The draw for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup will take place on Saturday in Paris at La Seine Musicale at 5pm UK time.
The draw
It will be a very exciting tournament with as many as eight nations vying for the title as the hierarchy is not as stable as it used to be for many years.
24 teams will take part and will be drawn in six groups of four with sixteen teams going through to the knock-out stage.
In this article, we will be looking at the potential route for the two home nations and the hosts, France.
The pot constitution is based on the FIFA rankings that have just been published:
It is not a fully open draw as there are two main restrictions.
- Teams cannot draw a team from the same confederation.
- Because UEFA has nine teams, each group can also have a minimum of one and a maximum of two UEFA teams.
Click next to read about France, England and Scotland…
France
…are the home team and therefore in position A1.
They will play the opening game in Paris, then a game in Nice before their final group game in Rennes.
France are likely to get a tough opponent from pot 2, one of the four UEFA teams who are all strong, Brazil or former winners and runners-up last time, Japan.
From pot 3, South Korea and China are certainly the teams to avoid. Italy are very serious opponents and the first UEFA team to qualify on the pitch for the tournament.
New Zealand are regular tournament qualifiers and Scotland, who are debutants, are one of the easier teams to face.
Thailand are likely to be the weakest team in pot 3.
In pot 4, Nigeria and Chile are the strongest teams and the ones to avoid.
Argentina, last qualified in 2007, are a bit of an unknown quantity but should not be strong, although France defeat’s to Columbia in Canada is still fresh in fans’ minds.
Cameroon and South Africa should not be a problem for the hosts and Jamaica is expected to be the weakest team of the tournament.
So, an easy draw for France would be Brazil, Scotland and Thailand and a tough one would be Japan, Italy and Nigeria.
England
…are seeded in Pot 1,.
There is no doubt they are one of the favourites as Phil Neville’s team have been semi-finalists in their last two tournaments (WWC 15 and Euro 17).
England have the same potential opponents as France but they will have to do it without Jordan Nobbs who posted an update this week after undergoing surgery on her ruptured ACL, will miss the World Cup.
England manager, Phil Neville said, “Naturally we are disappointed that a player of Jordan’s ability and importance will not be able to take part in the World Cup, but the priority is that she returns to full fitness and can look forward to many exciting years playing for her club and country.
“She is an invaluable member of the Lionesses squad and played a huge part in helping us secure our place next summer.”
Thankfully, England enough strength in depth to cover for her.
Pot 2 will bring a serious opponent while pot 3 and 4 are likely to bring a team from a different confederation that England does play very often against.
Scotland
…are seeded in pot 3 and they will have a guaranteed tough draw.
Pot 1 has the top six teams in the FIFA rankings with Canada, perhaps, the weakest of the six teams.
Pot 2 only features quality teams, except maybe Brazil.
Pot 4 has Nigeria and Chile who could be tough opponents.
Scotland’s group will very much depend on what happens in the other groups.
Scotland will get a UEFA team from either Pot 1 or 2 unless they get Australia and Brazil and also a weaker team from Pot 4.
It would be funny to see Scotland take on England as Olympics qualification for Team GB is weighed on the England team that needs to finish as one of the top three European teams.
As someone mentioned on Twitter, Kim Little of Scotland could end up eliminating Kim Little of Team GB.
All will be revealed at 5pm UK time and the single tickets will go on sale on Monday at 2pm UK time.
The tickets sold in packs city by city are still on sale and can still be purchased straight after the draw.