World Footy News

The AFL International Cup is held every 3 years, and this year alongside the men’s competition will be the first ever Women’s Division. The earlier rounds will be held in Sydney, and the later rounds and the finals will be held in Melbourne. Whilst the men start a little earlier on the 12th August, on the 15th there will be no men’s matches and the whole day will be reserved for the start of the women’s competition. The other women’s matches will coincide with men’s games. The Women’s Division competition will finish with the Grand Finals on the 26th August. The men’s finals and the closing ceremony will be held the next day on the 27th. The locations of the finals have not yet been arranged.

The women’s competition will be a “round robin” style tournament. There are six teams which will be randomly allocated a number. After four rounds of matches, the teams will be ranked 1-6 and the top two teams will advance to the finals. Additionally, the 3rd and 4th ranked teams, and the 5th and 6th ranked teams will also play each other as the match experience will help the ongoing development of the teams.

Teams competing in the Women’s Division are Canada, Ireland, Italy, PNG, USA and a combined Indigenous/Multicultural team.
 

Preliminary Schedule:

12th August - IC11 Welcoming Ceremony (Men’s Round 1 matches begin)
15th August - Women’s Round 1 matches held at Blacktown, Sydney
17th August - Women’s Round 2 matches held at Blacktown, Sydney
20th August - Women’s Round 3 matches held at Blacktown, Sydney
22nd August - Men’s and Women’s teams travel to Melbourne
24th August -Women’s Round 4 matches held at Royal Park, Melbourne
26th August - Women’s Finals - location TBA
27th August - IC11 Closing Ceremony (Men's Grand Final - location TBA)