2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup Round Up

After 64 games, outstanding goals and nail-biting penalty shootouts, this year’s record-breaking
Women’s World Cup was certainly one to remember. Here’s our 2023 FIFA Women’s World
Cup round up.

Shock Exits

This year’s tournament delivered plenty of surprises as we witnessed many international
powerhouses such as Brazil, Canada and Germany eliminated in the group stages. However,
the most shocking exit of the tournament for us had to be the USA as the side bowed out in the
last 16.

Entering the tournament as consecutive World Cup winners, the country had been a dominant
force within women’s football for years. However, the Americans crashed out of the tournament
at the earliest stage they have ever exited in a 5-4 penalty shootout to Sweden. Despite this, the
USA has an abundance of talent and resources and will look to bounce back at next year’s
Olympic Games.

Overachievers

Our pick has to be Morocco, much like the men’s team’s success at the World Cup in Qatar, the
Atlas Lionesses did their country proud as they were the first Arab nation to qualify for a
Women’s World Cup and the first to advance beyond the group stages.

The team’s journey included a 6-0 loss to Germany in their opening game, a 1-0 win against
South Korea and a 1-0 win in their final group game against Columbia to knock out the two-time
champions, Germany, in one of the biggest shocks in Women’s World Cup history. The
Moroccan team’s emotional celebrations received widespread support across social media.

Stop what you are doing and watch this video with the SOUND ON 🥹🇲🇦

This is the moment tournament debutants Morocco realised they'd made it through to #FIFAWWC knockout stages at the expense of Germany 👏 pic.twitter.com/Gszz8bzJLG

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 3, 2023

Player of the Tournament

After playing a key role in Spain’s World Cup success, our pick for player of the tournament is
midfielder Aitana Bonmati, who was presented with the Golden Ball following the conclusion of
the competition.

The Barcelona playmaker played in all seven games at the tournament, scoring three goals and
providing two assists. It’s been a breakout tournament for the 25-year-old who will no doubt
continue to rise as the one of the world’s greatest women’s football players.

Biggest Underperformer

Our pick for the biggest underperformer is the USA’s Alex Morgan. Morgan is a player who
helped her country win their titles at the 2015 and 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cups.
Furthermore, she was included in the FIFA Dream Team in the previous two tournaments and
won the silver boot in 2019.

Despite being amongst the favourites to win the Golden Boot Award before the tournament,
Morgan started every game as a striker and came away with one assist, no goals and a missed
penalty. The famous striker’s performances lacked quality at this year’s tournament.

Goal of the Tournament

We have seen some impressive goals at this World Cup but one that stands out to us is captain
Marta Cox of Panama’s rocket of a freekick from 30 yards out against France. What made the
goal even more special was the fact she made history by scoring her country’s first goal in the
Women’s World Cup.

Marta Cox, take a BOW!

That is simply stunning from the Panama midfielder 🚀 pic.twitter.com/zwhPe1XVSs

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 2, 2023

Rising Star of the Tournament

With this year’s Women’s World Cup extending to 32 nations competing for football’s most
coveted prize, there was a plethora of young up-and-coming stars that introduced themselves to
the world stage. Our pick for the rising star of the tournament is Spain’s Salma Paralluelo after
her impressive debut campaign for her country at only 19.

Paralluelo’s lightning speed and goal-scoring abilities drove Spain to the final of the tournament
– this included a 111th minute winner against the Netherlands and a crucial goal in the semi-final
against Sweden. Paralluelo has all the qualities and characteristics to be one of the world’s
greatest and we can’t wait to see what’s to come for the young Spanish star.

The Final: Making History

England and Spain made history as both teams made their first appearances in the final of the
Women’s World Cup with the Spaniards coming away with a 1-0 victory after Olga Carmona’s
first-half goal.

The historic win made the country the first international side to hold the Under 17, Under 20 and
senior world titles at the same time. There were 75,784 fans at the final at Stadium Australia,
adding to the record attendance for the tournament to more than 1.975 million.

Your 2023 #FIFAWWC winners: @SEFutbolFem 🇪🇸 🏆 pic.twitter.com/79l7MChpQ9

— ITV Football (@itvfootball) August 20, 2023

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