A history of the hosts

The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand is the first senior tournament hosted in Oceania. It’s also the first one co-hosted by two countries from different confederations, although this was not always the case. Join us as we take a look at the history of the host’s women’s national teams. The action of the 2023 tournament has reached the decisive phase. Already, we have seen beautiful goals, heart-breaking upsets and surprising results that have nestled themselves into the newest pages of Women’s World Cup history. Now with the biggest matches ahead of us, we want to delve into the heritage of our hosts, and the intertwined yet entirely unique upbringings of both the Australia and New Zealand Women’s National Teams. <h2>Australia</h2> Like many countries across the world, the effects of the English FA’s 1921 ban on women’s football were keenly felt in Australia – with women being urged to pursue “more appropriate” sports. While this didn’t stop games from being played, it did impact the support and momentum that these events might previously have attracted, and it wasn’t until the 1970s that there was a significant resurge in establishing the women’s game.

A national Australian Women’s Team was fielded for the first time in 1975 at the inaugural AFC Women's Championship, but the pioneering players had to wait until 2022 for their participation to be recognised with caps. Four years later, Australia faced New Zealand in Miranda in what was considered the team’s first official international match; a head-to-head that would be repeated eight times before Australia met any other opponent in an official international capacity. While Australia missed out on qualification for the inaugural Women’s World Cup in 1991, they were present for the historic 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament in China, which was a successful trial-run for the Women’s World Cup. Apart from the initial blip in 1991, Australia have secured a spot in the FIFA Women’s World Cup at every ensuing tournament, building their underdog reputation over the years, to the intimidating opposition that they present to any team in today’s competition. In 2007 they battled their way into the knockout rounds for the first time, a feat which they repeated in 2011 before bettering in 2015, by beating Brazil in the round of 16 to reach the quarterfinals against defending champions Japan. In the meantime, the Matildas, as they were now known, had started to make waves elsewhere in international competition, with an Olympic debut on home soil in 2000. While they didn’t make it past the initial round on their first attempt, they reached the quarterfinals in 2004, 2016 and finished fourth at Tokyo 2020.

On a more regional level, Australia made a confederation shift from Oceania to Asia, as they officially joined the AFC in 2006 with the aim of improving their competitiveness. The switch came on the back of a particularly impressive streak on the women’s part, with the Matildas having won three OFC Women’s Nations Cup in a row. Almost immediately after the switch Australia found themselves hosting their first Asian Women’s Cup, in which the newbies proved that they were not just there to take part with a silver medal on their 2006 debut. They returned to the competition in 2010 with a vengeance, reaching the final yet again, but this time defeating DPR Korea on penalties to become the first Australian team to win an Asian title, as well as the first team in the world to be champions of two different confederations. Australia’s women have come a long way in the last century; from being banned from playing on football grounds, to reaching an all-time high of 4th place in the FIFA world rankings, to attracting a record 50,629 spectators to see them in their send-off match ahead of hosting the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Well, that was until their opening match less than a week later, which unfolded in front of an incredible 75,784 fans at Stadium Australia in Sydney. We’re all eager to experience the next landmarks in the Matildas’ football history, and we have a feeling that we won’t have long to wait… <h2>New Zealand</h2> The origin of the Football Ferns that we know today was hampered in a similar way to Australia, with the ban on women’s football being lifted in 1973, with a small number of clubs playing each other across the country.

Again, similar to their Oceanic neighbours, a New Zealand women’s team first took to the pitch at the 1975 AFC Women's Championship. However, unlike Australia, the matches were recognised as full internationals, making the participants the very first official Football Ferns. New Zealand benefitted from a strong grassroots programme that had been championed by then NZWFA president Roy Cox, often considered the father of women’s football in the country, and they rose to their first international challenge with sterling results. Beating hosts Hong Kong in the opening game, New Zealand went on to win against Malaysia, Australia and eventually Thailand in the Final, becoming the shock inaugural champions of the tournament. It wasn’t until the establishment of the Women’s World Invitational Tournament in the eighties that New Zealand made another foray into international competition (apart from a budding rivalry with Australia), and New Zealand made their mark right from the outset as runner-up of the inaugural 1981 event. In the meantime, the game was starting to pick up on the Oceanic scene, and New Zealand were quick to assert their dominance at a regional level, as they scooped the trophy over Australia in the first OFC Women's Nations Cup. Chinese Taipei went on to win the next two tournaments, but New Zealand reclaimed their title at a pivotal point in 1991 – the year that the competition acted as a World Cup qualifier. They scored an astonishing 27 goals in two matches against Papua New Guinea, a difference that gave them the edge over heated competitors Australia, securing their historic berth at the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup.

It would be a long wait for New Zealand until their next World Cup campaign, with Australia starting to edge them out of the limelight – winning the next three OFC Nations Cups, and therefore claiming the sole qualifying spot for Oceania. However, the fortune of the Football Ferns started to turn when Australia became official members of the AFC, opening up a solid opportunity for a new top dog of the OFC, a spot which New Zealand have enthusiastically claimed – winning every Nations Cup they’ve participated in since. From 2007 onwards, New Zealand have played in every edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, and the Olympics – making their Games debut at Beijing 2008. The latter they have made some headway in. securing a quarter-final finish in 2012 after beating Cameroon in the group stage – which was enough to secure them a third-place entry into the knockouts. Victory at the Women’s World Cup however has proved elusive for the Football Ferns. Although they recorded an astonishing draw against the hosts Canada in 2015, they had yet to win a World Cup match against any opponent… until now that is. New Zealand made history in the opening match of the 2023 tournament by defeating Norway (the best ranked team in their group) with a single goal from the centurion-capped Hannah Wilkinson. In the end, their first ever win at a FIFA Women’s World wasn’t enough for the team to secure them a place in the knockouts. But the Football Ferns, their fans and football fans throughout New Zealand have proven that there is plenty of love and dedication for the game and that it is only a matter of time until the Kiwis will amount to more success and make that step into to knockouts of a Women’s World Cup.