Thursday’s soccer news starts with FIFA’s announcement of the host cities for the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. Adelaide, Auckland, Brisbane, Dunedin, Hamilton, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Wellington will stage games. Sydney’s Stadium Australia at 83,500 and Sydney Football Stadium at 45,000 along with Auckland’s Eden Park at 50,000 are the largest venues. Eden Park is the site for the opening game and Stadium Australia gets the final
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 will be the biggest sporting event on Australian soil since the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, showcasing Australia and New Zealand to a global audience of over one billion people,” Football Australia president Chris Nikou said in a press statement.
With the 2022 World Cup finishing on December 18 and the Women’s World Cup starting on July 10, there’s an unusually short window between FIFA’s two world championships. Qatar’s time zone is an hour later than Central European Time, a benefit for that part of the world. Australia and New Zealand is a different situation. Noon on the East Coast in the United States is 3am tomorrow in Sydney and 5am in Auckland. It will also be winter in the southern hemisphere.
Moving to Major League Soccer, LAFC announced that their interim co-presidents Larry Freedman and John Thorrington will stay in those roles. Freedman runs the business side with Thorrington in charge of the technical staff. It’s a unique situation in a league where titles don’t necessarily mean the same thing from team-to-team. Club presidents tend to focus on the business side with general managers in charge of the team. Throw in sporting directors or directors of soccer, and MLS org charts can get surprisingly complicated.
MLSsoccer’s Charles Boehm talks to St Louis City’s investor/operator about a new sponsorship deal. The Athletic’s Pablo Maurer and Matt Pentz tell the story of Team Hawaii. Goal’s Ryan Tomlich talks to former USMNT coach Jurgen Klinsmann. The Columbus Dispatch’s Jacob Myers profiles Crew and USMNT forward Gyasi Zardes.
SI’s Jonathan Wilson explains the blowback to the Swiss system proposal for the Champions League. Inside World Football’s Samindra Kunti with Belgium’s players becoming the latest to protest over working conditions in Qatar. AFP has the blowback for Germany losing at home to North Macedonia.
Paul Arriola returns to D.C. United to rehabilitate from injury sustained on loan at Swansea City
>> https://t.co/w9owjbY171 pic.twitter.com/u27Z1P5zJi
— D.C. United (@dcunited) March 31, 2021
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