2023 Women’s World Cup Team Base Camps confirmed by FIFA

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FIFA
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FIFA has confirmed the short-listed Team Base Camp options that will be available for selection by participating teams (Participating Member Associations: PMAs) for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023.

In what arrives as a first for the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament, competing countries will use dedicated Team Base Camps in next year’s tournament in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

A Team Base Camp (TBC) is the ‘home away from home’ for a PMA during the competition period and includes an accommodation and training site pairing for the entire delegation.

In Australia, 35 Team Base Camp options have been shortlisted across five Host Cities and 11 other regional centres, for the 16 Participating Member Associations that will play group matches in Australia.

In Aotearoa New Zealand, 21 TBC options have been shortlisted across four Host Cities and five other regional centres, for the 16 PMAs that will play group matches in Aotearoa New Zealand.

After the Draw for the Tournament in Auckland/Tāmaki Makaurau on October 22, 2022 – the 29 qualified PMAs will be able to visit the various TBC sites in the country where they are drawn to play their group matches and submit to FIFA their preferred TBC choices. FIFA will then confirm the selected TBCs by the end of 2022.

The three PMAs that will qualify for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 via the Play-Off Tournament in February 2023 will select their TBC after qualification.

Appearing on the shortlist does not equate to a pairing’s automatic confirmation as a TBC. It simply means the venue has passed a thorough evaluation process and is eligible for selection by a PMA.

In addition to the TBCs, Venue Specific Team Hotel and Venue Specific Training Sites pairings aligned to the 10 match venues have been confirmed. There are two per host city – eight in Aotearoa New Zealand and 10 in Australia – and these will primarily be used for match preparation activities on the day before match days.

In addition, the location of the headquarters for the referees’ training base has also been confirmed as the Sydney Olympic Park Athletics Centre.

FIFA Women’s World Cup Australia & New Zealand 2023 is the first to be co-hosted, the first to be held in the Southern Hemisphere and the first with 32 teams – up from 24 in 2019.

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Victory unites with Roasting Warehouse in culture-led partnership

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Image credit: Melbourne Victory

The Melbourne-based anf family-owned business will join the Victory family, uniting two institutions which represent the city’s culture and identity.

A partnership with local roots

As the newest partner of Melbourne Victory, Roasting Warehouse joins forces with a vital part of the city’s sporting landscape.

The club’s Managing Director, Caroline Carnegie, outlined why the partnership bears so much value to both parties.

“We are excited to collaborate with Roasting Warehouse, a community-oriented destination for high-quality coffee, proud of its foundations in Melbourne,” said Carnegie via official media release.

“Football and coffee sit at the epicentre of Melbourne’s culture. The two go hand-in-hand, consistently at the centre of the conversation that stirs Melburnians, which is no different to the conversation sport and Melbourne Victory stir in the State.”

Indeed, this is a partnership which combines the identity, passions and culture of an entire city, therefore giving it the foundations required for long-term, mutual success.

Representing the best of Melbourne

Both Victory and Roasting Warehouse are hugely successful in their respective industries. They are institutions with community-oriented philosphies, who pride themselves on craft and quality.

“We’re incredibly proud to partner with Melbourne Victory, a club that represents the heart, passion, and ambition of Melbourne,” revealed Roasting Warehouse Head of Brand, Alexander Paraskevopoulos.

“As a Melbourne-founded, family-run business, supporting a team that means so much to the local community feels very natural for us.”

Furthermore, through their high-quality blends, Roasting Warehouse will look to prepare Victory’s players and staff for high performances on the pitch as the seasons nears completion.

But this is about far more than just fueling athletes.

This is a partnership which embodies and unites two of Melbourne’s greatest strengths and cultural markers – a connection forged from the city’s very own DNA.

 

For more information about Roasting Warehouse, click here.

Marie-Louise Eta makes history as new Union Berlin head coach

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Image credit: FC Union Berlin

In an historic appointment, Eta will take over as head coach of Union Berlin until the end of the season.

History in the making

Previously the first female assistant coach in Bundesliga history with Union Berlin, Eta will now take the reigns of the men’s first team on an interim basis.

Currently, the club sit in 11th place in the Bundesliga table, but with only two wins so far in 2026, relegation appears an all-too-real prospect, and one which the club is desperate to avoid.

“Given the points gap in the lower half of the table, our place in the Bundesliga is not yet secure,” said Eta via official media release.

‘I am delighted that the club has entrusted me with this challenging task. One of Union’s strengths has always been, and remains, the ability to pull together in such situations.”

Eta will begin as Union’s new head coach with immediate effect, and will be in the dugout for the club’s matchup against Wolfsburg this weekend.

 

A step into an equal future

Eta’s appointment signals a major step towards a more level playing field in the football landscape.

Furthermore, Eta joins other coaches including Sabrinna Wittmann, Hannah Dingley and Corinne Diacre who, in recent years, have blazed a trail for female coaches to step into the men’s game.

Wittmann currently manages FC Ingolstadt in Germany’s third division, and was the first female head coach in Germany’s top three divisions.

In 2023, Dingley became caretaker manager of Forest Green Rovers, and thus the first woman to lead a men’s professional team in England.

Diacre, now head coach of France’s women’s national team, managed Ligue 2’s Clerment Foot between 2014 and 2017.

 

Final thoughts

The impact therefore, is that Eta’s appointment will show future generations of aspiring female coaches that men’s football is an equally viable and possible pathway as the women’s game.

The time is now to level the playing field.

And while it may be a short-term role, its effect on attitudes towards equality and fair opportunities in the game will hopefully resonate long after the season ends.

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