Canada is going up against China, New Zealand and the Netherlands in Group A action of the FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015.
The Groups were revealed at the Official Draw on Saturday, December 6 at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau.
Other seeded teams, oddly enough, were already placed into Groups prior to the event and not randomly drawn live. Germany, Japan, USA, Brazil and France are headlining Groups B through F, respectively.
Kara Lang, the youngest player ever capped by the senior CanWNT and Official Ambassador of the WWC 2015; along with five-time Olympic medalist Hayley Wickenheiser; Chantal Petitclerc, winner of 21 Paralympic medals; and commentator and former Canadian Men's National Team defender Jason deVos assisted with the draw.
FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke and FIFA Head of Women's Competitions Tatjana Haenni led the draw proceedings.
Canada is opening the tournament against China at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton on June 6. China, a former powerhouse of women's soccer in the 1990s, is returning to the tournament after failing to qualify for the previous WWC.
As head coach John Herdman predicted at Friday's pre-Draw press conference, Canada will be playing New Zealand. The match against his former team will be taking place June 11, also at Commonwealth Stadium.
Canada's closing out the Group June 15 at Montreal's Olympic Stadium, facing tournament debutants the Netherlands. They qualified through a two-leg playoff by defeating Italy for the final UEFA berth.
Early analysis of the Groups are dubbing Group A as a favourable Draw for Canada. The WWC journey for the reigning champions, Japan, may also be relatively smooth against Switzerland, Cameroon and Ecuador.
On the other hand, Group D has been deemed as the "Group of Death" with USA, Australia, Sweden and Nigeria.
Expanding from 16 to 24 teams for the first time, several nations are making their WWC debuts: Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, the aforementioned Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand. Ecuador was the final team advancing to the tournament, scoring in extra-time in a playoff against Trinidad and Tobago on Tuesday.
There are four potential berths into the Round of 16 that Canada can secure. (The schedule can be found here) If they finish as the #1 team in Group A (1A), they'll be playing in Vancouver against the third best team of C, D or E (3CDE) on June 21. Second best in their group stage (2A), Canada will be playing on June 20 in Edmonton vs. 2C.
In the event that Canada finishes as the third best performing team among Groups ACD (3ACD), they'll be up against the top team of Group B in Ottawa on June 20. Or, as the third best team among Groups ABF (3ABF), then they'll be in Vancouver against the #1 team of Group C on June 23.
As indicated by Jonathan Tannenwald, if both Canada and USA top their Groups and win their subsequent knock-off round matches, they aren't meeting until the semi-finals.
December 6 is also marking Phase 2 of WWC ticketing with Stadium Passports and Half Passes. Those purchasing ticket packages will be able to pick their seats and have exclusive access to WWC final tickets at BC Place.
Individual ticket sales (Phase 3) will be in early 2015, beginning with a two-week Visa pre-sale period, capping off with late spring's ticket sales (Phase 4) at official box offices.
Prior to the Draw, Valcke revealed that the total prize money of the WWC 2015 will be increasing from $10 million to $15 million (the figure was apparently $7.6 million at Germany 2011), as well as the WWC debut of goal-line technology.
The Official match ball of the tournament is the adidas CONEXT15.
Also, FIFA is working to organize a Women's Club World Cup.
The FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 is running from Saturday, June 6 to Sunday, July 5. The largest single sporting event for women in the world is featuring 52 matches across Canada in Edmonton (Commonwealth Stadium), Moncton (Moncton Stadium), Montréal (Olympic Stadium), Ottawa (Lansdowne Stadium), Vancouver (BC Place) and Winnipeg (Winnipeg Stadium).
FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 Groups (FIFA rankings):
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