Doodle is celebrating the 2023 Women’s World Cup. The image was initially posted on opening day and has been unveiled once again during the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
This year’s World Cup is the ninth and the first hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
The first Fifa World Championship for women’s football was in 1991. Before, Fifa had tested the waters with an Invitation Tournament held in China in 1988. Following its success, plans were put in place to host an official women’s world championship, although Fifa was reluctant to call it the World Cup at the time. The US won the first Women’s World Cup, defeating Norway 2-1 in Guangzhou.
England featured in their first official Women’s World Cup in 1995, playing against Nigeria with a place in the knockouts at stake. They won 3-2. But their debut run in the tournament was brought to a halt by Germany in the quarter-finals, where they lost 0-3. The Germans made it to the final but were defeated by Norway, which became the first European nation to win the Women’s World Cup.
As part of Google’s celebration, it acknowledged the significance of the ninth 2023 Women’s World Cup. It extended good luck wishes to all participating national teams. “The world is watching with flags in their hands and hope in their hearts!” it said.
The 2023 Fifa Women’s World Cup began on July 20. The event entered the quarter-final stage on August 11 and the final is on August 20. The Lionesses beat Colombia in the quarter-finals to move within two games of winning the trophy.
The team has already defeated Haiti, Denmark, China, and Nigeria – but this is where the real hard work starts.
Here’s what we have to look forward to.
What time is England playing?
The Lionesses are playing on Wednesday August 16 at 11am UK time at Stadium Australia in Sydney, a 75,784-seat venue, the largest at the World Cup. Stadium Australia will also host the final.
England will be playing Australia, which boast Sam Kerr, who has been putting on a great performance with her club, Chelsea.
Despite losing to Nigeria in the group stage, the Aussies still managed to top their group and beat Denmark 2-0 in the round-of-16 tie.
The semi-final game will be shown live on BBC1.
