Overview

The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup Australia And New Zealand is the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup tournament, which takes place every four years. The competition takes place in Australia and New Zealand between July 20th to August 20th, 2023. There are 32 teams competing, including the 2019 champion, the United States, Australia and New Zealand host teams, which qualified automatically. The final is due to be held on August 20th. During the Women's World Cup in mid-2023, the tournament generated significant media coverage, discourse and memes online.

Background

On June 25th, 2020, Australia and New Zealand won the bid to host the Women's World Cup,^[1] notably becoming the first time both countries hosted a senior FIFA tournament. This was also the first Women's World Cup to be hosted in multiple countries.

New Zealand vs. Norway

The opening match of the tournament, with co-hosts New Zealand vs. Norway, was played on July 20th, 2023, at Eden Park in central Auckland. The game ended with New Zealand's victory at a 1-0 score, subsequently resulting in numerous social media posts and discussions. For example, Twitter^[2] user @Karri_Kemyst posted a wholesome moment during the match in which players helped an injured teammate out of the field. The post (shown below) received over 438,000 views and 7,400 likes in four days.

The Men's World Cup could NEVER!!! 😂 https://t.co/AtvIXE9E2D

— ⚽️ Karri Salas ⚽️ Typos don't count during WC (@Karri_Kemyst) July 20, 2023

Australia vs. Republic of Ireland

The inaugural match in Australia, with co-hosts Australia vs. Republic of Ireland, took place on the same day (July 20th, 2023) at Stadium Australia in Sydney. The Australian team won with a 1-0 score and also registered a record for attendance at a women's football match with an audience of over 75,000 people. The Twitter^[3] page @TSN_Sports shared a screenshot of the total amount of attendees of the match (shown below), which garnered roughly 70 likes and 20 retweets in four days.

Online Reactions

Capybara Is Better Than Kangaroo

On July 24th, 2023, during the Brazil vs. Panama match, a Brazilian fan was holding a sign saying "Capybara Is Better Than Kangaroo," which was captured by the cameras of the livestream match. The image went viral on Twitter^[4] as user @natalialaragc's post (shown below) garnered over 74,000 likes and 11,800 retweets in 10 hours.

Brazilian fans had notably already created a chant to mock rival team Australia on July 16th, 2023, as Twitter^[5] user @marianaspinelIi's video (shown below) shows a crowd of fans singing "Capybara is better than the kangaroo!" The video garnered over 552,000 views and 12,600 likes in a week.

vai tomar no c**A capivara é melhor que o canguru!É Copa, família pic.twitter.com/8IE6NiLCQh

— Mariana Spinelli (@marianaspinelIi) July 16, 2023

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References