Fifa Women’s World Cup 2019: when does it start, favourites, odds, what channel and more for on action in France
- Defending champions and hosts are among the favourites for the eighth edition of Fifa showpiece
- Five Asian teams will be involved as they look to follow Japan in winning the trophy
The 2019 Fifa Women’s World Cup kicks off in Paris on Friday to start a month of football.
Hosts France take on South Korea in the opening game at the Parc des Prince and it all ends 51 matches later with the final at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Lyon on July 7.
They will want a winning start if they hope to become just the second host nation to win a Women’s World Cup.
The USA were the only other host to reach the final going on to lift the cup in 1999. Better news for France is that a host nation has never finished worse than reaching the quarter-finals and their male counterparts won as hosts in 1998.
After winning in Vancouver, Canada four years ago, the US are looking to retain it with a win in Lyon this summer, and echo what Germany achieved with wins in 2003 and 2007. Die Nationalelf or “national 11” will be in France as will the only two other nations to have won: Japan and Norway.
Finalists in 1999, China are back for a seventh World Cup and they have reached the quarter-finals in each so far. This generation will hope to get the Steel Roses back into the elite.