How to watch the FIFA Women’s World Cup, wherever you are
How to watch the Women's World Cup, wherever you are
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is nearly here to take over our screens for an entire month. USA, the reigning champions, will look to secure their fifth ever World Cup. They’ll face stiff competition from England though, who brought home the European trophy in 2022. Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Nigeria, Japan and Norway are all looking fierce this year, and there’s also room for a few big upsets.
There’s nothing quite like a World Cup. The women’s competition goes down under this year, and is split across New Zealand and Australia. But how can you watch it, wherever you are? Take a look at our guide to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup to find out.
Tune in with a VPN
When does it kick off?
The FIFA Women’s World Cup runs from Thursday 20 July, until Sunday 20 August. The final will be played at the 83,500 capacity Stadium Australia in Sydney.
This year, the Women’s World Cup is being held in Australia and New Zealand. It’ll make the 2023 competition the first ever to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, and the first to be hosted across two countries.
With it being held across two nations, there’s a few timezones to consider. There’ll likely be a few early rises, too. Australian Capital Territory, New South Wales, Tasmania, Victoria, and Queensland run on Australian Eastern Time, which is UTC +10. New South Wales, South Australia, and the Northern Territory runs on Australian Central Time, which is UTC +9.5. Australian Western Time is UTC +8.
New Zealand take on Norway for the first game of the tournament, which kicks off at Eden Park, Auckland, at 08:00 UTC. For a full list of fixtures, head over to the FIFA website.
Who’s playing?
This year, 32 teams are playing in the Women’s World Cup. That’s an increase from 24 in 2019. Naturally, the number of games has also risen, from 52 in 2019 to 64 for this year’s edition.
Who will your nation need to beat to make it through to the knock-out stages? Find your team below.
Group A: New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland
Group B: Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Republic of Ireland
Group C: Costa Rica, Japan, Spain, Zambia
Group D: China, Denmark, England, Haiti
Group E: Netherlands, Portugal, United States, Vietnam
Group F: Brazil, France, Jamaica, Panama
Group G: Argentina, Italy, South Africa, Sweden
Group H: Colombia, Germany, South Korea, Morocco
Where can I watch?
UK and Europe
Things are a little complicated when it comes to watching the Women’s World Cup in the UK and Europe. At the time of writing, the ‘big five’ European nations of Germany, France, Spain, Italy and the UK currently don’t have agreements in place to air games.
Why? Money, mostly. Broadcast offers have reportedly been incredibly low for the Women’s World Cup. In England, a joint offer from the BBC and ITV is reported to be around €9m, or 8% of the men’s competition. As such, FIFA president Gianni Infantino has threatened a complete European blackout if offers from broadcasters were not improved.
In short, the whole thing is a bit of a mess. In the UK, should terms be reached in time, we can expect all games to be split between BBC and ITV.
US
Thankfully, things are a little less complicated in the US. That makes sense, given the women’s long running success in the World Cup.
Fox is set to air games on its main channel, as well as Fox Sports. If your cable subscription already includes Fox channels, then you’re all set to go from day one. For Spanish-language coverage, NBCUniversal’s Spanish language television networks Telemundo and Universo will be airing all games between them. Telemundo is available through a $4.99pm subscription to Peacock.
There’s also a number of live TV streaming services you can use to tune into games. Fox programming is available through FuboTV, Sling TV (on its Blue plan), Hulu with Live TV and YouTube TV.
Get a VPN
With broadcasts up in the air across Europe, a VPN might be the best way to access the Women’s World Cup. A VPN lets you change your IP address, and allows you to watch shows and events from any country from your own.
We’ve covered VPNs in some detail already. There are plenty of free options for those wishing to scrimp on costs, but the likes of Nord VPN, Express VPN and Surfshark have a bunch of tailorable deals.
Jack Needham
