How, where and what time to watch and live stream Matildas matches at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia | OneFootball

It has been a long wait since Australia and New Zealand were announced back in 2020 as co-hosts for the 2023 Women’s World Cup, the tournament has finally kicked off. The opening ceremony and first game took place in Auckland on 20 July before the Matildas kicked off their campaign in Sydney on the same night. Here is how you can watch the Matildas in action, and follow the tournament in Australia.

When and where is the Women’s World Cup?

Sticking with the standard mid-year time slot – albeit in the middle of the southern hemisphere’s winter – the ninth iteration of the women’s tournament runs from 20 July to 20 August. But more importantly, it’s here, on Australian soil.

Despite the exciting prospect of watching games in person, the real benefit of winning hosting rights is not having to disrupt your circadian rhythm in order to follow it. No more dragging yourself bleary-eyed out of bed at 3am to watch an international football match. You may, of course, find yourself a little shabby the next morning depending on the result from the night before.

Previous Women’s World Cups have been held in summer or autumn but this year’s competition is in the middle of winter. However, the impact of wintery conditions is going to vary across the nine host cities. This World Cup has a big geographical spread of locations, stretching from Perth in Western Australia to Hamilton on New Zealand’s north island. In July last year Brisbane experienced an average daily maximum of 20C, whereas that was 14C in Melbourne.

There are six stadiums in Australia and four in New Zealand across nine cities. Proceedings started at Eden Park in Auckland with the opening ceremony at 5pm AEST on 20 July, immediately after which co-hosts New Zealand got the ball rolling against Norway. The Matildas took on Ireland at Stadium Australia later that evening. It is the first edition of the tournament to feature 32 nations, resulting in a total of 64 matches.

When is the next Matildas game and what time do they kick off?

The Matildas finished first in their group before they moved into the quarter-finals with a 2-0 win over Denmark. Australia play their next game against England on Wednesday 16 August at 8pm AEST in Sydney.

The Matildas face a tricky path if they are to go all the way to the final on 20 August. We’ve outlined their potential pathway to lifting the trophy here, and you can find all the details about who is playing in our team guides and player guides.

How can I watch and follow the Women’s World Cup in Australia?

The Guardian will have extensive coverage of the tournament, including minute-by-minute live blogs of every single one of the 64 games, plus match reports, player ratings, analysis, features, day-to-day news, regular episodes of the Women’s Football Weekly podcast throughout the tournament and twice-weekly Moving the Goalposts newsletters. The Guardian also has in-depth guides to every team, including the Matildas.

If you want to watch the football on a screen, Seven will be broadcasting 15 “key matches” – including all Matildas games – on free-to-air TV and on their streaming platform 7plus. Optus Sport is where you will find all 64 matches, but for a fee. A free account will get you match highlights, scores and news, but a paid plan is required to access live matches and replays. Monthly plans start at $6.99 for Optus customers, and $24.99 for everyone else.

Missed out on a ticket? You can still watch live and free at fan sites

All nine host cities in Australia and New Zealand will have live sites that will screen matches. The sites, called Fifa Fan Festivals, will be open at different times depending on the fixtures and are free to visit. Local councils are planning to hold live screenings. Big screens at two Sydney stadiums – CommBank Stadium in Parramatta and Sydney Football Stadium – will show the Matildas’ semi-final against England, with fans subjected to a first-in, first-served system.