FIFA Women's World Cup - Official Groups

The 24 nations in next summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup found out their fate for the upcoming tournament yesterday in Ottawa. The hour long ceremony of the Final Draw took place at the Canadian Museum of History in Quebec.

The event created a lot of excitement across the globe for women’s soccer with it trending Worldwide on Twitter before the draw began. Prior to the draw six nations were chosen as seeded teams in a pre conference event which decided, they would not meet in the initial stages.

Canada who will host the tournament next summer and currently ranked eighth in the FIFA Women’s World ranking were placed a top of Group A. The Canadians will face FIFA Women’s No. 14 China in their opening match on June 6^th in Edmonton. The group includes FIFA Women’s No. 19 New Zealand and FIFA Women’s No. 15 Netherlands. The Netherlands were among the last teams to secure their spot in next summer tournament which will is set to be their first appearance in a World Cup.

FIFA Women’s No.2 Germany is the seeded team in Group B and opens against FIFA Women’s No.64 and World Cup debutant Ivory Coast on June 7^th in Ottawa. Germany is the current UEFA European Champions and has previously won the World Cup in 2003 and 2007. They are set to play against last year’s UEFA European finalists and FIFA Women’s ninth-ranked Norway. Also among the group is FIFA Women’s No.30 Thailand who also makes their debut at the World Cup.

Current World Champions and third ranked Japan sits atop of Group C, which will open against FIFA Women’s No.18 Switzerland in Vancouver on June 6th. They have been placed among FIFA Women’s No.51 Cameroon and FIFA Women’s No.49 Ecuador, who will be both competing in their first World Cup.

The FIFA Women’s No.1 the United States is the seeded team of Group D and is among the most talked about group of the tournament. It has already been classed as the group of death. The opening game of Group D is between the United States and FIFA Women’s No.10 Australia. The United States will face an old friend in their group when they play fifth ranked Sweden on June 12^th. Sweden’s current manager is Pia Sundhage, who managed the United States to the World Cup final in 2011 who were narrowly beaten 3 – 1 in a penalty shootout versus Japan. Also amount the mix is African champions Nigeria who are currently ranked No.35 in the World.

FIFA Women’s No.6 Brazil with five times Ballon D’or winner Marta are the seeded team of Group E. They open their tournament on June 6^th in Montreal against FIFA Women’s No.17 South Korea. They will also face debutants and FIFA ranked No.16 Spain and No.40 Costa Rica in Group E.

The final group of the tournament is Group F which is seeded by fourth ranked France. France will face England in their opening game on June 9^th in Moncton. England are currently ranked seventh and won all ten of their qualifying games to secure their spot in the finals having only conceded one goal. Also among the group is World Cup debutant Colombia who are ranked No.31 and No.25 Mexico.

The tournament is set to be the biggest FIFA Women’s world cup to date having expanded from 16 to 24 teams since 2011. The tournament will operate under a new format, the top two nations in each group will advance to the round of 16 along with the top four 3^rd place teams.

The final groups break down as follows:

Group A: Canada (Seeded), China PR, New Zealand, Netherlands

Group B: Germany (Seeded), Côte d'Ivoire, Norway, Thailand 

Group C: Japan (Seeded), Switzerland, Cameroon, Ecuador

Group D: United States (Seeded), Australia, Sweden, Nigeria

Group E: Brazil (Seeded), Korea Republic, Spain, Costa Rica

Group F: France (Seeded), England, Colombia, Mexico