Women’s World Cup 2023 LIVE: New Zealand vs Norway latest score and updates before Australia vs Ireland

On the eve of the tournament, Fifa President Gianni Infantino said women’s football had seen incredible growth over the past decade and he was confident the World Cup would win over anyone who remained skeptical about the merits of women’s football.

The sport’s governing body expects 2 billion people to tune in to the 64-game tournament, co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand. The event is scheduled to start in Auckland on Thursday.

“A lot of people who think that women’s football is still not a great game, or that it’s not that entertaining, or it’s kind of a bad copy of men’s football or something, actually when they watch a game for the first time they’ll see that there’s a fantastic game,” said Infantino.

“The level has risen incredibly in the last 10 years and the best come here.”

Infantino said that if there were any sport in which women’s football could compete with men’s, it would be football.

“I mean, it’s more or less 50% of the population, women around the world, right?” he said.

“It’s really intellectually inconceivable that there isn’t one sport that can compete with some men’s sports.”

All eyes will be on New Zealand as the co-hosts kick off the Women’s World Cup against Norway. Expectations will be high, but the Football Ferns will have a more modest goal in mind. World Cup history hangs over New Zealand: in five tournaments and 15 games so far, they have not been able to record a win or make it into the knockout stages.

The opportunity to play on home soil is a major boost, but elsewhere there is little positive evidence for New Zealand. Under coach Jitka Klimkova, New Zealand were on an 11-game winning streak before beating Vietnam a week before the tournament, their first victory since last September. New Zealand’s squad is solid but unspectacular and the lack of a standout star was felt against the European nations in Group A, where Norway and Switzerland will both try to recover from disappointment at last summer’s European Championships.

The Women’s World Cup will “go on as planned” after a shootout in Auckland just hours before the city hosts the first game of the tournament.

A gunman was reportedly found dead ahead of the opening match between hosts New Zealand and opponents Norway in Auckland, after killing two people and injuring several others in the city on Thursday (July 20). The shooting took place at a construction site in central Auckland.

New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said: “As the FIFA World Cup kicks off tonight, eyes are obviously on Auckland. The government spoke to the FIFA organizers this morning and the tournament will go ahead as planned.

“Aucklanders and observers around the world can rest assured that police have neutralized the threat and are not looking for anyone connected to the incident. The safety of New Zealanders and our visitors is our top priority.

“Of course there will be an increased police presence around Auckland to reassure the public, but police have indicated they do not believe there is an ongoing security risk.”

While teams have adjusted to Australia and New Zealand in recent weeks, many coaches and staff have been doing what the rest of the public is doing: poking around in the news about the different teams to see how they’re doing. It’s where an international tournament takes on that enticing distinctness. All eyes are still on the USA, especially as this is Megan Rapinoe’s last World Cup and the side are looking to defeat her with a historic third straight win.

However, when the defending champions look around the pitch themselves, they don’t see what they used to see. Of course, there is the usual confidence, but also a certain amount of caution. The gap between them and the other teams is not that big. With Rapinoe’s retirement, a greater era could well come to an end, as the dominant factor in women’s football over the last decade has been that USA has enjoyed a much longer-term development than the rest of football. That’s seen as particularly influential in terms of physical condition, but there’s a general feeling that European football and Australia have caught up.

For UK viewers, every match will be available on the BBC and ITV.

The BBC will have live coverage on television and the BBC Sport website, with live audio commentary available on BBC Radio 5 Live, 5 Sports Extra and the BBC Sounds app.

For ITV, live coverage will be available both on television and online through ITVX.

At the moment, the BBC and ITV have only announced the group stage schedule, although the BBC has said it will broadcast both semi-finals and the final on both channels.

Here you will find everything you need to know

The biggest Women’s World Cup ever begins this morning with both co-hosts in action on the opening day: New Zealand meets Norway in Auckland and Australia meets the Republic of Ireland in Sydney.

The first-ever 32-team Women’s World Cup begins with New Zealand attempting to claim a historic victory at the tournament. The Football Ferns have not won a game at the World Cup finals in 15 previous attempts but are cheered on by the Football Ferns home crowd at Eden Park against star-studded Norway.

Australia will then be hoping for a perfect start to the season when the Matildas take on Ireland in front of a record-breaking crowd at Sydney’s Olympic Stadium. Australia have emerged as one of the tournament favorites, with star Sam Kerr at the helm, and a successful start is vital as Canada and Nigeria form the ‘group of death’.

Follow all the updates and preparations ahead of the tournament’s opening game on today’s live blog.