FIFA have unveiled the full match schedule for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil on Thursday, confirming the tournament will begin with hosts Brazil at Rio de Janeiro’s iconic Maracana Stadium on June 24.
FIFA, the governing body of association football, have also confirmed that the stadium will host the final on July 25.
The Brazilian national team will tour three of the country’s biggest cities during the group stage. After opening at the Maracana, the team will travel to Sao Paulo to play its second match at Arena Itaquera on June 29 and will play their last group stage match at the Estadio Nacional Mané Garrincha in Brasília on July 4.
One notable city missing from Brazil’s group-stage itinerary is Belo Horizonte.
While the Mineirao stadium is among the eight venues selected for the tournament, the hosts won’t visit the city during the group stage. The stadium remains synonymous with one of the worst moments in Brazilian soccer history because of the men’s national team’s 7-1 defeat to Germany in the semifinal of the 2014 World Cup.
The humiliation was so profound that “7-1” (sete a um) has since entered the culture as shorthand for a sudden and total catastrophe. Additionally, in 1950, when Brazil hosted the tournament for the first time, Uruguay beat the hosts 2-1 at the Maracana, a defeat that became known as the Maracanazo.
Technically, Brazil could still end up there in the knockout rounds. If they win Group A, they will play the round of 16 in Fortaleza and then head to Belo Horizonte for a quarterfinal. If Brazil finishes second in its group, Belo Horizonte would instead host its round-of-16 match.
The eight host cities are Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Brasilia, Fortaleza, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador. Each city will stage at least seven games and at least one knockout-round match, spreading the tournament across Brazil rather than concentrating the latter stages in Rio and São Paulo.
Sao Paulo will have the heaviest workload, hosting 10 matches at Arena Itaquera, including a semifinal and the third-place game. The other semifinal will be played at the Maracanã, while Belo Horizonte and Fortaleza will stage quarterfinals. Brasília, Porto Alegre, Recife and Salvador will host matches through the round of 16.
The final, as it was in 1950 and in the 2014 Men’s World Cup, will take place in Maracana Stadium in Rio.
By staging the final, the stadium will become only the third venue to host the final of both the men’s and women’s World Cups, together with Sweden’s Rasunda Stadium, which hosted the men’s final in 1958 and the women’s in 1995, and California’s Rose Bowl, which staged the men’s final in 1994 and the women’s final in 1999.
Next year’s tournament will be the first Women’s World Cup staged in South America and the second to feature 32 teams after the expanded format debuted in Australia and New Zealand in 2023.
To date, 17 countries in addition to host Brazil have qualified for next year’s tournament: Australia, China, Japan, Korea DPR, Korea Republic, Philippines, Algeria, Cameroon, Malawi, Morocco, Argentina, Colombia, New Zealand, Denmark, France, Germany and defending champions Spain. Tournament heavyweights the United States and European champions England are expected to secure their places later in the qualification cycle.
Brazil has played in every Women’s World Cup since 1991 but has never won it. Its best finish remains runner-up in 2007, when a team led by Marta lost 2-0 to Germany in the final.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
Women's Soccer, FIFA Women's World Cup
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