2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup became the most attended women’s sporting event ever

BY SIMONE J. SMITH

The culmination of 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup brought together the best teams that had battled their way through the competition. The excitement was palpable as fans from around the world gathered to watch the pinnacle of the sport. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals were played in Australia and New Zealand from July 20^th, to August 20^th. There were 32 finalists including both hosts with 11 or 12 European nations involved.

Spain won the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand after defeating England 1-0 in the final at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The finalists were two of 12 European sides to take part in the first finals since the expansion from 24 to 32 teams.

Action Network has updated the list of records that were broken at this year’s World Cup. USA became the first defending champion that didn’t get past the round of 16, Sweden broke their tie with USA and became the country with the most bronze medals (4) after finishing third, Salma Paralluelo (Spain) is the first player ever to be a champion at U-17, U-20 and senior level after Spain’s win, Christine Sinclair (Canada) extended her record as the captain with the most World Cups played (5) and Vanina Correa (Argentina) broke the record for the oldest goalkeeper ever playing in WWC, while Casey Phair (South Korea) became the youngest player to ever play in WWC!

Vanina Correa (Argentina) broke the record for the oldest goalkeeper ever playing in Women’s World Cup – she was 39 years, 11 months and 20 days (including the matchday) on the day of Argentina’s last match – August 2^nd against Sweden (breaking the record of Meg (Brazil), who was 39 years and 159 days old when Brazil played against Germany in 1995).

Casey Phair (South Korea) broke the record for the youngest player to play in Women’s World Cup – she was 16 years and 27 days on the 25th of July (including the match date) on the day of the match of South Korea against Morocco (breaking the record of Ifeanyi Chiejine (Nigeria), who was 16 years and 35 days (including the match date) when Nigeria played against South Korea in 1999.

Christine Sinclair (Canada) extended her record as the captain playing the most World Cup tournaments (5 including 2023). She extended her record as the player with the most matches lost in Women’s World Cup (extended from 10 matches lost to 11 after Canada lost against Australia on the July 31^st), breaking her tie with Florence Omagbemi (Nigeria) and Onome Ebi (Nigeria).

Salma Paralluelo (Spain) is the first player ever (across men and women’s soccer) to be a champion at U-17, U-20 and senior level after Spain’s win (she won FIFA WWC 2023, FIFA U-20 WWC 2022 & FIFA U-17 WWC 2018).

USA joined Germany as the only defending champion to not get past the quarterfinals. In USA’s case, they didn’t even get past the round of 16, which makes them the first defending champion to do so. They extended their record for the total number of wins (41) as well as the most goals scored (142). They extended their record for most consecutive wins (13 wins since 2015 match against Nigeria until their 2023 win against Vietnam) and most consecutive matches without a loss (21 wins/draws since 2011’s match against Brazil until their 2023 draw with Sweden) in the World Cup.

New Zealand surpassed China (1991, 2007), Sweden (1995), Germany (2011), Canada (2015) and France (2019) as the host with the worst finishes – none of these teams got past quarterfinals in their respective hosting years, but New Zealand didn’t even get past the group stages.

Sweden ended up taking the bronze medal for the 4^th time, which broke their tie (3) with USA as the team with the most bronze medals – 4 (in total, Sweden now has 4 bronze medals and 1 silver medal, they have yet to win the gold – only USA has won all 3 medals in Women’s World Cup).

Nigeria extended their record for most goals conceded to 65, and Jamaica won their first match ever after already debuting in the past but never winning – they won their first match on July 29^th against Panama (1-0). South Africa won their first match ever after already debuting in the past but never winning – they won their first match on August 2^nd against Italy (3-2).

This year’s World Cup became the most attended women’s sporting event ever with attendance of 1.978 million (surpassing the record previously held by Women’s World Cup 2019: France attended by 1.131 million people).