Summer is always a big season for sports. Early summer will be dominated by coverage of the NHL and NBA playoffs and championships, and baseball is always a staple in America for the months off from school. However, this summer, I’m going to be focused on a different sport on the international stage: the Women’s World Cup! Keep reading to learn more about one of this year’s largest sporting events and women’s soccer, and yes, it’s called soccer!
World Cup Basics
The FIFA World Cup is an international soccer competition in which teams representing countries from across the world compete for the title of world champions. Just like the Olympics, the event takes place every four years and takes about a month to complete. The men’s competition lands on even years, while the women’s takes place on the next odd-numbered year.
The first World Cup was in 1930 and was played by men’s teams in Uruguay, who also took home the championship. The first Women’s World Cup was played in Italy in 1970, but the official inaugural tournament took place in 1991 in China where the United States took home first place.
The last men’s World Cup was in the winter of 2022, the first time the tournament was held outside of the summer season due to it being too hot in the host country of Qatar. Argentina won that tournament, making it the first World Cup win for soccer superstar Messi. The last Women’s World Cup took place in 2019 in the host country France where the United States won first place, making the US Women’s National Team the most decorated Women’s World Cup team with four wins.
How the Women’s World Cup Works
First things first, where are we playing? Before the teams can even qualify for the tournament, a host country must be decided. This is a bidding process in which countries aiming to host the world cup will submit a bid to FIFA, which runs the tournament, who will then decide from there. This is a huge honor as the World Cup tournaments are the most viewed broadcasts in the world and fans from all over the globe will travel to watch it live, which can help a nation’s economy.
Closer to the tournament, teams will enter qualifiers, in which they play each other to qualify for the cup. The top 32 teams advance to the cup itself.
The World Cup starts in the group stage. This is when all the qualifying teams are randomly divided into eight groups. For the first few weeks of the tournament, teams will play the other teams within their groups, and the two teams with the most points from each group advance while the other two go home.
The next stage is the elimination round, so no draws or ties can occur, which does lead to some nerve-wracking penalty shootouts. This continues all the way until four teams are remaining. The top two teams go to the championship to play for first and second place while the other two place for third and fourth.
The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup
Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting this summer’s tournament, meaning teams will travel between the two neighboring nations for games. The tournament will start on July 20 and the championship game will conclude the event on Aug. 20.
Here are all the teams sorted into their groups for the group stage:
Group A- New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland
Group B- Australia, Republic of Ireland, Nigeria, Canada
Group C- Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, Japan
Group D- England, Haiti, Denmark, China
Group E- USA, Vietnam, Netherlands, Portugal
Group F- France, Jamaica, Brazil, Panama
Group G- Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina
Group H- Germany, Morocco, Colombia, Korea Republic
Who I Am Rooting For
USA all the way! Of course, I must cheer for my home team, and it’s my pleasure because the U.S. Women’s National Team is amazing. We must defend our title as reigning champions. I can’t wait for the Women’s World Cup to kick off in July, where we’ll hopefully bring another championship back home!
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