This summer Australia and New Zealand are hosting the Women’s World Cup, the largest women’s sporting event in the world. It is the 9th edition of this historic event. This is the first time for this event to be held in more than one country and the first time to be held in the Southern Hemisphere.
Countries are finally starting to invest in women’s soccer and people all over the world are excited about the FIFA Women’s World Cup. This is already the most-watched and most competitive Women’s World Cup of all time, demonstrating just how far women’s sports have come over the last few years.
This World Cup has already proven to be very unpredictable and exciting, with Germany(current number 2 in the world) not making it out of the group stage, and the United States, 2-time defending champs ranked number 1 getting knocked out in the round of 16.
The moment visitors walk off the plane they are flooded with signs welcoming them to The Women’s World Cup. Similar signs and banners are located all around the cities sporting the slogan “Beyond Greatness.”
In every city, there was a FIFA Women’s World Cup Experience where fans could buy merch and watch games. If a game wasn’t going on the FIFA Fan experience would have live music and food. This made it a very exciting place for all soccer fans and other tourists at any time of the day.
Each city brought together the spirit of the World Cup and their own culture. Before each game, there was a “Welcome to Country” presentation where the indigenous people of either Australia or New Zealand would display their culture by doing a tribal dance to welcome the tourists and honor their ancestors.
The largest fan base down under, besides the Fern’s (New Zealand) and Matilda’s (Australia) fans, was the American Outlaws or the U.S. Women’s National Team(USWNT) supporters. At times it seemed that America was the third host country even though the fans were over 9000 miles from home.
“The coolest part of attending the World Cup was cheering for your country with fellow Americans in a foreign country. The demonstration of patriotism on foreign land is an amazing feeling,” says Brett Comer, a USWNT fan who attended the World Cup.
This fanbase is very special. They will travel far to support their team and carry the belief that no matter what the USWNT can win any game no matter the circumstances. In return, the USWNT wins, keeping their and their fans’ hopes alive. They are current back-to-back world champions, having won 4 World Cups and 4 Olympic gold medals. This World Cup, however, they have fallen short of expectations, not placing first in their group for only the second time ever in the World Cup and going out in the Round of 16 for the first time.
This has been quite a shock, as the USWNT is always expected to win. Fox Sports even had the prime location for their broadcasting set by the Sydney Harbor Bridge and the opera house, assuming that they would be there for the whole World Cup.
Fans could go and stand behind the set as the film to get their “5 seconds of fame” and be on TV to say hi to their family back in the States. The Fox team has three former professional soccer players on the anchor team. One of them is Carli Lloyd, a USWNT legend who retired only in 2021, shortly after the Olympics.
The anchors would talk and take pictures with the fans during commercial breaks making the experience awesome. All the fans, especially the girls, were smiling from ear to ear when Carli Lloyd would talk to them. She has done so much for the sport, and it was crazy to see her in person.
Being at the set made it feel like the USWNT fans were all one family, and it felt like being at home. It was hard to not get emotional while on the set. All of the crew and anchors were so nice, and all the fans, anchors, and crew were just grateful to be there. Being at that set was the one place where this writer felt the true USWNT pride and hope. Everyone standing in Darling Harbor carried a large sense of hope. A sense of hope that was much larger than hoping the USWNT would win. It felt like women’s soccer was the biggest and best sport in the world, and everyone at the Fox Sports set believed it. It was beyond greatness.
“I feel great pride for not only my team but for women’s sports, as a whole, and that so many from all different backgrounds are watching and cheering on these awesome athletes come together to celebrate women’s sports,” says Louise Comer, USWNT fan, and 2023 World Cup attendee.
Even though the USWNT didn’t do the best it was still one of the most life-changing experiences. Seeing the entire community of Women’s soccer fans come together to showcase the sport as it is finally starting to get the respect it deserves.
