Werribee City FC and Wyndham City Council ready for Moroccan World Cup flavour

Staff Writer
Morocco Women's National Team
Image credit: FIFA

With the Women’s World Cup set to begin in just under 60 days’ time – areas and local clubs all around Australia and New Zealand are set to benefit from the monumental event.

Based in Werribee, Melbourne – the Moroccan Women’s National Football Team have selected Galvin Park Reserve as their training base for the upcoming Women’s World Cup.

Werribee City FC, who play their home games at Galvin Park Reserve, are already reaping the rewards of this outcome.

FIFA have invested $227,000 into the precinct, installing international standard LED Lighting on the main pitch as a part of the FIFA Training Site Infrastructure Grant program.

The club is thrilled to host the Moroccan side at their home ground and the Werribee area as a whole.

The Moroccan players are set to reside at Lancemore Mansion Hotel Werribee Park for their time in Melbourne.

“WCFC will be welcoming Morocco’s National Women’s Football team (Atlas Lionesses) where they will make their World Cup Debut,” a club statement read.

“The Atlas Lionesses will train at our fantastic venue while they prepare for and compete in the 2023 Women’s World Cup.

“This is an amazing opportunity for our entire club and all of our participants and the broader football community in Wyndham as we get to play an important part in a Football World Cup, one of the biggest sporting events in the world.

“Further to this, as part of the training base selection, FIFA have invested approximately $230,000 to install international standard lighting to our main pitch No.1 – with the new lighting enabling WCFC to play senior and U21 night matches.

“Congratulations to all involved and a huge thank you to everyone at Wyndham City Council who drove the entire process and provided WCFC with this fantastic opportunity.”

Wyndham City Council have recently completed a $3.8 million redevelopment of the pavilion at Galvin Park in 2021, which has left a lasting legacy for the local community there.

Wyndham City Mayor Cr Susan McIntyre expressed her delight for the Moroccan Women’s National Football Team to be based in the council area and claimed Wyndham itself is a made up of a “World Cup” type of community.

“We look forward to cheering the Morocco women’s national football team on, during the largest women’s sporting event on the planet, that showcases our region on a global stage,” she said.

“Our city is vibrant and diverse with more than 50 per cent of our residents born overseas coming from more than 160 different countries, we’re passionate about football and have the honour of being called home by Australia’s newest A-League Club, Western United FC.

“We are incredibly excited to inspire the next wave of spirited girls and boys who will commence their football journey across our nine community football clubs.”

Wyndham City’s Active City portfolio holder, Cr Peter Maynard, stated he was looking forward to the Moroccan Women’s national football team’s arrival in the coming days.

“It’s another milestone for football in Wyndham and marks an exciting year ahead, with the Regional Football Facility also on track for delivery later in 2023, further positioning Wyndham as the home of football in the west,” he said.

Western United is confident they will move into the Regional Football Facility out in Tarneit by July/August and begin to play A-League Women home matches out of their 5000-capacity training stadium by later in the year.

“Our city has much to offer visitors, located 30 minutes from the Melbourne CBD (with direct freeway access), Werribee is surrounded by natural beauty, with a stunning river, wetlands and coastal regions to explore and a cosmopolitan dining scene,” they said.

“Players, officials and fans will have the opportunity to explore our major attractions, including Werribee Park Mansion and the Werribee Open Range Zoo. that features many of Australia’s native animals.”

Morocco will be playing in their first ever Women’s World Cup later this year, playing games in Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth against Germany, South Korea and Colombia.

A full list of the 32 Teams and their Team Base camps can be viewed here.

The 2023 Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand will run from July 20 – August 20.

Previous ArticleNext Article

Eastern Suburbs Football Association Announces First All-Female Referee Course and Expanded Women’s Competition

Avatar
Image Credit: Football NSW

The Eastern Suburbs Football Association has opened its 2026 season with three structural investments that reflect the growing ambition of community football associations to address participation, representation and development gaps simultaneously, beginning with the delivery of its first all-female Football Match Official Course.

The course, held at Matraville Sports High School and led by female liaison committee member Michelle Hilton and 2025 Referee of the Year Ariella Richards, brought 25 new female referees into the association ahead of Round 1. The initiative targets one of the most persistent imbalances in community sport, with women remaining significantly underrepresented in officiating roles at every level of the game, by creating a dedicated entry point separate from the mixed course environment that many women find unwelcoming.

The Women’s Premier League has also expanded, now featuring eleven teams and introducing a WPL1 and WPL2 structure following the first ten rounds of the season. The tiered format creates more competition opportunities for clubs across the region while providing a clearer development pathway for teams at different stages of growth. Returning clubs Randwick City, Glebe Wanderers, Easts FC and Sydney University join established sides in what the association describes as one of its most competitive women’s seasons. ESFA clubs have continued to perform strongly in state-wide competitions including the Football NSW Sapphire Cup, State Cup and Champion of Champions.

Building the next generation

The season opened with an inaugural Development League Gala Day for Under-9 to Under-12 boys and girls, bringing eight clubs together in a structured development environment ahead of Round 1. Sydney FC A-League Women’s players attended the event and engaged directly with young participants, a deliberate effort to connect grassroots players with visible examples of where the pathway leads.

“We are committed to creating more opportunities for clubs, players, coaches and referees to thrive, with a strong focus on participation opportunities to suit participants of all abilities and aspirations,” said ESFA CEO John Boulous.

The three initiatives, a new referee entry point for women, an expanded women’s competition structure, and a development-focused junior gala day with elite role models present, together reflect an association responding to the participation pressures the AFC Women’s Asian Cup has brought into sharp relief across Australian football.

Football Victoria’s Female Football Week Awards Recognise the People Empowering Women’s Football

Avatar
Image Credit: Football Victoria

Football Victoria has named its 2026 Female Football Week Award winners, recognising five women whose contributions across playing, coaching, refereeing, volunteering and community leadership represent the human infrastructure behind the most significant period of growth in Australian women’s football history.

The announcements come in the final days of Female Football Week, a ten-day national celebration that has taken on particular resonance in 2026 following a record-breaking AFC Women’s Asian Cup on Australian soil. The tournament filled stadiums, broke attendance records and generated a level of public enthusiasm for women’s football that governing bodies are now under pressure to translate into something lasting. These five recipients are among the people who will determine whether it does.

Brooke Wyatt of Trafalgar Victory FC has been named Volunteer of the Year. Her contribution was coordinating the MiniRoos, managing match days, organising club events and driving recruitment efforts that have helped the club field new junior teams. Wyatt’s work is the kind of work that keeps community football functioning without ever appearing in a match report. Wyatt has also been central to strengthening Trafalgar’s women’s program, building the welcoming environment that determines whether female players feel the club was built with them in mind.

Karishma Wijeyesinghe of Victoria Park FC has been recognised as Community Champion of the Year. Serving simultaneously as Senior Women’s Liaison Officer, voting committee member and club captain while maintaining a demanding professional career, Wijeyesinghe has built the women’s program infrastructure that clubs across the country require. Her presence at the decision-making table at Victoria Park is precisely the kind of representation that shapes whether female players feel the game is for them from the moment they walk through the door.

The cost of showing up

Chelsea Phillips of Mt Eliza SC has been named Player of the Year in a recognition that goes well beyond her captaincy of one of the club’s most successful Under-18 groups. Over the past year, Phillips faced a serious neurological health condition that temporarily affected her vision and mobility. She continued attending training and matches throughout, supporting teammates from the sidelines and maintaining a leadership presence during a period when most people would have stepped away entirely. Her club has described the impact on those around her as profound; a reminder that what players model for each other in difficult moments shapes the culture of a program far more than results alone.

Hannah Riess has been named Referee of the Year for her rapid progression to NPL Women’s Under-20 officiating level and her active mentorship of emerging referees across Gippsland. Female referees remain significantly underrepresented at every level of the game in Australia. The pipeline that will change that is built by people like Riess, those experienced enough to progress, invested enough to bring others with them rather than simply move ahead alone.

Building the pipeline that sustains the boom

Natasha Groves of Darebin Falcons has been recognised as Coach of the Year for her work across junior, senior and women’s social football programs, including her delivery of Football Victoria’s PlayHER initiative and her completion of advanced coaching accreditation. Groves has consistently created environments at Darebin where women and girls new to the game feel genuinely welcome, addressing the retention challenge that sits directly behind every participation surge the women’s game generates.

Taken together the five recipients illustrate something the attendance figures from the AFC Women’s Asian Cup cannot. Record crowds are the visible outcome of decades of invisible work, by volunteers, coaches, referees and community builders who showed up long before the cameras did, and who will still be there long after the tournament has moved on.

Most Popular Topics

Editor Picks

Send this to a friend