Tuesday Chat with Team Strava-2023 FIFA Women's World Cup

[Scout]

Hello Everyone - Scout and Jane here; welcome to Tuesday Chat with Team Strava!

We’re excited to chat about the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup. This month-long event will begin on July 20 and will be jointly hosted by Australia & New Zealand.

While putting this post together we noticed something interesting - the highest ranked women’s teams are in countries where the men’s teams don’t do well! Take a look below and you'll see what we mean....

The United States Women’s Team is ranked #1 in the world (and is the defending World Cup champions), while the men’s team generally isn’t in the top 10 (currently 11th, average 20th).

The Swedish women’s team is currently ranked #3 in the world, while the  men are 23rd (with average ranking of 22nd).

Canada sees their women’s team ranked #7 in the world (and are the defending Olympic champions),while the men are 45th (with an average ranking of 78th!).

There are other examples of teams (Japan, Australia, Iceland) where there is a big difference in the women’s versus men’s ranking and the women are ahead. Any ideas on why this might be?

One theory is that the countries where the men do well, they  are heavily focused on other sports (for example American Football and basketball in the U.S., and hockey in Canada and Sweden), so the men gravitate towards these other sports at an earlier age leaving a smaller pool of men to enter football/soccer. 

Or is it something to do with differences in the funding of these sports between men and women at the High School or Collegiate level?

Or something else entirely? We would love to hear your thoughts on this. Drop us a reply below and give us your theories.

But before you leave, check out these fun facts about this year’s event:

-32 teams will be heading to the event this year; the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 had only 12 teams! And the 2019 tournament had 24 teams. 

-Of the 32 teams this year, seven teams have played in every Women’s World Cup. Can you name them? (answer will be at the end of the post).

-8 teams will make their debut at this year’s event: Haiti, Morocco, Panama, the Philippines, Portugal, the Republic of Ireland, Vietnam and Zambia

-This is the first Women's World Cup being held in the Southern Hemisphere and the first to be hosted by two countries,

-There have been 8 world cups so far with 4 nations winning: The US has come out ahead on four different occasions (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019), Germany has won twice (2003, 2007), Japan once (2011) and Norway once (1995). 

Okay, as promised; here are the 7 teams that have been to every Women’s World Cup: USA, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Brazil, Japan, and Nigeria. 

For a list of the matches, you can check out the schedule here. Who will you be rooting for? Are there any matches that you are looking forward to seeing? Drop us a reply below and let us know!

[CreakyCrank]

I was personally sad that England didn't win - but what a great tournament, and Spain had a great run, despite the internal issues they faced this year - great job by them to overcome.

[Scout]

Agreed! It was a great tournament and kudos to Spain!

[CreakyCrank]

...and then there were 2

Well, it comes down to England vs. Spain for the final... should be a great game.  I'm pulling for Australia in the bronze match - would be nice to see the co-hosts get that on home soil.

[Jane]

Go England!!!!

[Scout]

Anyone else looking forward to the games this week? We'll be seeing a new name etched on the trophy on August 20th - none of the 4 remaining teams have won before! 

It will be Australia vs Spain on Aug. 15 and Sweden vs England on Aug. 16

[CreakyCrank]

I feel like this chat is just for you and I now 🙂

How about that ending to the Spain/Sweden game?  All the goals near the end, and that well executed corner kick!

[CreakyCrank]

Happy Monday Scout... I am looking forward to the games, but I think you have the matchups a bit out of order... Spain is playing Sweden on 15th, with England playing Australia on 16th.

I think the England Australia game will be exciting... home advantage for Australia, will it be helpful, or be extra pressure?  They've been very good all tournament!  England is down a few key players, but has a very solid defense.  

[Scout]

@CreakyCrank Ah, yes, you are right! That's what happens when I make a late night post 😁
I think the England/Australia game will be a close one...home advantage could go either way.

[Scout]

We're 2 weeks in and half of the 32 teams that began are moving on and the other half are going home. We'll be seeing a new team come out as the winner this year; the defending United States team are now out after losing to Sweden this weekend.
One of the other highlights for me was seeing Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco making history as these three African nations advanced beyond the group stage of the World Cup for the first time. 
I'm excited to see what happens over the next 2 weeks!