By Bill Roumeliotis.
The FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 (FWWC2023) Volunteer Programme was officially launched on Wednesday, November 9 at Marlborough Street Reserve in Melbourne, Victoria.
The launch was hosted by Football Australia and was attended by a number of VIP guests, players from the Commbank Matildas, and the FWWC2023 official mascot Tazuni. This event was the first Australian physical appearance of Tazuni.
Among the VIP guests were Victorian Tourism Minister, Steve Dimopoulos MP; the Head of Marketing, Communications & Corporate Affairs at Football Australia, Peter Filopoulos; the Football Australia Legacy ’23 Ambassador, Kate Jenkins; and the FWWC2023 Head of Sustainability, Dr Sheila Nguyen; among many others.
There were a number of speeches during the event to celebrate the local volunteers from Melbourne who will be supporting the FWWC2023.
Mr Dimopoulos told The Greek Herald exclusively after the event and said he hoped the World Cup would encourage more women to play football.
“In the past, football was predominantly a male sport but this has changed recently as more women become engaged in professional sport,” the Minister for Tourism said.
“In recent years, the Victorian government has funded and continues to fund women’s football development programs and for this reason, together with other states and the Federal Government, we have worked methodically to host and co-organise with New Zealand the Women’s World Cup for 2023.
“This premier event will give all of us a chance to take in the biggest stars of women’s football and of course, the benefits to tourism in Australia will be huge as people visit the country to watch matches.”
Mr Dimopoulos also encouraged Greek Australian volunteers to get involved.
“Greek men and women have volunteerism in their blood… I can remember, from when I was a young boy, how hard they worked on events for their clubs and organisations to be successful,” the Minister said.
“I urge our compatriots to do something similar for the Women’s World Cup as we need volunteers to make this top event a success.”
The Volunteer Programme will have an integral part to play in the success of the FWWC2023 with thousands of enthusiastic people needed to boost the workforce across five Host Cities in Australia over the next 10 months.
These volunteers will be required to help at FIFA Fan Festival locations, stadiums, training sites, hotels, transport hubs and airports.
