We united and inspired girls and women around the world
FIFA Women’s World Cup Opening Ceremony™ – FIFA
BRIEF
Create a uniting and empowering celebration of sportswomen and host-nation heritage.
The 2023 FIFA Womens World Cup aimed to be the biggest and most empowering women’s football tournament ever.
We were asked to create a 10 minute opening ceremony focused on international solidarity, the power of sisterhood, and the cultural origins of the twin host nations, Australia and New Zealand.
APPROACH
The ceremony reflected the tournament’s values: cultural origins, female empowerment, footballing unity, and sustainability.
To ensure cultural authenticity, we engaged cultural consultants, artists and performers from New Zealand’s Māori community and Australia’s First Nations peoples.
The ceremony’s cast consisted of more than 200 young women from both nations.
EXPERIENCE
Fans and viewers from the host nations and across the globe were moved by the ceremony and its significance.
Featuring traditional female-led performances by representatives of the Māori and First Nations peoples, the ceremony saw female leaders from each group come together to take part in a hongi, representing the event’s unifying spirit.
Uniting Nations
Each of the 32 competing nations was represented through a unity dance, and the song of the tournament, ‘Do It Again’, was performed by two popular women singers, New Zealand’s BENEE and Australia’s Mallrat.
Uplifting Women
Women representing each host nation jointly laid the official match ball in the centre of the field to symbolise the start of the tournament, and more than 80% of performers, cast and crew were women.
