WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
Staggering statistics demonstrate FIFA Women’s World Cup growth
- Three African teams have reached the Round of 16 for the first time in the Women’s World Cup
- Nigeria became the first African nation to complete their group unbeaten.
- Morocco is the first African team to win two successive matches and keep clean sheets in successive matches.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 is capturing the hearts and minds of football fans not only in the two co-host countries but across the globe.
At the end of the Group Stage, records have been broken in areas as diverse as ticket sales, broadcast figures and digital media data.
The tournament has also set new benchmarks for performances on the pitch, as well as creating new highs in hospitality and merchandise sales, as well as for the number of participating volunteers.
The tournament is truly going Beyond Greatness to, with sixteen captivating days and sixteen thrilling matches of the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup remaining.
On the field, countries from all continents are writing their own piece of history. For the first time, teams from all six Confederations won a match at the tournament.
New Zealand became the first team from Oceania to register a victory, while the Philippines, Zambia, Portugal, Jamaica, South Africa, and Morocco also got their first win. Africa’s representatives are breaking all kinds of records.
Three teams have reached the Round of 16. Nigeria became the first African nation to complete their group unbeaten. Morocco is the first African team to win two successive matches and keep clean sheets in successive matches. Fans from the co- host nations, as well as tens of thousands of travelling supporters have fully embraced the biggest women’s sports event on the planet, with an average of 25,476 fans attending the 48 first-round matches, a 29% increase from attendances at France 2019.
By Friday 4 August, over 1,715,000 tickets had been sold, comfortably surpassing pre-tournament ticket sales targets. In Aotearoa New Zealand, the record crowd for a football match in the country– women’s or men’s – was broken twice in 12 days, first in the opening match and subsequently eclipsed when 42,958 fans watched Portugal take on the United States of America.
In Australia, the tournament also set a record for a standalone women’s football match, when 75,784 fans attended Australia’s opener against Republic of Ireland.
At the previous FIFA Women’s World Cup in France, ten matches across the entire tournament attracted over 25,000 spectators. By comparison, this year’s Group Stage has already seen twenty-one matches surpass the 25,000 mark.
Hospitality sales meanwhile are tracking 27% above France 2019, and 534% above Canada 2015. As the tournament pauses for breath before the knock-out stage commences, broadcast figures from around the world have equally been overwhelmingly positive, with records broken across multiples countries on a near daily basis.
Some of the many highlights include the Matildas’ final group game against Canada reaching 4.71 million Australians to become channel Seven’s most watched programme this year. In Aotearoa New Zealand around 1.88 million, a third of the population, has been watching the tournament.
Colombia’s first group match tripled the highest television audience from the previous FIFA Women’s World Cup (2.84 million) and even eclipses all audiences from the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, except for the Final. China PR produced the highest audience for a single match anywhere in the world with 53.9 million viewers watching their team take on England.
In the United States, more fans watched their team play against Netherlands, than any other previous group stage match in history (6.43m).
The skyrocketing television audiences have been replicated on FIFA’s digital platforms. Traffic in the first 15 days has already surpassed the entirety of the 2019 tournament, welcoming 22 million unique users, with an average of 2.4 million users visiting FIFA Women’s World Cup channels daily.
FIFA committed to providing the 32 participating member associations with the same level of support as the men’s teams received at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar. So far, 410 training sessions – 88 at the Venue Specific Training Sites and 322 at the Team Base Camp Training Sites – have been facilitated, another first for this tournament.
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For those sessions, over 2,000 cones were provided to teams in Australia and 1,600 in Aotearoa New Zealand, as well as 1,536 adidas footballs for training purposes, 1,280 Official Match Balls and 6,748 bibs for teams and match operations.
In the FIFA Fan Festivals, another ‘first’ was achieved, with sites created in each of the nine host cities. To date, over 400,000 fans watched the matches, with Sydney/Gadigal recording the single day record of 17,756 fans.
The tournament across multiple sites has been supported by 5,000 volunteers who have brought the greatest ever FIFA Women’s World Cup™ to life, doubling the number of volunteers in 2019. The overwhelming majority of volunteers are from the two co-host countries, while around 5% of volunteers travelled from sixty-eight different nations, representing all six FIFA Confederations.
Nigeria’s Falconets will discover their opponents for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup when the official draw is conducted in Łódź, Poland, on May 15, as preparations intensify for another campaign on the global stage.
The draw ceremony, confirmed by football’s world governing body, FIFA, will take place in one of the tournament’s host cities and will be broadcast live worldwide on FIFA+, YouTube and TikTok.
Nigeria, one of the most successful nations in the history of the competition, heads into the draw with renewed ambition after securing qualification for the tournament, which will run from September 5 to 27 across the Polish cities of Bielsko-Biała, Katowice, Łódź and Sosnowiec.
The Falconets remain one of Africa’s strongest representatives at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, having reached the final twice in the competition’s history. The Nigerian side will now await the outcome of the draw to know their group-stage opponents among the 24 qualified teams expected to battle for the title.
Former Polish international and current women’s national team coach Nina Patalon and French football legend Laura Georges will participate in the ceremony, underscoring the growing profile of women’s football globally.
Speaking ahead of the event, Patalon described the draw as a defining moment for both participating teams and supporters.
“The draw always brings a special sense of excitement, as it is the moment when the competition truly starts to feel real for both the teams and the fans,” she said.
She also highlighted the importance of hosting the tournament in Poland, noting that it could inspire more young girls to embrace football and further accelerate the development of the women’s game in the country.
The 12th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup is expected to showcase some of the brightest emerging talents in women’s football, with Nigeria’s Falconets aiming to make another strong impression on the world stage
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Alongside the USA and Brazil, Nigeria will head to Poland as one of only three nations to have appeared at every edition of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
As of Saturday night, only Nigeria and Nigeria women’s national under-20 football team and Ghana women’s national under-20 football team have secured qualification for the 2026 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland after overcoming Malawi and Uganda, respectively, in the final round of African qualifiers.
Nigeria maintained their remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the global tournament, joining the United States and Brazil as the only nations to achieve the feat.
The Falconets were pushed to the limit by Malawi in Lilongwe after carrying a 2-0 advantage from the first leg in Ikenne. Malawi made a dream start when Faith Chinzimu scored from a set-piece in the eighth minute to ignite hopes of a comeback.
Nigeria struggled to reproduce the dominance they displayed at home, and the tie swung dramatically in the hosts’ favour in the 57th minute when Chinzimu completed her brace after breaking down the left flank before calmly finishing past the Nigerian goalkeeper.
At 2-0 on the day, the aggregate score was level, and the Falconets were suddenly under severe pressure. However, Malawi captain Leticia Chinyamula made a costly error that allowed substitute Oscar Precious to seize possession, drive into the penalty area and fire home the decisive goal for Nigeria.
The strike restored Nigeria’s aggregate lead and effectively ended Malawi’s hopes, as the Falconets held on to secure passage to Poland despite the 2-1 defeat on the day.
Coach Moses Aduku’s side will now prepare for another appearance at the world finals, where Nigeria remain one of the competition’s most consistent teams.
Ghana also survived a tense encounter to qualify for their eighth consecutive FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup.
The Black Princesses travelled to Kampala holding a narrow 2-1 first-leg advantage over Uganda. Still, the hosts drew level on aggregate through a moment of brilliance from Sylvia Kabene, whose powerful strike from the left wing flew into the top corner beyond goalkeeper Belinda Maku.
Combined with Agnes Nabukenya’s away goal in the first leg, Uganda briefly looked set to progress.
But Ghana responded strongly after the break despite being reduced to 10 players. Captain Linda Owusu Ansah proved the hero, curling a superb set-piece from near the corner flag directly into the far top corner to send the Black Princesses through.
While Nigeria will continue their ever-present run at the tournament, Ghana will be hoping to advance beyond the group stage for the first time in their history when the competition kicks off in September.
The remaining African qualification spots will be decided on Sunday when Tanzania face Cameroon, and Benin take on Côte d’Ivoire in the final return-leg matches.
The FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup Poland 2026 will take place from September 5 to 27 across four host cities
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Nigeria’s U-20 girls, the Falconets, are on the verge of extending their remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup since the competition began in 2002.
The Falconets will face Malawi on Saturday at the Bingu National Stadium in the second leg of the final qualifying round for the Poland 2026 tournament, carrying a 2-0 advantage from the first leg played in Ikenne-Remo last weekend.
Nigeria have featured at every edition of the competition, beginning with the inaugural tournament in Canada in 2002 when it was still a U-19 championship. The Falconets also competed in Thailand 2004 before the tournament was upgraded to the U-20 level ahead of the 2006 finals in Russia.
Since then, the Nigerian girls have remained ever-present at the global championship, appearing in Chile 2008, Germany 2010, Japan 2012, Canada 2014, Papua New Guinea 2016, France 2018, Costa Rica 2022 and Colombia 2024.
The Falconets’ best performances came when they finished runners-up at Germany 2010 and Canada 2014, while they reached the semi-finals in Japan 2012.
Head coach Moses Aduku expressed confidence ahead of Saturday’s decisive clash.
“We are here to play and to win. The players understand the importance of this match, and we are fully prepared mentally, tactically, and physically for the challenge ahead,” Aduku said during Friday’s pre-match press conference.
Nigeria swept past Rwanda and Senegal in earlier qualifying rounds and are now aiming to complete the job against Malawi to seal another World Cup appearance.
Kick-off for Saturday’s encounter is scheduled for 3:00 pm Malawi time (2:00 pm Nigeria time).
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