Super Falcons have been drawn in Group B alongside hosts, Australia, the Republic of Ireland and Canada in the 2023 Women’s World Cup to be jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand.
At the draw event held yesterday in Auckland/Tâmaki Makaurau, Nigeria was picked to play its first match of the competition against Canada at a yet-to-be-named venue.
A total of nine cities (five in Australia and four in New Zealand) will host 32 teams, which is the biggest in the history of the FIFA Women’s World Cup since it began in China in 1991.
Co-hosts, New Zealand will meet Norway, Philippines and Switzerland in Group A, while Group C will see countries from Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, and Japan challenge for qualifying spots, as European champions, England will take on Group B play-off winner, Denmark, China.
Other groups include USA, Vietnam, Netherlands, Group A play-off winner in Group E, while Group F will feature France, Jamaica, Brazil, Group C play-off winner, as Group G have Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina and Group H will see Germany tackle Morocco, Colombia and South Korea.
Nigeria, alongside USA, Brazil, Norway, Sweden, Germany and Japan are the only seven countries to have featured in all previous editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, between China in 1991 and France in 2019.
It will be recalled that the Falcons were on a tour of Canada six months ago, where they played two games against the Olympic champions.
THEGUARDIAN
