For the first time in women’s World Cup history, the 2023 field will consist of 32 teams, which is eight more than the previous high of 24 teams from the 2015 and 2019 tournaments.
For those familiar with those previous World Cups, this year’s format isn’t much different. But the new number of teams does change the group stage a little.
So here’s a quick refresher on how a champion will be crowned.
Group Stage (July 20 – August 3)
The 32 teams are broken up into eight groups of four teams (groups A through H). Each team will play the other teams in their group once for a total of three group stage matches per team. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage and the bottom two teams are eliminated.
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Knockout Stage (August 5 – August 20)
The knockout stage consists of four rounds, beginning with the Round of 16 on August 5, which leads to the quarterfinals on August 11, the semifinals on August 15 and the final on August 20.
It’s called the knockout stage because winners advance and losers go home. No second chances.
In the Round of 16, each first-place team from the group stage plays a second-place team from a different group, as pre-determined by the below bracket. From there, the winners continue to advance until a champion is crowned.
Simple enough, right? Great, let’s football!
