive balance displayed at the tournament showcasing the success of the pilot programme. In particular, two of the teams (Denmark and South Africa) progressed to the knockout stage, with South Africa winning their first-ever match at a FIFA Women’s World Cup.

Kyra Cooney-Cross

The Future Matildas Programme provides high-performance environments for talented players aged 15-23. The programme is a component of Football Australia’s long-term strategic efforts to tackle the challenges related to player pathway and squad depth, as outlined in the 2020 Football Australia Performance Gap Report. The report found that:

The programme has seen 18 players under the age of 23 make their senior debut over the last three years, with Kyra Cooney-Cross being the prime example of investing in youth development. The then 21-year-old started every game for Australia at the FIFA Women’s World Cup and her impressive performances even had England legend Ian Wright singing her praises. She was subsequently rewarded with a contract at top-flight English club Arsenal.

Michaela Foster

Michaela Foster’s rise through the ranks is testament to the enhanced development pathways in place within New Zealand Football. Michaela had been a participant in New Zealand Football’s Future Ferns Domestic Programme and a New Zealand Football age group representative. A key to Aotearoa United: Legacy Starts Now was improving player pathways through the collective launch of Wellington Phoenix Women in the A-League, the first professional women’s team based in Aotearoa New Zealand. The establishment of the Wellington Phoenix side was considered Foster’s big break. Her impressive debut A-League season, highlighted by an ability to take pinpoint set pieces and score a free kick from 35 yards out, saw her named in the Football Ferns’ FIFA Women’s World Cup squad.

Referees

One of the key metrics to measure the growth of the game is increasing the number of female referees. To support this goal, Football Australia has used the backdrop of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to launch a new initiative.

The Our Game pre-match referee meet and greet is an initiative that aims to encourage women and girls to explore a career in refereeing and learn about becoming professional match officials through exposure to the FIFA Women’s World Cup. During each Matildas home match, five female referees aged between 15-26 were selected by their member federation to participate. Successful participants were given the opportunity to interact with international female match officials before the match, learning about international standards and practices. During the match, participants sat with the referee assessor, listening to communications between match officials. Experienced match officials also provided advice, feedback and mentoring to aspiring referees, supporting their growth and development in the field. To date, 35 aspiring female referees have had this opportunity.

In line with this, at confederation level, the AFC’s dedicated referee academy is training and endorsing more elite female referees. This contributed to 14 AFC referees being selected to take part in the FIFA Women’s World Cup.