On the plane back from China in 1991, Michelle Akers could hardly contain her glee after scoring a tournament-high ten goals to help the US win the inaugural Women’s World Cup.
Manager Anson Dorrance remembers an elderly passenger asking Akers what she had been up to in China. “Well we went and we played in the first women’s world championship and we’re world champions,” Akers beamed.
“The old lady,” Dorrance continued, “turns to her and says: ‘Uh, that’s nice, dear.'”
Three decades on, there was a serious danger that the winners of the 2023 World Cup would have their success shielded as FIFA rebuffed the initial broadcast deals offered by numerous nations. President Gianni Infantino chastised some of the bids as a “slap in the face”.
However, UK broadcasters – less than a month before the tournament kicks off – have belatedly come to a suitable agreement. Here’s everything you need to know about how to watch the game’s greats gather together for this televised international jamboree.
The ninth edition of the official Women’s World Cup will take place between 20 July and 20 August 2023. For the first time in the competition’s history, there will be as many as 32 nations involved.
Eight groups of four teams will duke it out to decide the participants in the knockout stage, which begins at the round of 16 on 5 August.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup is spread across Australia and New Zealand – it will be the first held in the Southern Hemisphere.
There will be ten venues – six in Australia, four in New Zealand – spread across nine cities. Sensibly, each group will play all of its matches in one country before international travel is required in the knockout stages.
READ MORE ON THE UPCOMING WOMEN’S WORLD CUP IN AUSTRALIA & NEW ZEALAND
For the 2019 World Cup, the BBC was the only place to watch the action in the United Kingdom. However, terrestrial rivals ITV have been part of a joint bid to land the rights for the 2023 competition.
The UK broadcasters reportedly paid in the region of £9m for the competition’s TV rights – which was considerably more than the pitiful opening bid of £300,000 from Italy but less than 10% of the sum offered for the men’s World Cup in 2022.
While the nation’s two chief broadcasters will divvy up the knockout stages once the qualified teams are revealed, all of the group games have been claimed by BBC or ITV.
2023 Women’s World Cup group stage TV schedule in the UK
|
Date |
Time (BST) |
Fixture |
Broadcaster |
|---|---|---|---|
|
20/07/2023 |
08:00 |
New Zealand v Norway |
BBC |
|
20/07/2023 |
11:00 |
Australia v Republic of Ireland |
ITV |
|
21/07/2023 |
03:30 |
Nigeria v Canada |
BBC |
|
21/07/2023 |
06:00 |
Philippines v Switzerland |
ITV |
|
21/07/2023 |
08:30 |
Spain v Costa Rica |
BBC |
|
22/07/2023 |
02:00 |
United States v Vietnam |
BBC |
|
22/07/2023 |
08:00 |
Zambia v Japan |
BBC |
|
22/07/2023 |
10:30 |
England v Haiti |
ITV |
|
22/07/2023 |
13:00 |
Denmark v China |
BBC |
|
23/07/2023 |
06:00 |
Sweden v South Africa |
BBC |
|
23/07/2023 |
08:30 |
Netherlands v Portugal |
BBC |
|
23/07/2023 |
11:00 |
France v Jamaica |
ITV |
|
24/07/2023 |
07:00 |
Italy v Argentina |
ITV |
|
24/07/2023 |
09:30 |
Germany v Morocco |
ITV |
|
24/07/2023 |
12:00 |
Brazil v Panama |
ITV |
|
25/07/2023 |
03:00 |
Colombia v South Korea |
BBC |
|
25/07/2023 |
06:30 |
New Zealand v Philippines |
ITV |
|
25/07/2023 |
09:00 |
Switzerland v Norway |
ITV |
|
26/07/2023 |
06:00 |
Japan v Costa Rica |
ITV |
|
26/07/2023 |
08:30 |
Spain v Zambia |
BBC |
|
26/07/2023 |
13:00 |
Canada v Republic of Ireland |
ITV |
|
27/07/2023 |
02:00 |
United States v Netherlands |
BBC |
|
27/07/2023 |
08:30 |
Portugal v Vietnam |
ITV |
|
27/07/2023 |
11:00 |
Australia v Nigeria |
BBC |
|
28/07/2023 |
01:00 |
Argentina v South Africa |
ITV |
|
28/07/2023 |
09:30 |
England v Denmark |
BBC |
|
28/07/2023 |
12:00 |
China v Haiti |
ITV |
|
29/07/2023 |
08:30 |
Sweden v Italy |
BBC |
|
29/07/2023 |
11:00 |
France v Brazil |
BBC |
|
29/07/2023 |
13:30 |
Panama v Jamaica |
ITV |
|
30/07/2023 |
05:30 |
South Korea v Morocco |
BBC |
|
30/07/2023 |
08:00 |
Norway v Philippines |
BBC |
|
30/07/2023 |
08:00 |
Switzerland v New Zealand |
BBC |
|
30/07/2023 |
10:30 |
Germany v Colombia |
ITV |
|
31/07/2023 |
08:00 |
Costa Rica v Zambia |
ITV |
|
31/07/2023 |
08:00 |
Japan v Spain |
ITV |
|
31/07/2023 |
11:00 |
Canada v Australia |
BBC |
|
31/07/2023 |
11:00 |
Republic of Ireland v Nigeria |
BBC |
|
01/08/2023 |
08:00 |
Portugal v United States |
ITV |
|
01/08/2023 |
08:00 |
Vietnam v Netherlands |
ITV |
|
01/08/2023 |
12:00 |
China v England |
ITV |
|
01/08/2023 |
12:00 |
Haiti v Denmark |
ITV |
|
02/08/2023 |
08:00 |
Argentina v Sweden |
BBC |
|
02/08/2023 |
08:00 |
South Africa v Italy |
BBC |
|
02/08/2023 |
11:00 |
Jamaica v Brazil |
ITV |
|
02/08/2023 |
11:00 |
Panama v France |
ITV |
|
03/08/2023 |
11:00 |
Morocco v Colombia |
BBC |
|
03/08/2023 |
11:00 |
South Korea v Germany |
BBC |
The likes of Megan Rapinoe and Alex Morgan are so widely known they are unlikely to encounter the same case of bemused anonymity as Akers 32 years ago. However, their profiles are set to grow further following the confirmation that all Women’s World Cup games will be broadcast on FOX or its sister channel FS1 (FOX Sports).
Matches will also be available to stream on FOXSports.com or the FOX Sports App.
