2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup: Can the USA win a fifth WWC trophy?

The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup kicks off in July with 32 teams competing for the biggest prize in women’s international soccer. 

The 2023 edition of the tournament will see eight additional teams competing for the Women’s World Cup trophy. The 2019 tournament featured 24 teams, but this year’s event will showcase 32 nations.

Women’s soccer continues to grow, as more money enters the sport. Although women’s soccer has a very long way to go to reach the men’s game, it is growing each year. The 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup will be the biggest ever, as more fans watch the tournament than ever before. It should also see more betting on matches than in previous editions.

Where is the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup?

The tournament will take place in Australia and New Zealand, as the Oceania countries will co-host the event. The final will be held in Sydney at Stadium Australia.

When is the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup?

The event will kick off on July 20 and conclude on August 20. Nine cities across Australia and New Zealand will play host to matches.

Tournament format

This year’s tournament will be the first Women’s World Cup featuring 32 teams. The previous edition saw 24 teams compete for the trophy. The inclusion of eight additional teams could make the tournament more difficult to win. However, it could also dilute the quality of the event.

The Women’s World Cup will have eight groups of four teams each. The top two teams in each group will progress to the round of 16. In previous tournaments, the top two teams in each group progressed to the knockout stages, while the four best third-place teams also qualified for the next stage.

What are the groups?

2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup outright winner odds

Here are the outright winner odds courtesy of Bet365 as of March 20, 2023.

The United States is the favorite

Four-time Women’s World Cup winners, the United States will go to the tournament as the favorite. Sportsbooks have the USA at odds of +300 to win the tournament. With the tournament several months away, you can expect those odds to shorten in the build-up to it.

The USA won the last two Women’s World Cup tournaments in 2015 and 2019. The Americans arguably have the strongest team, although questions can be asked about the quality of the domestic National Women’s Soccer League. Despite the weaknesses in the women’s domestic game, the US still has the best players when they put on the national team shirt.

The USA has a slightly difficult group featuring Vietnam, Netherlands, and Portugal. The Yanks shouldn’t have any issue with Vietnam, but the Netherlands and Portugal won’t be pushovers.

Can anyone knock off the Yanks?

England is +350 to win the Women’s World Cup in August. The Lionesses finally won a major trophy in 2022, as they won the European Championship on home soil. England has a strong team with players competing in the Women’s Super League and in top leagues across Europe. Whether England can defeat the Americans remains to be seen.

Spain is at odds of +600 thanks to a strong team with players competing for the best sides on the domestic front. Spain has had a variety of problems with the national team, however. Players have been unhappy with the coaching staff and there are plenty of problems between them.

France has been one of the strongest teams in women’s soccer in recent years. However, the French may be at the end of a cycle. Meanwhile, Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands will all have competitive teams capable of challenging for the World Cup trophy.