In June 2023, the latest edition of the Women’s World Cup kicks off, with thirty-one teams looking to usurp the U.S. for the title of the worlds best. The battleground will be New Zealand and Australia, two sports-obsessed countries with much sporting history and prestige in cricket, rugby, and the regional sport of Australian Football. As such, despite football being a relatively young professional sport in both countries, the stadiums that will be included in this tournament are amongst the best in the world, making them all the more fun to rank!
Note; In-line with FIFA regulations for the tournament, the stadiums won’t be referred to by their official sponsor names, instead they’ll be referred to by their names during the duration of the World Cup.
10. Hindmarsh Stadium – Adelaide, South Australia
The smallest World Cup stadium, Hindmarsh has the appearance and charm of a lower-league British football stadium. With its misshaped stands and large two-tier main stand, it’s a good-looking and functional stadium for the local A-League side Adelaide United. Unfortunately in a World Cup filled with modern and slick stadiums, the sixty-two-year-old stadium takes the place of tenth best World Cup stadium for 2023 – but admittedly I do have a big soft spot for it.
9. Waikato Stadium – Hamilton, Waikato
The first of the four New Zealand based stadiums, Waikato Stadium is predominantly a Rugby Union stadium that hosted Rugby World Cup matches in 2011. The stadium has two impressive sideline stands and erases round with a small stand between them, but the colour scheme of the stands is underwhelming, and ultimately it would be better to see a stadium with four complete stands rather than three – although the ability to sit in the small hill at the opposite end of the stadium is pretty neat. Can’t help but also wish that all the stands with a roof were completely covered by said roof.
8. Perth Rectangular Stadium – Perth, Western Australia
I consider stadiums ten, nine and eight to be in their own tier, and Perth Rectangular Stadium is the best of the three. Another hodgepodge of stand sizes, the difference with this stadium is how beautiful the stands look in terms of appearance. The use of green and yellow works fantastically. Also the old main stand mixed with the slick newer stands give the stadium a perfect blend of modern and traditional.
7. Forsyth Barr Stadium – Dunedin, Otago
I normally don’t like roofed stadiums, but I really like the architecture put into Forsyth Barr. The roof is made up entirely of glass, allowing in plenty of natural light and making it easy to forget there is even a roof in the first place. Inside, the stands are made up of a combination of white and grey seats – giving the stadium a beautiful look. Forsyth Barr is a very unique looking stadium that can perhaps be classified as an arena. You won’t find many like it in the world.
6. Wellington Regional Stadium – Wellington, Wellington Region
Nicknamed the cake tin – Wellington Regional Stadium is the only stadium on this list that is in a permanent oval configuration, which is where the nickname comes from. Despite not having the traditional design needed for football, the stadium looks beautiful in its all yellow seating design, and the singular one tier design also looks firstly impressive. Plus it also helps to be located right in the waterfront, adding to the overall scenery!
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5. Eden Park – Auckland, Auckland Region
Perhaps the most iconic stadium on this list, Eden Park hosted the 1987 and 2011 Rugby World Cup Final as well as a Semi Final at both the 1992 and 2015 Cricket World Cup. As the spiritual home of the New Zealand rugby team, the stadium of course has a dark coloured stands with grey and black being having used. The stadium is dominated by two massive sideline stands, but is still able to fully wrap around with two goal end stands, including an impressively sized two tier stand. Eden Park will host the opening ceremony for the 2023 World Cup, and will be a great venue for the event!
4. Lang Park – Brisbane, Queensland
The top four stadiums on this list are in their own tier as far as I’m concerned, and Lang Park is a fantastic-looking stadium. It’s hard to believe that Lang Park was established in 1914, it’s gone under heavy renovation over time and is a very modern-looking stadium. Its red and orange wavy design gives the stadium a very unique aesthetic and is overall a great stadium to host World Cup games.
3. Stadium Australia – Sydney, New South Wales
The largest stadium at the World Cup, Stadium Australia has a capacity of 82,500 and has hosted many big events including the 2000 Olympics, 2003 Rugby World Cup Final and the 2015 AFC Asian Cup final amongst other big domestic Australian sporting events. The exterior and stadium seat colour is reminiscent of Manchester City’s Etihad Stadium, but is much bigger in scale! It is going to be the host venue for the final, and could potentially give us the second biggest attendant Women’s World Cup final of all time, second to only the 1999 final in Pasadena California.
2. Melbourne Rectangular Stadium- Melbourne, Victoria
Perhaps one of the most unique soccer stadiums in the world, Melbourne Rectangular Stadium immediately stands out because of its Bioframe design which includes both a geodesic dome and LED lights installed with allow multiple colours to be displayed outside the stadium. Inside the stadium has a great and striking green colour scheme, which fits well with the white exterior. At 30,000, it’s not the biggest stadium – but I just absolutely love how it looks
1. Sydney Football Stadium – Sydney, New South Wales
Sorry to the good people of Melbourne, but Sydney has you beat here. This is honestly one of the theee most beautiful stadiums I have ever seen in my life. The combination of light and dark blue and white, meshed together with indigenous inspired patterns is simply stunning, and can genuinely be compared to real life art work. The black and gold panel looking exterior is also very impressive, overall this was an easy choice for me at number one. I went into this article knowing this would be number one and that proved to be the case.
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