‘Kiwis to be amazed’: Women’s World Cup planning under way
PLANS are being finalised to boost promotion and get Kiwis involved in the build-up to the Fifa Women’s World Cup 2023, with a range of events and initiatives to be announced in the coming months.
World Cup fever is building ahead of the tournament, which is being jointly hosted with Australia, and will see 16 of 32 teams based and playing group matches in New Zealand from July 20 to August 20.
‘‘Kiwis are going to be astounded,’’ said Jane Patterson, COO of New Zealand’s side.
‘‘The size and scale of it will become real when it gets closer. I don’t think New Zealanders quite know what they’re in for.’’
Excitement is growing following the announcement of the tournament draw at a glittering ceremony attended by 800 guests in Auckland last night.
Plans are under way to begin recruiting volunteers to work at games and events, with details of a Fifa World Cup trophy tour, and a World Cup fan festival to be revealed next year.
‘‘Volunteers are the heart and soul of major events. We can’t run them without them,’’ said Patterson.
For the first time in World Cup history, competing countries will use dedicated team base camps – which include accommodation and training sites – as their home away from home.
Team officials will now begin visiting and assessing 20 potential team base camps across the four host cities –
Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin – and five other regional centres – Tauranga, Rotorua, Napier, Palmerston North and Christchurch.
Nations will submit their preferred choices, with Fifa set to confirm the selected team base camps by the end of this year.
Patterson expects
communities to adopt visiting teams, and locals to celebrate their cultural ties to the different nations, while collectively backing the Football Ferns.
‘‘As we saw so brilliantly at the Rugby World Cup, when you’ve got different countries living in a community, the cultures that support that country stand up, but the community does as well,’’ she said.
‘‘New Zealanders are great sports fans, and we know that they wrap their arms around the team.’’
Kiwis will have a chance to connect with the Football Ferns and get a ‘‘taster’’ to the World
Cup over the summer, with the home side set to play three friendlies as part of the inaugural play-off tournament from February 17 to 23.
Ten teams will fight it out to qualify for three remaining World Cup spots, with games to be played at Hamilton’s Waikato Stadium and North
Harbour Stadium in Auckland.
‘‘We know that the biggest way to attract this country to support our national team is for them to know who the players are.
‘‘Those friendly matches will just be a fantastic opportunity to give people a taster.’’
The tournament is set to boost the local economy with early conservative financial forecasts expecting it to generate $60 million in additional GDP, and more than 100,000 visitor nights in Auckland alone.
Aucklanders and visiting World Cup fans can look forward to a range of events as part of Elemental AKL 2023, with the dates of the winter arts, food and music festival shifted to coincide with the tournament from July 20 to August 6.
Television exposure will further boost New Zealand’s profile, with a broadcast audience of over a billion expected to tune in to the World Cup games.
‘‘We know that the Fifa World Cup attracts great fan bases. The likes of the United States, the French, the English, they travel with their fans,’’ said Patterson.
‘‘We’re confident that as they move around our match cities that everyone will enjoy the economic impact of that in hotels, in retail and restaurants.’’
The local game is also expected to grow significantly on the back of the World Cup, after playing numbers in England surged by 850,000 following the 2019 tournament.
‘‘Every time there is a World Cup, there is an instant growth in the game and participation.’’