Every day throughout the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, 20 minutes provides an update on the highlights of the competition. This Friday, the World Cup takes a break before the first round of 16 on Saturday: Switzerland – Spain in Auckland (7 a.m. French time) and Japan – Norway in Wellington (10 a.m.). But there are still things happening.
FIFA delighted by crowds
It is rare to see the authority declare itself disappointed when organizing a competition. Again, she said the Worlds had “exceeded expectations in multiple ways”. First in terms of attendance, with 1.222 million spectators after the 48 group matches, an average of 25,000 people per game.
This represents an increase of 29% compared to the 2019 World Cup in France at this stage of the competition (1.1 million for the entire tournament). One downside, however: four years ago, there were fewer teams (24 against 32) and therefore fewer matches (52 against 64). In total, FIFA wants to exceed 1.9 million fans. These figures hide disparities: if Australia – Ireland in Sydney was full in Sydney (75,784 spectators), some New Zealand stadiums sounded hollow.
An investigation against the Zambian coach
FIFA always, but for another less brilliant file. The International Federation has opened an investigation after receiving a complaint for an “inappropriate gesture”. The case concerns the Zambian selection, eliminated at the end of the group stage. THE Guardian said Thursday coach Bruce Mwape had touched the chest of a player last Saturday during a training session, under the eyes of some teammates, two days before the last match won against Costa Rica (3-1).
In office since 2018, Mwape had already been cited in September 2022 in a sexual assault scandal in Zambian football. Asked at a press conference at the World Cup, the technician had firmly rejected the accusations. A spokesperson for the Zambian Federation says it has received “no complaints” and was “surprised to learn of such alleged behavior from the coach”.
The Blue favorites assumed against Morocco
In any case, this is the opinion of Eugénie Le Sommer. “We are favorites, we are not going to hide it”, launched the top scorer in the history of the Blue (90 achievements) about the unexpected round of 16 next Tuesday. “We were the first surprises, admitted the Lyon striker. We were thinking of Germany or Colombia, Morocco decided otherwise. “No jargon therefore, except perhaps when releasing this sentence:” The status of favorite does not mean anything. »