FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023: Auckland venues upgraded

The more than $18 million being invested towards upgrades of pitches, lighting, clubroom facilities and changing rooms for FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 matches will be the main legacy for Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland as a host city.

The funding for the training venue upgrades comes from a variety of sources, including Auckland Council, central Government and club contributions.

New Zealand Football and Sport New Zealand, on behalf of central Government, have contributed $2.2 million of this total for Auckland as part of a national approach to ensure venues create a gender-neutral environment for the tournament and community sport delivery thereafter.

Director of Arts, Entertainment & Events for Tātaki Auckland Unlimited, Richard Clarke, says these upgrades are an example of how the tournament will drive benefits for the region.

“We want visitors to Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland to have a positive experience, while ensuring we also champion lasting impacts for the next generation of athletes.

“The training venue upgrades will be the main enduring legacy for Auckland as a host city of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, delivering venues that will provide an equitable, international-standard experience for the FIFA athletes while also providing an ongoing benefit to our communities and future generations using those same facilities,” he says.

Dr Claudia Wyss, Director Customer & Community Services for Auckland Council says that as well as delivering compliance for the global tournament, these upgrades will have ongoing benefit for the communities, clubs and sporting codes that use these facilities.

“These upgrades will increase field capacity for players right across Auckland, offering greater benefits for clubs, and helping people be more active, more often.

“The improved facilities also have the potential to significantly increase the visibility and profile of women’s football,” she says.

Outcomes of the training venue upgrades include:

• Five training venues will be floodlit for the first time, creating over 40 hours per week of additional sports field capacity in Auckland
• Competition lighting upgrades in all 11 venues will enable flexible match scheduling for more matches to take place
• New and improved facilities will include individual showers, privacy screens, cubicle toilets, baby change tables, accessible bathrooms and gender-neutral changing rooms for both players and officials

The 11 training venues are Bay City Park, Fred Taylor Park, Keith Hay Park, Māngere Centre Park, McLennan Park, Michaels Avenue Reserve, North Harbour Stadium, Olympic Park, Seddon Fields, Shepherds Park and Waitākere Stadium.

With a strong regional spread, these venues in north, west, east and south of Auckland were all shortlisted in-line with FIFA’s process for team training venue selection.

While Eden Park will be used for all matches in Auckland, up to 11 venues will be used as training sites for the duration of the tournament.

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 is taking place from July 20 to August 20 next year and for the first time, 32 teams will compete for the coveted trophy.

These upgrades are critical to the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 being hosted in Auckland, including the Play-Off Tournament taking place from  February 17-23 to determine the final three qualifying teams.

FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2023

• The FIFA Women’s World Cup is the world’s premier women’s sporting tournament. The competition is held every four years from June – August.
• The full list of venues earmarked by FIFA for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 can be found here.
• In June 2020, New Zealand was awarded hosting rights for the tournament alongside Australia, marking the first time the event has been held in the Southern Hemisphere or been jointly hosted by two confederations.
• Independent assessments estimate that FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will generate 130,000 visitor nights for Auckland and boost the region’s economy by approximately NZD $60 million.
• Additionally, the global reach through international broadcast is expected to be higher than the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 in France which was watched by 1.12billion viewers.
• The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015 in Canada demonstrated the significant spectator appeal of the tournament, attracting 1.35 million spectators, 84,000-day visitors and 174,000 visitors making an overnight visit to one of the official host cities.
• New Zealand hosted the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2015 – the first time the event was held in New Zealand and the third time on Oceanian soil. A total of 52 matches were played in seven host cities.
BY THE NUMBERS – THE FIFA WOMEN’S WORLD CUP 2023
• Two – number of host countries.
• Nine – number of matches to be held in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland
• Nine – number of host cities in New Zealand and across the Tasman.
• 32 – total number of teams (eight groups of four teams playing round robin, with the top two teams advancing to the ‘round of 16’).
• 32 – total number of tournament days, including seven rest days.
• 64 – total number of matches.
• 130,000 forecast visitor nights for Auckland.
• $60,000,000 – estimated contribution to regional GDP in Auckland.
• 1.12 billion – international broadcast reach of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019.

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