England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland successfully bid to host the men’s Euro 2028 finals.
Northern Ireland’s involvement in that process somewhat evaporated when it emerged the country will not be able to host matches in that tournament.
The national stadium at Windsor Park did not meet Uefa’s criteria to host matches, with it’s 18,500 capacity well short of the required 30,000, and the proposal to redevelop gaelic games stadium Casement Park in time for the tournament fell through.
With that in mind, it would be understandable if there was some scepticism surrounding Northern Ireland’s role in the Women’s World Cup.
At this stage, no stadia has been named in the proposal for the joint bid but, unlike the men’s Euros, it is understood that Windsor Park will be put forward as a potential stadium for the Women’s World Cup.
While a capacity target of around 20,000 has been earmarked as the number to meet Fifa’s criteria – just 1500 seats more than currently available at Windsor Park – at the 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia in New Zealand, there were two stadiums with a similar capacity to the Belfast’s National Stadium and one with a much smaller capacity.
The Perth Rectangular Stadium, where the Republic of Ireland faced Canada in the group stages, had a capacity of 18,727 for the tournament, while the Waikato Stadium in Hamilton, New Zealand held 18,000.
The smallest venue used in the World Cup was the Hindmarsh Stadium in Adelaide, which had a capacity of just 13,557 but hosted group stage and last-16 matches while it was a similar story in the 2019 World Cup in France, when stadiums in Montpellier, with 19,300, and Grenoble’s stadium, with 18,000, met Fifa’s requirements.
