NEW ZEALAND celebrated a historic victory Thursday at a nearly full Eden Park, edging Norway 1-0 in the opening match of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. This triumph put an end to its previous poor campaign performance. In its five World Cup outings, New Zealand failed to reap any victory in the past 15 games. The winning goal was scored by Hannah Wilkinson in front of 42,137 spectators, while Ria Percival failed to add the second as her penalty was thwarted later by the woodwork. Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup is slated to run from July 20 to Aug. 20. This is the first time the tournament is hosted by more than one country and includes 32 teams, making this year’s tournament the biggest to date. China, having secured the Asian Cup title last year, is placed in Group D alongside England (8:30 p.m., Aug. 1 local time), Denmark (8 p.m., July 22 local time) and Haiti (8:30 p.m., July 28 local time). The Chinese squad, who reached the round of 16 in the 2019 World Cup, is headlined by inspirational captain Wang Shanshan, who netted twice at Canada 2015. Fellow two-time tournament veterans Zhang Rui, Wang Shuang and Wu Haiyan will also travel to a third tournament with the Steel Roses, while star attacker Tang Jiali, who was nominated for the Best Young Player award at Canada 2015, travels with the squad after missing out at France 2019. In total, 14 members of the squad are heading to their very first Women’s World Cup, including teenage Celtic star Shen Mengyu. In Auckland on Thursday, banners and posters emblazoned with the 2023 Women’s World Cup slogan “Beyond Greatness” welcomed visitors from across the world, as the city prepared to host the opening game in what is expected to be the biggest women’s sporting event in history. Located in the north of New Zealand’s North Island, Auckland is the country’s largest city with a population of approximately 1.6 million. A record crowd flooded into the city’s Eden Park stadium for the tournament opener between the home team Football Ferns and Norway. In the commercial heart of the city, FIFA is hosting a 2,000-capacity Fan Festival for those unable to travel to the games. The festival, which promises to feature games, food and live performances, will show all 48 of the matches on a 111-feet outdoor screen. On Thursday, Auckland officials said plans to show the opening match at the festival had been scrapped, “out of deep respect to those who lost their lives” in Thursday’s shooting. The Fan Festival will open again from midday Friday. Co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia, the games will be spread across 10 stadiums in nine different cities. The five Australian cities — Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth — will host 35 games, while the four New Zealand cities — Auckland, Hamilton, Wellington and Dunedin — will host 29. The bumper number of teams also means space for eight nations who have never made an appearance at a World Cup finals before. Haiti, Republic of Ireland, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Vietnam and Zambia will all make their debut later this month. This year’s prize pot for the tournament will increase to US$110 million — a nearly three-fold increase from 2019 and seven times more than in 2015 — and the 2023 edition will see every player at the Women’s World Cup receive compensation from FIFA. All players will receive US$30,000 for qualifying for the group stages, with that amount doubled for those that make it into the round of 16. Women’s World Cup mascot Tazuni is a 15-year-old penguin with a shock of blue hair whose name is a mash-up of the “Tasman Sea” — the stretch of water between Australia and New Zealand — and “unity,” a nod to the co-hosts becoming the first countries to ever share Women’s World Cup hosting rights. As the legend goes, Tazuni took up the sport after joining some children playing on a beach. “The kids from the beach hand over a personalized football kit, and she confidently strides into the stadium to showcase her talents,” according to the FIFA website. (SD-Agencies) | 