FIFA Women’s World Cup Stadium Venues
The upcoming FIFA Women's World Cup will be hosted across two countries, Australia and New Zealand. This marks the first time the tournament will be hosted in multiple nations. With eleven solid stadium venues, these arenas will showcase the best of the best in Soccer, with the final game being played at the iconic Stadium Australia. This year 32 teams are competing in this tournament, with six teams competing within the first day (New Zealand vs. Norway, Australia vs. the Republic of Ireland, and Nigeria vs. Canada); the United States (hopefully they will obtain a three-peat) will play their first match against Vietnam on July 21. This event will be a month-long tournament, and the final match will be played in the iconic Stadium Australia. Let's take a look at these venues.
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium – Melbourne, Australia
Also known as the AAMI Park, it is Melbourne's first largest multi-purpose stadium in the country. Designed by C O X and completed in 2010, this stadium spans 55,480m² with a seating capacity of 30,050 seats. The allurement of this design was based on a bio frame design with interlocking geodesic dome roofs to cover the seating areas while still allowing light to penetrate through the center. Each dome is covered by thousands of programmable LED lights that display limitless colors and patterns. This year's FIFA tournament will host three games in this venue.
Stadium Australia – Sydney, Australia
Also known as Accor Stadium, this venue is one of the region's busiest entertainment and sports venues. It has become one of the largest capacity Olympic stadiums that held the 2000 Olympic Summer Games. Designed by Populous, this stadium holds a seating capacity of 118,000. The distinctive white steel trusses that supported the roof and spanned 295 meters each (half the span of Sydney's Harbour Bridge) were the essence of this stadium design. The appeal of this venue resides in the movable seating tiers on rails that have allowed this stadium to host various significant events, establishing this stadium to be the first big-scale venue to re-configure post-events. This year's FIFA tournament will host four games and the tournament's Final match.
Eden Park – Auckland, New Zealand
Designed by Populous and completed in 2010, it was a redevelopment that increased a permanent capacity of 50,000 seats with an additional temporary 10,000 seats when needed. With the increase of stadium seating, the re-orientation of the stadium allows the design to pull venue go-ers into the opposite orientation of the adjacent historical residential neighborhood that encloses the stadium and has allowed for the significant reduction of noise and light pollution to its surrounding. This year's FIFA tournament will host ten games and the first Semi-Final game for this tournament.
Wellington Regional Stadium – Wellington, New Zealand
Also known as Sky Stadium and formerly known as Westpac, it was designed by Warren and Mahoney Populous and completed in 1999. The significant circular design of this venue was enhanced by the building's external skin of horizontal striated reflective metal cladding, allowing it also to become a sculptural landmark within Wellington. This multi-purpose venue includes galleries, office spaces, and a sports medicine facility and provides a multitude of different entertainment venues. This year's FIFA tournament will host nine games.
SMS looks forward to this year's FIFA Women's World Cup tournament and continues to learn and gather design inspiration from unique designs.