Women’s World Cup: Stadium Guide

The beautiful city of Edmonton is home to the Commonwealth Stadium, the second largest stadium in Canada with a capacity of 56,302 and will play host to the third place play-off on 4 July. Although usually occupied by Canadian football club Edmonton Eskimos, the stadium is no stranger to football. The FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup and the U19 Women’s Championship final between Canada and the USA – which drew the largest crowd for a women’s youth match (47,000) – were hosted here. The stadium itself was opened in 1978 at a cost of around $20m but has undergone a few renovations and expansions to create the all-seater, open-air stadium we see today. Canada Women’s team might not be the stadium’s biggest fans, having lost three times out of five, including in their most recent defeat in Edmonton – a 3-0 loss to Japan.

Montreal holds the gorgeous Olympic Stadium, built in preparation for the 1976 Olympic Games. Sometimes referred to as ‘The Big O’ thanks to its shape, it is ready and raring to go with over 60,000 people waiting to fill the seats this summer. It is not its first World Cup, having only last year hosted the final for the 2014 FIFA U20 Women’s World Cup between Nigeria and Germany, one of the four venues that played its part in the tournament. Fifteen thousand were in attendance for the third place play-off game, which preceded the big finale. The biggest match it will hold in the World Cup is one of the semi-finals. England’s final group match versus Colombia will be played there on 17 June.

DID YOU KNOW? Montreal’s Olympic Stadium is the world’s tallest slanted structure AND stadium, standing at 175m!

Vancouver will see fans flock to their city on the last day of the tournament. The B.C Place Stadium has the honour of hosting the final on 5 July. Holding over 54,000, of which it seems 20,000 will be allocated for the competition, the B.C Place Stadium is situated next to the docking station for ferries coming from English Bay. The stadium gets its name thanks to its football team the B.C. Lions, who are owned by the B.C Corporation. The World Cup will be its first major sports competition besides the Winter Games. There are 1,140 HDTV screens placed around the concourses for supporter comfort, and it also has the largest retractable cable roof in the world. How thoughtful.

With probably the joint least original name of the six stadiums on show, Moncton is the main host venue for the England Women’s team. The quaint 10,000-seater stadium – rising to 25,000 with extra seats put in – is the second newest of the stadiums on show in Canada, having been built in 2010. It cost a total of $17m to build, ahead of the IAAF 2010 World Junior Championships. It hosts football often, having hosted eight FIFA Under-20 Women’s World Cup matches and one Canada Women’s game – a 1-0 victory over China.

Ottawa will always refer to TD Place as Lansdowne. The stadium was built way back in 1908 and resides in the Lansdowne fields, Ottawa Fury FC play their home football matches there. An expected 24,000 spectators will pile in to catch some World Cup football when the stadium hosts one of the quarter-finals. The stadium has recently added what it calls a “dramatic and unique south stand superstructure”, new hi tech scoreboards and signage. It was one of six hosts for the 2007 FIFA U20 World Cup and has also welcomed The Rolling Stones onto its turf. Hopefully there will be some ‘Satisfaction’ from the supporters when they see their favourite players out in force during the tournament…

Investors Group Field is the final of the six stadiums playing host in this Women’s World Cup. Completed in 2013, it is the newest to feature in the tournament. Winnipeg has hosted a number of football matches of note in the past, so the town itself is full of vibrant football fans. The first Canada Women’s national football camp was held there back in 1986. It is a partially covered stadium of around 33,000 seats and includes its own restaurant. The first Canada Women’s match held at the stadium was back in 2014, and ended in a 1-1 draw with the USA. Taylor Swift and Paul McCartney have played there, and it was opened by a church service – so it has been well christened.