The 2023 Women’s World Cup has reached its final week, with just four matches – and four teams – remaining.
England have a real chance of following last year’s Euros success with an even bigger prize. They beat Colombia 2-1 on Saturday to earn a place in the semi-finals, where they will face Australia. The other semi is between Spain and Sweden.
When is the Women’s World Cup final?
The World Cup final will be played on Sunday 20 August with kick-off at 11am BST. It will be played at Stadium Australia in Sydney.
There will be coverage on both the BBC and ITV, with the programme beginning at 10am on BBC One and 10.15am on ITV1. You will also be able to stream the match via BBC iPlayer, the BBC Sport website, and ITVX.
For the teams that do not make it through the semis, the third-place playoff will be a day earlier, on Saturday 19 August, kicking off at 9am BST.
That game will be played at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, and shown on ITV.
When are the semi-finals?
Spain vs Sweden will be played at Eden Park in Auckland on Tuesday 15 August, kicking off at 9am BST.
England vs Australia is on Wednesday 16 August at Stadium Australia in Sydney, kicking off at 11am BST.
Both games will be shown live on ITV1 and ITVX.
It is just the third time Spain have played in the Women’s World Cup and the furthest they have advanced. They reached the knockout stages four years ago in France but they were eliminated by the US. The only other time Spain have reached the final four at a major tournament was the 1997 Euros.
Their success this time comes despite a turbulent recent history. Last September, 15 players signed letters that said they were withdrawing from the national team to protect their emotional health and called on the Spanish federation to commit to a more professional environment. The players insisted they did not ask for coach Jorge Vilda’s dismissal.
The Swedes were runners-up at the World Cup in 2003 and they’ve finished in third place three times, but they’ve never won the trophy. Two years ago they lost to Canada in the gold-medal match at the Tokyo Olympics.
They knocked the holders and favourites, the US, out of the competition in the round-of-16, proving they have what it takes to beat anyone on their day.
Sarina Wiegman says that she will clue up on the sporting history of England and Australia ahead of their semi-final against the co-hosts, after admitting that she might have under-appreciated the intensity of the rivalry.
“I just think it’s going to be really big but now I’ve had a couple of questions about that so it’s probably going to be bigger than I imagined it was!” she said.
“I will speak to my players and staff to see what that rivalry is then. We have had such a warm welcome here and really enjoyed our time here in Australia. I actually really like the people here but that doesn’t mean there’s no rivalry so we will see on Wednesday.
“We know it’s an away game. Let’s try to turn it around as inspiration for us. We try to focus on our task, what we want to do and how we want to play. Of course we want to play our game and everyone has a task in and out of possession. That’s what we talk about – football.”
Australia goalkeeper Lydia Williams attempted to downplay the rivalry, telling reporters: “I think it’s just another game.”
She added: “At the end of the day we know how to shift focus to representing and performing. It’s a significant game, obviously we are in the semi-finals, but it’s just another opponent for us.”
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