Optus Sport secures Women’s World Cup 2023 rights
June 4, 2021
Football’s governing body FIFA has awarded the exclusive rights in joint host country Australia for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to Optus Sport.
As part of the agreement, multiplay telco Optus will show all 64 matches of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023, the biggest event in the international women’s game, on its Optus Sport platform in Australia. One match per day, including the key matches of the tournament and all Matildas’ matches, will be made available nationwide with free access. The Optus coverage of the tournament will reach fans across all platforms with highlights, support programming and other digital content.
Optus Sport was a Media Rights Licensee (MRL) in Australia for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2019 and will extend its coverage for the 2023 edition of the tournament. Women’s football is a core element of Optus Sport’s elite football offering and Optus aims to bring the sport to the widest possible audience in Australia.
Nine Host Cities and 10 stadia across Australia and New Zealand will host matches during the tournament. Eden Park in Auckland will host the opening match and Stadium Australia in Sydney will host the Final.
Optus is one of the leading consumer brands in Australia through its telecommunications business with 11 million customers, which will it says will provide a unique opportunity to engage with fans across Australia and promote the tournament, set to take place from July 20th to August 20th 2023.
“FIFA is excited to welcome Optus Sport as our official broadcaster of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 for Australia,” declared Sarai Bareman, Chief Women’s Football Officer, FIFA. “Optus has shown a strong commitment to broadcasting women’s football and this deal will provide unprecedented coverage in Australia for the tournament, as well as bringing women’s football to more fans and new audiences. We look forward to working with Optus to promote the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 to accelerate the growth of the women’s game in Australia in the lead up to 2023.”
“We are delighted to not only support the most exciting women’s sporting event in the world, hosted right here on our home soil, but also to demonstrate our unwavering commitment to growing women’s sport in this country,” added Optus Chief Executive Kelly Bayer Rosmarin.
Since the first edition in 1991, the FIFA Women’s World Cup has grown exponentially to claim the crown of the most-watched single-sport event for women globally with the most recent edition – France 2019 – attracting a record audience of over 1.1 billion viewers, and smashing domestic viewing figures in many territories.
Optus Sport will stream all 64 World Cup matches live and produce programming, highlights and other digital content to provide Australians with the most comprehensive coverage ever of a FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Optus will provide further details of its broadcast plans, commentary team and other innovations relating to the tournament closer to the event including plans to co-broadcast key matches on free-to-air television – including all Matildas matches.
Optus Sport customers will be able to access:
All 64 games of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 live and on demand; Preview and review shows produced and delivered live by Optus Sport, with all games available for streaming to home TVs or on-the-go on devices through the Optus Sport app.