FIFA Women's World Cup: Everything you need to Know
France will be the next country to host the best female soccer players in the world from June 7th to July 7th. The FIFA Women’s World Cup is enjoying a lot more publicity thanks to the growth in popularity that this sport has experienced over the last few years. What are some things you should know about this great event?
Even though this women’s soccer event doesn’t draw as much media or fans as its male counterpart, the truth is that the 2019 Women’s World Cup will have unprecedented media coverage.
If you don’t want to miss out on such an important competition, keep reading this article. We’ll talk about the way this championship is organized, how the first phase zones are divided and which teams are most likely to win the tournament.
Some details about the FIFA Women’s World Cup
The eighth edition of this World Cup will take place in France for the first time; although it’s the third time that a European country hosts it. On past occasions, Sweden hosted the 1995 Cup and Germany organized the 2011 Cup. The other countries that have hosted this event are China (in 1991 and 2007), the United States (twice, in 1999 and 2003) and Canada.
The United States team has won the most cups. They achieved this on three separate occasions: 1991, 1999 and 2015. Meanwhile, Germany was the champion in two editions: 2003 and 2007. Norway and Japan were the other two winning teams.
This event follows the same form of competition as its male counterpart; we’ll dive deeper into this subject in the following paragraphs. This form of competition includes everything from the different stages in the tournament to the selection of classified teams and the resolution of matches that end in a tie. In this case, players get two further 15-minute periods. If the tie doesn’t break, the teams go into penalty shootouts.
Group composition
There will be 24 countries from five continents participating in the event. During the first phase, they will form six different groups with four teams each. This will be the distribution:
Group A
- France
- Norway
- Nigeria
- South Korea
Group B
- Germany
- Spain
- China PR
- South Africa
Group C
- Italy
- Australia
- Brazil
- Jamaica
Group D
- England
- Japan
- Argentina
- Scotland
Group E
- Netherlands
- Canada
- Cameroon
- New Zealand
Group F
- United States
- Sweden
- Chile
- Thailand
After this group round, only 16 teams will qualify for the second phase, also known as the ‘Round of 16’. From that point forward (June 22), the quarter-finals will begin. Whichever team loses will have to return home, while the winning team will continue with the journey for the Lyon final tournament on July 7th.
FIFA Women’s World Cup: favorite teams
As usual in this kind of competition, the United States is the top candidate to win the championship. In fact, they hold the first spot in the FIFA ranking as of right now.
On top of winning the previous Women’s World Cup, they also swept away the scoreboard in the CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football) playoffs. They won with more than a 5-goal difference in every match except for the last one! In that decisive game, the team won with a 2-0 score against Canada, while being under the leadership of Jill Ellis.
On the other hand, Germany also has a promising squad. They qualified comfortably, despite losing against Iceland. The Teutons won the rest of the matches without conceding a single goal.
Hand in hand with their star player, Dzsenifer Maroszán, the German team will try to win their third championship. By achieving this, they’ll catch up with the United States and dominate their category. They have the backup of an experienced head coach, Martina Voss-Tecklenburg, who helped to place Switzerland in the Women’s World Cup 2015 for the first time.
Other countries to look out for in the FIFA Women’s World Cup
We can’t forget about England, a team that classified in two European semifinals and obtained third place in Canada 2015. They qualified comfortably and have a historic English soccer player in their bench: Phil Neville, a former star player for Manchester United.
Brazil is also a team that we should watch closely. They recently won the 2018 Copa América with an average of four goals per match and only two goals against them. Marta, one of the best soccer players in history will compete in her fifth Women’s World Cup in France.
Meanwhile, Spain and Brazil, two very important teams in men’s soccer are starting to take their first steps in the female soccer branch. In this new competition, they’ll seek to establish their growth and settle their foundation for the future.
In conclusion, we can say that the FIFA Women’s World Cup will be a great spectacle, and the whole of the soccer world will turn their eyes to France during that month. Which team do you think will be the winner?
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Copa Mundial Femenina de la FIFA Francia 2019. Sitio Oficial de la FIFA en Español. https://es.fifa.com/womensworldcup/
