Venues
After the German Football Association (DFB) expressed its intention to bid for the Women's World Cup, 23 German cities applied to host World Cup games. Twelve cities were chosen for the official bidding dossier handed over to FIFA in August 2007. On 30 September 2008, the DFB executive committee decided to use nine stadiums for the tournament; the original candidates Essen, Magdeburg and Bielefeld were not chosen as World Cup venues.
The official opening game was held between Germany and Canada at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the venue of the 2006 men's World Cup Final; it was the only match played in Berlin. However, it was not the first match of the tournament—it was preceded by a match at Rhein-Neckar-Arena in Sinsheim pitting France and Nigeria. The final of the tournament took place at the Commerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, the venue of the 2005 men's Confederations Cup final. Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach and Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena hosted the semi-finals. The third place play-off was held at Rhein-Neckar-Arena.
Since 2007, five of the stadiums were either newly built (Augsburg, Dresden and Sinsheim) or remodeled (Bochum and Leverkusen). Six stadiums will be home grounds for German First Bundesliga clubs in the upcoming 2011–12 season, while the other three will be home to Second Bundesliga clubs in the same season. Compared to the 2006 men's World Cup, several smaller venues were chosen; six stadiums have a capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 seats. All cities will stage a total of four matches, with the exceptions of Berlin and Mönchengladbach; the latter will host three games. The total capacity of the nine venues is roughly 330,000. Overall, approximately one million tickets will be available.
Several of the stadiums are officially referred to simply as "FIFA World Cup Stadium", because FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums unless the stadium sponsors are also official tournament sponsors. With no standing-room terraces allowed, all stadiums have a lower total capacity compared to German Bundesliga games. Capacity data is given according to FIFA:
| Berlin | Frankfurt | Mönchengladbach | Sinsheim |
|---|---|---|---|
| Olympic Stadium | Commerzbank-Arena | Borussia-Park | Rhein-Neckar-Arena |
| Capacity: 73,680 | Capacity: 48,837 | Capacity: 45,860 | Capacity: 30,150 |
| Leverkusen | Augsburg Berlin Bochum Dresden Frankfurt Leverkusen Mönchengladbach Sinsheim Wolfsburg 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup (Germany) | Wolfsburg | |
| BayArena | Volkswagen-Arena | ||
| Capacity: 29,708 | Capacity: 26,062 | ||
| Dresden | Augsburg | ||
| Glücksgas Stadium | Impuls Arena | ||
| Capacity: 25,582 | Capacity: 24,661 | ||
| Bochum | |||
| Ruhrstadion | |||
| Capacity: 20,556 | |||
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