ECA chief Bloomfield: 'This is undoubtedly the biggest Women's World Cup ever'

By Sports Desk June 27, 2023

The 2023 Women's World Cup will be the "biggest ever", according to the European Club Association (ECA) head of women's football Claire Bloomfield.

Australia and New Zealand will host the tournament across July and August, with 32 teams competing in the competition for the first time in its history.

With women's football in a stronger position than ever before, Bloomfield is confident this year's World Cup will prove to be the best yet.

"This is undoubtedly going to be the biggest Women's World Cup ever," Bloomfield told Stats Perform at the inaugural ECA Women's Football Summit in London.

"You heard the FIFA chief of women's football, Sarai Bareman, talking about what a landmark occasion this was going to be. We have an extremely close alliance with FIFA, particularly through the extension of our new MOU, which references women's football for the first time.

"So we fully support the work that is going on to deliver this record-breaking World Cup.

"It's obviously an incredible showcase also for the players who are playing at European clubs, likely to be a record number of players from Europe, I'm sure.

"We will actually be travelling out to Australia and New Zealand to experience the competition and use it as an opportunity to strengthen our relationships with national teams and other stakeholders."

Bloomfield also emphasised the importance of the inaugural ECA summit for women's football.

"This is a hugely significant landmark for ECA and for women's club football across Europe. We're really fortunate to have the leadership in our chairman, Nasser Al-Khelaifi and our ECA CEO Charlie Marshall, who truly believe in women's football," she said.

"And it's with this passion that they have all sought to drive women's football forwards that we're able to put on an event like this and bring stakeholders from all around the world to be with us as we celebrate the achievements of our women's football strategy so far."

The 2023 Women's World Cup starts on July 20, with co-hosts New Zealand taking on Norway.

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