World Cup fever: The Women's World Cup ball at Mrs Macquarie’s Chair in Sydney.
Photo by
Hamish Donaldson
As Hips Don’t Lie by Shakira played throughout Stadium Australia it was confirmed: this had been the best World Cup.
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As I usually get up at ridiculous hours of the morning to watch the Premier League in England, I was ecstatic to have a tournament in my own back yard.
I bought tickets as soon as they were released and got my hands on a ticket to the World Cup final that was played in Sydney on Sunday, August 20.
As Matildas fever swept the country, new household names Mackenzie Arnold, Hayley Raso, Katrina Gorry and so many more joined Sam Kerr as global superstars.
Sell-out crowds were the norm, with close to two million people attending matches and historic TV ratings figures being blown out of the water.
When arriving in Sydney, it was clear that the city had come down with a bad case of football fever.
Vamos: Spain has a throw-in.
Huge World Cup footballs had sprung up at major landmarks and every pub proudly advertised that the final would be playing in their venue.
Arriving at the stadium several hours early there was already a buzz. When the gates opened, the stadium filled quickly with fans of England and Spain.
As the teams walked out to a 76,000-strong crowd calling their names, these women were about to become the biggest stars on the planet for close to two hours.
It was an open game in the first 25 minutes, with both sides coming tantalisingly close to scoring.
The crucial blow came in the 29th minute, as Spain captain Olga Carmona ran into the penalty area and slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to send the crowd wild.
Golden hour: Stadium Australia in the sun before the World Cup final.
Despite launching attack after attack, and goal-keeping heroics from the eventual Golden Glove winner Mary Earps, including a penalty save, after 13 minutes of added time, Spain was crowned champion of the world for the first time.
While the crowd waited to watch Carmona lift the trophy above her head, surrounded by the rest of her teammates, you could not help but feel emotional.
Close to a year ago, 15 Spanish players had stepped down from the national team in protest against Spanish coach Jorge Vilda because of his alleged poor treatment of the women.
The Spanish football federation chose to back Vilda and close to a year later he was booed by the crowd at Stadium Australia as he held the World Cup trophy.
On top of the world: Spain lifts the World Cup.
The Spanish players achieved greatness despite their coach — not because of him.
The importance of the 2023 Women’s World Cup is difficult to overstate. People have woken up to how spectacular these women are, but also to the trials and tribulations they have had to go through.
Hopefully change is on the way.
The 2023 Women’s World Cup has not just reshaped the game of football, it has hopefully changed something much larger than that.
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