2015 Women's World Cup Draw: TV Schedule, Live Stream, Format, Rules and More
There’s nothing quite like the razzle-dazzle of a showpiece draw to stir excitement ahead of a major tournament. The 24 participating nations in the 2015 Women’s World Cup are set to discover their fate on Saturday in what’ll be the eighth running of this increasingly popular tournament.
Canada will host the competition, but all eyes will be on the teams from the United States and Germany; those nations are the favourites to triumph at the finals and have each won two world titles.
Here’s all the information you need on where to catch the draw live and the key details you need to know about the upcoming tournament.
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Time: 12 p.m. (ET), 5 p.m. (GMT)
TV Schedule: Live on Fox Soccer (US), Live on Eurosport 2 (UK)
Live Stream: Fox Sports Go (US),
Here's a full rundown of the teams involved and the respective federations they will be representing, courtesy of Fox Soccer:
| 1. | United States |
| 2. | Germany |
| 3 | Japan |
| 4. | France |
| 5. | Sweden |
| 6. | Brazil |
| 7. | England |
| 8. | Canada |
| 9. | Norway |
| 10. | Australia |
| 14. | China |
| 15. | Netherlands |
| 16. | Spain |
| 17. | South Korea |
| 18. | Switzerland |
| 19. | New Zealand |
| 25. | Mexico |
| 30. | Thailand |
| 31. | Colombia |
| 35. | Nigeria |
| 40. | Costa Rica |
| 49. | Ecuador |
| 51. | Cameroon |
| 64. | Cote d'Ivoire |
Rules and Format
The tournament proper will consist of six groups each containing four teams. The two nations that finish first and second in the group will qualify for the next round automatically, while the four third-placed teams with the highest points total will also make it to the last-16.
From that point on the tournament resembles a classic knockout format. The two losers of the semi-final matches will battle it out in a playoff to determine the third-placed team, and naturally, the two winners of the last-four clashes will square off in Vancouver on July 5, 2015 for the honour of being crowned world champions.
Contenders
Japan are the reigning champions and will one of the favourites to triumph once again, but the two sides expected to battle it out in the final are the United States and Germany.
The USWNT were runners-up in Germany four years ago after losing to the Japanese in the final via a heartbreaking penalty shootout. But with the tournament being hosted a little closer to home this time round, they’ll be hoping they can go one step further. And they certainly have the quality within their ranks to do so.
At this juncture, their 34-year-old forward Abby Wambach is the leading international scorer in history, boasting a staggering haul of 177 goals in her country’s jersey. It is perhaps no surprise that the veteran striker has been nominated as a contender for the USWNT’s player of the year:
This tournament could be her last World Cup and, while she’s a player who has sampled Olympic glory on two separate occasions, the world title has eluded her throughout her distinguished career. Here are a few reasons why United States supporters can be hopeful of that changing:
The likes of Wambach, Sydney Leroux and Lauren Holiday probably make the USWNT slight favourites to triumph in Canada, but Germany are a team that seem to be gathering pace ahead of the finals. Indeed, they won all 10 of their qualifying games for the competition, scoring a staggering 62 goals along the way.
Silvia Neid’s team also showed their eye for the big occasion recently too, as they romped to a 3-0 win against England in front of over 45,000 people at Wembley thanks to a wonderful brace from Celia Sasic. The team, which lost a scattering of first-team players due to retirement following Euro 2013, finally look to be getting back to their best.
By comparison, the English side still have a lot of work to do. They're a team that boast some talented individuals, especially the likes of Stephanie Houghton and Karen Carney, and although they too won all 10 of their qualifying games to make it through to the Canada finals, at this juncture they don't have the requisite depth to challenge the might of the USWNT or Germany.
