Advertisement

Five things to know about the Women's World Cup in France

The Local France
The Local France - [email protected]
Five things to know about the Women's World Cup in France
The French team in training camp. Photo: AFP

The tournament kicks off on Friday, so here are five things you need to know about the biggest event in women's football.

Advertisement

1. It's in France! France has won the right to stage the contest and is planning to spread the matches around the whole country so as many people as possible have the chance to watch. The venues are: Parc Olympique Lyonnais (Lyon), Parc des Princes (Paris), Allianz Riviera (Nice), Stade de la Mosson (Montpellier), Roazhon Park (Rennes), Stade Océane (Le Havre), Stade du Hainaut (Valenciennes), Stade Auguste-Delaune (Reims), Stade des Alpes (Grenoble). It will be the first time France has hosted the women's tournament.

2. It starts on Friday. The tournament runs for a month kicking off on Friday when hosts France take on Korea on Friday, June 7th at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris (usual home of Paris Saint Germain) Kick off is at 9pm local time. It runs until Sunday, July 7th, when the final will be played in the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon, kick off at 5pm. Both semi finals will also be played in Lyon, while the play-off match for third place will be in Nice. 


The France team has been in training camp in Clairefontaine-en-Yvelines, on the outskirts of Paris. Pictured is defender Kadidiatou Diani arriving in the camp. Photo: AFP

3. It's televised. In the UK it will be shown on the BBC, in France on Canal Plus and in the USA Fox and FS1 will carry matches with English commentary.

4. It's got good group stages. France, England and the USA are in different groups, while England and Scotland are in the same group. So if you're English, Scottish or American living in France you can hedge your bets and support two teams, at least for a while.

England's first match is against Scotland on Sunday, June 9th in Nice, while the USA begins the tournament with a match against Thailand on Tuesday, June 11th in Reims. Some tickets are still available, for more information visit the official site of the tournament here.

5. This tournament could have been designed with France-loving Anglophones in mind as the teams most fancied for the win are France, England and the USA.

The USA are defending champions, world's top ranked side and out of their last 38 matches they have won 32, drawn 5 and lost just one, suggesting they are very much the side to beat.

However mounting a strong challenge to them will be hosts France, who have lost just twice in the last two years and in the previous six months have beaten both previous world champions - the USA and Japan.

England are currently third in the FIFA world rankings and won this year's SheBelieves cup, beating France, the USA and Japan.

French vocab

Women's world cup - coupe de monde feminine

Players - Les joueuses

Tickets - les billets

Come on France! - Allez les bleues!

We're in the final - On est en finale

Goal - Un but

Penalty - Une pénalité

The referee - L'arbitre

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also