Germany or USA – who are the favorites for the title?

The ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup begins on Thursday. All the teams are pursuing the same goal: to win the title. Who has the most chance?

Eight groups, 32 teams and the big dream of the title: In Australia and New Zealand, the women’s national teams begin the ninth World Cup (July 20 to August 20). Whether it’s defending champions USA, European champions England or Olympic champions Canada – many nations can count on a chance to win the title.

The DFB team around national coach Martina Voss-Decklenburg wants to be in the race for first place. But against whom should they assert themselves? T-Online took a close look at the countries and ranked who was the favorite.

Defending champion USA: The clear favorites could be the United States of America, who will go into the tournament as the defending champions. In the 2019 final in France, the team led by Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe defeated the Netherlands (2-0), and in the 2015 final the Americans beat Japan 5-2.

Now to become the first team to win the world championship for the third time in a row. It was their fifth tournament win after 1991 (2–1 vs. Norway) and 1999 (5–4 on penalties vs. China). Although the USA is on the rise and veterans like Rapinoe are nearing the end of their careers, young talent like Trinity Rodman offers hope for continued success. It remains to be seen if young stars will be used on the big stage as well.

England: The European champion is undoubtedly one of the favourites. With Sarina Wiegmann, the title holders have a successful coach who has already won two European titles and a World Vice Championship title in 2019. In addition to the World Cup, Wiegmann faces another challenge: the English team has several building blocks.

Along with Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, two great performers left with a cruciate ligament tear. Bran Kirby will also miss the match due to a knee problem. With Ellen White resigning, Wiegman is missing a total of four players from his European starting XI.

However, Wiegmann can currently rely on Bayern star Georgia Stanway and the world’s most expensive footballer, Keira Walsh. Stanway recently insisted: “We want to go to the tournament and play our style. We have the DNA.” Also: “Of course there are high expectations after the European Championship, but the World Cup is a completely different competition.” The 24-year-old sees himself in a special role.

“Players like Keira Walsh or myself, we still call ourselves young. But we now have to take responsibility, become leaders and use our experience to support the younger guys,” Stanway said. The experience of his first season in Munich also helps him. Ella Dunne, Alessia Russo and Chloe Kelly also had a good season and will prove themselves on the field.

Germany: DFB Women won their last World Cup title in 2007 (2-0 against Brazil). However, the vice European champions should not be underestimated. The team showed strong team spirit at last summer’s European Championships, impressing both defensively and offensively with goalkeeper Merle Fromms and captain Alexandra Popp, and the five DFB Women’s Team of the Tournament had the most players in the National League.