T20 Cricket to Netball World Cup: the biggest events in Women’s sports calendar for 2023

2022 was a landmark year for Women’s sport with England being able to celebrate the collective achievements of how much the women’s game has grown when the Lionesses won the European Championships in July.

Records were broken not just in terms of trophies won, but audiences grew across all sports, with the England’s rugby union team playing in front of 42,000 people in their World Cup final against New Zealand at Eden Park - the highest crowd ever at a women’s game.

The WSL had previously enjoyed their own milestone when the north London derby saw over 47,000 people attend the Emirates Stadium.

However, 2023 is set to be even bigger, and will hopefully be able to build on the successes and triumphs that led to such a phenomenal year last year.

While we will once again enjoy the staples such as the Grand Slams, The Hundred cricket tournament and the continuing rise of WSL, we will also have several biennial and quadrennial tournaments.

Here are some of the main highlights for the 2023 women’s sport calendar…

Women’s cricket T20 World Cup

Heather Knight will lead her cricketers into another World Cup after reaching the final of the ODI World Cup in February 2022. Knight, Sciver and the rest of the cricketers will hope to recreate the magic their male counterparts achieved when they came back from defeat against the Irish to win the 2022 T20 World Cup in Australia.

The Cricket World Cup takes place in South Africa and will begin on 10 February and end on 23 February 2023.

TikTok Six Nations

Yes, this is an annual event, however it’s only the second year it has run separately from the men’s event and with its own sponsorship deal. It’s also the first year since the record-breaking attendance at the World Cup in New Zealand last autumn. So this should (or hopefully will be) another extravaganza to watch out for.

England v Brazil Finalissima

Following their historic Euros win last summer, the Lionesses will now take on Brazil for the Women’s Finalissima. Brazil earned their place after they triumphed at the 2022 Copa America Femenina, defeating the hosts Colombia 1-0. Whereas England were celebrating their first trophy since 1966, this marked Brazil’s eight time of winning the Copa America out of a total of nine editions.

England and Brazil will play each other at Wembley on Thursday 6 April 2023.

Women’s multi-format Ashes series

The men’s team are currently undergoing a dramatic transformation with their ‘Bazball’ phenomena, but the women also have another series to look forward to with the historic Ashes series returning to England.

Heather Knight will lead her squad in a multi-format series with one-off Test match, three-match T20 series and three-match ODI series in the hope of regaining the precious urn for the first time since 2014 after England won by 10 points to eight.

The Women’s 2023 series will start with the Test match on Thursday 22 June at Trent Bridge and the final ODI will be played on Tuesday 18 July at the County Ground in Taunton.

FIFA Women’s World Cup

Just a few months after the Finalissima, England will hope to go from European Champions to World Champions as they compete in the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The USA are the current holders of the trophy but England fans were given hope of their vulnerability after the Lionesses completed a 2-1 victory over the Americans in October. The tournament will start on Thursday 20 July and conclude on Sunday 20 August 2023.

Netball World Cup

The Netball World Cup is another quadrennial international event of the year in women’s sport and will be hosted in South Africa from 28 July to 6 August.

The Vitality Roses reached the final of the Commonwealth Games last summer but eventually lost 48-55 to the New Zealand Silver Ferns. They will then partake in the Netball Quad series taking on the Australian Diamonds, South Africa SPAR Proteas and Silver Ferns again before preparing for the World Cup.

England are yet to win a Netball World Cup with Australia winning 11 out of the 15 editions, but will hope that their strong 2022 will put them in good stead to become serious contenders this summer.

Other notable events:

• 16-29 January: Australian Open 
• 5 March, League Cup final (football)
• 20-23 April: Chevron Golf Championships
• 3 May: UEFA Champions League final
• 28 May - 11 June: French tennis Open
• 22-25 June: PGA Championship
• 3-16 July: Wimbledon
• 6-9 July: US Golf Open
• 27-30 July: Evian Golf Championship
• 10-13 August: Women’s Golf Open
• 28 August - 10 September: US Tennis Open
• 22-24 September: Solheim Golf Cup