8/6/2013 6:56:29 PM

August 6, 2013
This past weekend Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) named the City of Toronto (along with Edmonton, Moncton and Montreal) as one of the host cities for the U-20 Women's World Cup to be held in Canada in 2014. Today, FIFA also announced the official match schedule, available at http://www.fifa.com/u20womensworldcup/index.html.

"It's good to see that Toronto is recognized as an ideal venue for elite sports competitions such as the 2014 Women's World Cup," said Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. "I'm very pleased that the Women's World Cup will be played in Toronto. This event will offer an amazing opportunity to view soccer at its finest and bring a tourism and economic boost of approximately $3 million to this great city."

The U-20 Women's World Cup Canada will run from August 5 to 14, 2014 and is a critical lead-in event to the FIFA Women’s World Cup tournament which will be held in cities across Canada in 2015.

Toronto is expected to host up to seven matches, to be held at Toronto's BMO Field, which will also be a venue for soccer matches at the TORONTO 2015 Pan Am/Parapan Am Games. This state-of-the-art arena located at Exhibition Place is Canada’s first soccer-specific stadium and has a seating capacity of over 20,000.

Soccer has a long and rich history in the City of Toronto with leagues dating back to 1867. The City also has a long-standing relationship with FIFA. Toronto was the headquarters for the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada in 2007 and hosted 12 matches, including the gold medal match.