The Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand kicks off on July 20, with a bigger field than ever as 32 teams compete for the title of the best female football team on the planet.
South Africa are there, having qualified for a second successive tournament but will have an uphill task in their ambition to try and get past the group stage.
The Americans, who have won more Women’s World Cup titles than any other team, are the favourites but it is a wide open field with European champions England also fancied but hit in the build-up to the tournament by some major injury concerns.
Germany, Norway and the Netherlands, who were runners-up four years ago when France hosted the finals, lead the rest of the European challenge while Japan are also past World Cup winners and can never be under-estimated.
It will be a tournament sure to unearth new stars but here are some of the key players sure to shine.
Jule Brand (Germany): VfL Wolfsburg’s dynamic young winger has already made her mark for club and country despite being only 20 years old. She played left and right for Germany in last year’s European Championship and has scored since n friendlies against the U.S and Brazil. She also helped her club, where she made her league debut at the age of 17, to get to the final of the Champions League. Her favourite player is Manchester United’s Marcus Rashford.
Lucy Bronze (England): Knee surgery in April put the participation of the defender in doubt but it all went well and she will be fit for the World Cup. She was named Women’s World Player of the Year for 2020, has won three Champions League winner’s medals and a World Cup silver ball recognising her as the second-best player at the last tournament in 2019.
Debinha (Brazil): The Brazilian has been reliably influential for her club in the US Last season she almost single-handedly dragged the North Carolina Courage through a difficult season and was also in fine form for her country, scoring five goals as Brazil won the Copa América, where she was also named in team of the tournament after her penalty decided the final against a stubborn Colombia side.
Pernille Harder (Denmark): Harder has been consistently rated among the top women’s footballers since 2016 – a remarkable period of longevity, although she only returned to action in April after lengthy hamstring injury. The Denmark captain plays for Chelsea and there are still few women footballers who make attacking and creating look as easy.
Aga Hegerberg (Norway): She returned to play for Norway at the Women’s Euros last year after a close to five-year absence from the national team. The Women’s Champions League record goal scorer and first female winner of the Ballon d’Or, in 2018, stepped away from international football in 2017, frustrated at what she perceived as a lack of support for the women’s team and for the development of girls’ football in Norway.
Sam Kerr (Australia): Home hopes will hang heavily on the Chelsea forward, who last season was the top goal scorer in the WSL in England and helped her London club to another league title, scored twice in the last two FA Cup finals, of which the Blues won both, and was the Golden Boot winner for Australia at the Asia Cup last year. She has shown a penchant for finding the net in the biggest games.
Thembi Kgatlana (South Africa): Just what impact her long lay-off for an Achilles injury will have on the speedy forward remains to be seen but before that problem she was among the best players in Africa and a huge x-factor player for Banyana Banyana. She has been able to prove her fitness for United States club Racing Louisville and will hope to emulate her superb goal against Spain at the last World Cup that took her to international fame.
Lieke Martens (Netherlands): Now 30-years-old, she has been a Dutch international for more than. Decade, since she was but a teenager. During her time at Barcelona, she won nine domestic trophies and her first Women’s Champions League. She played at the Women’s EURO in 2013 and the World Cup two years later before winning the Women’s EURO in 2017 with the Netherlands on home soil. Martens – an out-and-out striker – was named player of the tournament, and a few months later, Player of the Year by both Uefa and Fifa. With more than 50 international goals to her name, and after five years in Catalonia, Lieke made the switch to Paris Saint-Germain last year.
Alex Morgan (USA): Prolific striker for the US, who is now 33-year-old and has over 200 caps for her country and more than a century of goals. She won her first cap in 2010. She has played in the last three Women’s World Cup finals, winning in 2015 and 2017 and being voted Silver Boot, the second best player at the last finals in France. Morgan was top scorer in the NWSL with 15 goals last season, all the more impressive given she was doing it for an expansion side, the San Diego Wave after moving back after a spell with Tottenham Hotspur.
Alexia Putellas (Spain): Back after spending 10 months on the sidelines after suffering an ACL injury during a Spain training session on the eve of Euro 2022 last year. But she moved her rehab to grass, always a big moment in such a recovery process, at the end of December and was back in action in April for Barcelona to help them secure the league title, just after they edged Chelsea to get into the Champions League final. At the age of 29, Putellas has already won the Women's Champions League, LaLiga, Copa de la Reina and the Spanish Supercopa and individually collected two Ballon d’Ors, multiple Player of the Year and two Fifa Best awards.
Fridolina Rolfö (Sweden): Another star from the strong Barça aside who has who become a occasionally brilliant fullback as well as being utilised further forward on occasions, particularly for Sweden. She has become deadly playing down the left and ended last season with double figures for assists for the Catalan while this season has found herself up among the goals. In January, her contract with Barcelona was contended until June 2026. The 29-year-old has been playing for Sweden for the last eight years.