Women's Euro 2013: Top Contenders Heading into Group Stage

The final tournament stage of the Women's Euro 2013 tournament is set to kick off on Wednesday as the top nations in all of Europe will be gunning for the prestigious championship. 

Winning won't be easy, though, as this figures to be one of the more competitive competitions in recent memory. 

The field is loaded with competitive teams that should make even getting out of the group stage a daunting task. Here are teams that should be considered favorites to take home the championship in Sweden based on their past successes on the international stage and qualifying. 

Germany

Die Nationalelf enters the tournament as the odds-on favorite to win in Sweden, having won the last five Euro tournaments and seven of the last eight. 

They aren't just riding the reputation of team's past, either. The German side was absolutely dominant in the group qualifying stage, going 9-0-1 in 10 matches with a goal differential of plus-61. 

The team is led by Celia Okoyino da Mbabi, who leads all scorers in the tournament with 17 goals in the team's 10 matches thus far. Her ability to find the net,backed by an incredibly strong defense that only gave up three goals in the qualifying stage, makes them incredibly dangerous. 

Bovada pegs Germany as an 11/8 favorite to win the Euro tournament again. Given their strong start, it's not entirely crazy to say that those odds don't capture how big of a favorite they are.

France

If there's anyone that can topple the great Deutschland dynasty, it's Les Bleues. 

The Bruno Bini-led squad is was almost as impressive as the Germans in the qualifying stage, earning victories in all eight of their matches with a plus-30 goal differential. The Blues lost to Australia in their final warm-up match, but the fact still remains that this is a team that finished fourth in the 2011 World Cup and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

Led by Eugenie Le Sommer, who had seven goals and three assists in the team's eight qualifying appearances, the team has the offense to challenge Germany's tough back line in the latter stages of the tournament. 

The true test for The Blues will come when they take on England July 18. If they can prove their worth against the No. 7 team in the world according to FIFA rankings, they'll be right with Germany as the favorites. 

Sweden

Speaking of highly ranked teams that will be competing in the final tournament stage, No. 5 Sweden is primed to make a serious run at upsetting Germany. 

The host nation didn't have to qualify, but that doesn't mean there shouldn't be considerable buzz around this squad. 

They'll have home-field advantage throughout the tournament, they play in a relatively forgiving group as Italy, Denmark and Finland all fall outside of the Top 10 world rankings, and they're coming off of a bronze-medal performance in the 2011 World Cup. 

With two more years for stars like Caroline Seger and Lotta Schelin to have become an even more cohesive unit, this could be a dangerous sleeper squad.