Where were you at 6.50 pm on 31 July 2022? The time might not ring a bell – until we tell you it was the moment when Chloe Kelly scored the winning goal against Germany in the final of the 2022 Women’s Euros.

To say last summer was one to remember would be an understatement – and now, almost a year on from that incredible moment, we get to relive the magic all over again as we watch the Lionesses back in action at the Fifa 2023 Women’s World Cup.

Kicking off later this week, the tournament is going to be the most action-packed Women’s World Cup yet, with 32 national teams battling it out to see who can claim the trophy. That number means this competition will be the biggest the women’s game has ever seen since the first in 1970.

Here at Strong Women, we’ll be updating you on all the must-see moments throughout the tournament – but to kick things off, here’s everything you need to know about the competition before play gets underway later this week.  

The Women’s World Cup starts this Thursday (20 July) with an opening ceremony held at Eden Park, New Zealand’s national stadium in Auckland.

The stadium – which seats 50,000 people – will be home to several matches throughout the tournament, including New Zealand’s first-round match against Norway, which will follow the opening ceremony at 8am BST.

The opening ceremony will feature performances by artists from across New Zealand and Australia, including the official World Cup song Do It Again by the Australian artist Mallrat and Kiwi singer Benee. 

England’s first match is on Saturday 22 July, when the Lionesses will go up against the Haitian national team. Kick-off for that game is at 10.30am BST. 

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is being co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, with matches taking place across the two countries.

A total of 10 stadiums across nine different cities will be used throughout the tournament, with locations including Hamilton, Brisbane, Auckland and Adelaide. The final is set to be played in Stadium Australia, Sydney. 

The line-up for this year’s Women’s World Cup has been expanded from 24 teams to 32, meaning there’s even more action in store. 

These 32 teams have been sorted into eight groups of four teams for the first round, where they will play each other in a round-robin format before the two top teams from each group move on the final 16.

Following the conclusion of the intercontinental qualification play-offs on 23 February, the teams taking part in the tournament are as follows (we’ve sorted them into their groups to make things less confusing).

Group A  

• New Zealand
• Norway
• Philippines
• Switzerland

Group B

• Australia
• Canada
• Nigeria
• Republic of Ireland

Group C

• Costa Rica
• Japan
• Spain
• Zambia

Group D

• China
• Denmark
• England
• Haiti

Group E

• Netherlands
• Portugal
• United States
• Vietnam

Group F

• Brazil
• France
• Jamaica
• Panama

Group G

• Argentina
• Italy
• South Africa
• Sweden

Group H

• Colombia
• Germany
• South Korea
• Morocco

Couldn’t be bothered to scour through the list above? No worries – England’s Lionesses are in Group D, meaning the team will face Haiti, Denmark and China in their first three matches.

If they come first or second in their group after those matches (fingers crossed), they’ll play either the winner or runner-up of Group B, which is made up of Australia, Canada, Nigeria and the Republic of Ireland. 

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is set to last exactly one month, with the first match taking place on 20 July and the final taking place on 20 August.

The group stages are expected to conclude on 3 August with Morocco v Colombia, before knockout stages begin on 5 August.

From there, things move quickly, with the quarter-finals set to take place on 11 and 12 of August before the semi-finals on 15 and 16 August.

That’ll give the teams who qualify for the final just a couple of rest days before the action kicks off on 20 August. 

England’s first three matches will take place between 22 July and 1 August. The first is against Haiti, followed by Denmark, and then concluding with China.

The Lionesses’ match times are as follows:

• England v Haiti – 22 July at 10:30am BST
• England v Denmark – 28 July at 9:30am BST
• England v China – 1 August at 11:30am BST 

You now know when the Lionesses will be playing – but what familiar faces can we expect to see on Sarina Wiegman’s England squad?

16 of the players who took home the trophy at the 2022 Euros will be playing in the tournament, although there are some notable absences (more on that below). There are also some debut players in the mix who we can’t wait to see in action.

The full line-up is as follows:

Goalkeepers 

Mary Earps (Manchester United), Hannah Hampton (Aston Villa) and Ellie Roebuck (Manchester City).

Defenders

Millie Bright (Chelsea), Lucy Bronze (Barcelona), Jess Carter (Chelsea), Niamh Charles (Chelsea), Alex Greenwood (Manchester City), Esme Morgan (Manchester City) and Lotte Wubben-Moy (Arsenal).

Midfielders

Laura Coombs (Manchester City), Jordan Nobbs (Aston Villa), Georgia Stanway (Bayern Munich), Ella Toone (Manchester United), Keira Walsh (Barcelona) and Katie Zelem (Manchester United).

Forwards

Rachel Daly (Aston Villa), Bethany England (Tottenham Hotspur), Lauren Hemp (Manchester City), Lauren James (Chelsea), Chloe Kelly (Manchester City), Katie Robinson (Brighton & Hove Albion) and Alessia Russo (Manchester United).

The squad was announced at the end of May using a collage-style animation which was shared on the Lionesses’ official social media. 

Fans of the Lionesses will notice some familiar names missing from the squad list, including captain Leah Williamson and six-time Euros scorer Beth Mead.

Along with Fran Kirby, the pair are out of this tournament because of injuries sustained while playing in the Women’s Super League (WSL).

Mead, who won top scorer and best player awards at the 2022 Euros, ruptured her ACL while playing for Arsenal in November, while Williamson also injured her ACL during an Arsenal Match against Manchester United in April.

Fran Kirby, on the other hand, injured her knee in February, requiring surgery to fix it. “I have been trying my best to not have to undergo this but unfortunately my progress has been limited due to the issue in my knee,” she said at the time.

Ellen White and Jill Scott – who both played in the winning Euros 2022 squad – are also not playing at the World Cup following their retirement from the sport. 

The 2023 Women’s World Cup will be broadcast live on BBC and ITV, as well as on the respective streaming services ITVX and BBC iPlayer. Each service will broadcast alternating fixtures, with England’s first match against Haiti airing on ITV. 

Images: Getty