Your questions about the Women’s World Cup, answered

If it feels like one World Cup has just ended and FIFA is already talking about another World Cup, then so be it. Argentina may still be celebrating the trophy it won in Qatar – and that celebration could go on for a while – but a women’s championship is just around the corner. Here’s what you need to know.

When is the Women’s World Cup?

The tournament runs from July 20 to August 20. It kicks off on July 20 with matches featuring co-hosts Australia (against Ireland in Sydney) and New Zealand (against Norway in Auckland).

Where is the tournament?

Matches will be held in 10 stadiums in nine cities: five in Australia and four in New Zealand. (Sydney will do double duty, with the smaller Sydney Football Stadium hosting group stage matches before being replaced in the rotation by the much larger Stadium Australia.)

The full list of cities:

Australia: Sydney (two stadiums), Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth.

New Zealand: Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin, Hamilton.

That’s a long way from… most places, yes?

As always, that depends on you. Melbourne is currently 16 hours ahead of New York and Auckland 18 hours. (Those numbers jump to 19 and 21 in Los Angeles, in which case you might be better off counting from the other direction.)

If you are a fan of the Australian Open, or insomnia, then of course you have solutions to overcome it. If you’re a fan of women’s soccer in the United States, expect to drink a lot of coffee this summer.

A drama to worry about?

How much can you handle?

• FIFA President Gianni Infantino has threatened to cancel the tournament’s matches across much of Europe in an escalating battle over the value of broadcasting rights. Infantino, who said last year initial offers for those rights were far too low, raised the stakes significantly during an appearance at the World Trade Organization when he said FIFA would not allow the matches to be broadcast in Europe if broadcasters not bet. “It is not right to undervalue or underestimate the Women’s World Cup, because it is a top asset and it has a value,” said Infantino. “Those who want to buy it should pay what it’s worth based on the ratings they get.”

• France has sacked its coach, Corinne Diacre, for trying to deal with a growing mutiny that had seen at least three key members of the French team announce that they would not play for their country this summer. One of them, towering defender Wendie Renard, was stripped of her captaincy by Diacre a few years ago, saying she “could no longer support the current system”. Renard called her decision not to compete in the World Cup sad but “but necessary to maintain my sanity”. Two of her teammates, Marie-Antoinette Katoto and Kadidiatou Diani, soon announced that they too were out.

  The French federation has set up a panel to investigate the players’ complaints and has decided that the rift between the coach and the team has “reached a point of no return”. Changing coaches seemed like the easiest solution. Diacre’s replacement? Hervé Renard, the dashing, permanently tanned white-shirted coach who led Saudi Arabia over Argentina at the World Cup in Qatar.

So yes, there is a bit of drama.

Who qualified?

Most of the favorites and usual suspects passed easily in the original qualifying round, creating an entry list that included both football names fans should recognize and a few that would raise eyebrows:

Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, England, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Philippines, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United States, Vietnam, Zambia.

That’s not 32 teams.

There will be 32 teams participating in the Women’s World Cup this year, compared to 24 at the last tournament in France in 2019, to 16 at the previous one and to 12 at the first event in 1991. week in New Zealand, where 10 teams arrived for playoffs to decide the last three places.

Those spots are now set:

Portugal defeated Cameroon 2–1 from a stoppage-time penalty to earn its maiden Women’s World Cup tour. His price? Portugal ended up in a group with the United States, the Netherlands and Vietnam.

Haiti defeated Chile 2–1 after two goals from teenage midfielder Melchie Dumornay. Haiti will also be a World Cup debut. But in Dumornay, who recently signed with the world’s top club team, France’s Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, and a team of teenagers and twenty-somethings, offers an abundance of energy and optimism that it hopes can make up for its apparent lack of experience. . It could have been better: the Haitians fell into a group with England, China and Denmark.

Panama defeated Paraguay 1-0 to reach the World Cup final on Thursday. Panama is the field’s eighth first-round qualifier, meaning a quarter of the 32-team tournament take the World Cup stage for the first time. That kind of opportunity is exactly what FIFA had in mind when they expanded the tournament. What it will mean for competitive equilibrium – and what it brings in terms of skewed fault lines – will be one of the stories of the summer.

Who are the tournament favourites?

The United Statesa four-time winner and the two-time defending champion, and Canadathe reigning Olympic gold medalist heads the North American contingent, but they’ll share (or perhaps relinquish) the top bill against a handful of European powers.

England is the current European champion, but has several worthy rivals eager to take its title as the continent’s best team. Germany, France, Spain, The Netherlands And Sweden all could argue strongly that they can win this summer.

What about the rest of the field?

Brazil arrives as the South American champion. Japan, China And South Korea have a long history of achievements in Asia – although only the Japanese have won the World Cup – and will be closer to home than usual. Australiapowered by high-scoring striker Sam Kerr, has recently shown his intent to challenge with a victory over Spain in a warm-up match.

Other teams arrive with big stars but bigger chances – Denmark (Pernille Harder), Norway (Ada Hegerberg) and Jamaica (Bunny Shaw) – and seven countries are just thrilled to be coming for now: Haiti, Morocco, the Philippines, Portugal, Ireland, Vietnam and Zambia have all qualified for their first World Cup.

Who is the US playing against?

The USA is the defending champion. The group stage schedule features a familiar face (Netherlands) and two question marks (Vietnam and Portugal). The top two teams advance to the round of 16.

The three games of the Americans in the group stage:

Vietnam in Auckland, July 22, 1 p.m. (Friday night in New York.)

Netherlands in Wellington, July 27, 1 p.m. (Wednesday evening in New York.)

Portugal in Auckland, August 1, 7 p.m. (Monday overnight in New York.)

Can the Americans win a third title in a row?

Of course they can. And while it’s never easy, it’s also getting harder than ever. The Americans still have decorated veterans like Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Crystal Dunn and Becky Sauerbrunn. But in the wake of a disappointing trip to the 2021 Tokyo Olympics as they scrambled to take home the bronze, coach Vlatko Andonovski has continued his efforts to transform his team for a new generation.

That has seen the emergence of promising new talents such as Trinity Rodman, Sophia Smith and Sofia Huerta, but also some uncharacteristic (OK, worrying might be a better word) results against top teams. Back-to-back defeats to England, Spain and Germany last fall – the Americans’ first three-game losing streak in 29 years – signaled that the team’s transformation still has some way to go.

However, time is running out, even if expectations – inside and outside the team – never change.

“For us, we always want to win everything,” Rapinoe said before the SheBelieves Cup final this week.

How is the fight for equal pay going?

It depends on. The women of the United States emerged from years of tense negotiations, public battles, sharp insults and lawsuits with an equal pay deal that has made them one of the highest paid national teams – men or women – in the world.

Other countries, even large ones, have not made comparable progress. While many have announced new contracts that guarantee equal pay for matches, women’s soccer teams are still far behind their male counterparts when it comes to prize money, personnel and other issues.

Canada is currently at the forefront of the fight for equal pay: the players briefly went on strike before a game against the United States this month, vowing to continue their fight for better treatment and pay through future actions and public protests .