Vancouver's BC Place to host 2015 Women's World Cup final

BC Place, seen here during a 2012 Vancouver Whitecaps game, has been chosen to host the final of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

Jeff Vinnick/Getty Images

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) -- Vancouver's B.C. Place Stadium will be the site of the women's 2015 World Cup final, the first time a championship game will be played on artificial turf.

The venue was announced Thursday by FIFA and Canadian organizers.

"There's a lot of factors,'' Steve Reed, a national organizing committee member, said following a news conference across the street from the 55,000-seat retractable-roof stadium.

"The final match, certainly, we wanted to maximize the number of participants, the number of people that are in the seats. B.C. Place obviously has that capacity.''

Montreal and Edmonton, Alberta, will host semifinals in the tournament that will run from June 6 to July 5. Games also will be played in Winnipeg, Manitoba; Ottawa; and Moncton, New Brunswick.