Spain will debut in the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, from July 20 to August 20, 2023, against Costa Rica on July 21 according to this Saturday’s draw, which provided a pleasant group stage for Jorge Vilda’s team, framed in group C, also together with Zambia, debutant, and Japan.
The draw made the Spanish coincide in their clashes with two of the rivals –Costa Rica and Japan– who will also face the men’s team at the 2022 Qatar World Cup. They will play the initial phase in New Zealand and their second match will be on July 26 against Zambiaone of the debutant teams in the tournament, before facing Japan on the 31st in what a priori could be the most complicated duel.
Unbeaten in qualifying
After an impeccable qualifying phase, with a full eight wins, leader of his group and without conceding a single goal against 53 scored against Scotland, Ukraine, Hungary and the Faroe Islands, Spain entered among the seeded of today’s draw, as sixth in the FIFA ranking.
In their third consecutive World Cup, the Spanish will start against Costa Rica, a team ranked 37th in this ranking, which qualified for the championship after finishing at the head of its CONCACAF World Cup group. The ‘ticas’ were already rivals of Spain in their first match of the 2015 World Cup in Canada, settled with a draw (1-1) in the only confrontation so far.
⚽️ A rookie is our third and last rival for the Group Stage of the @FIFAWWC!
GROUP C
SPAIN ????????
Costa Rica ????????
Zambia????????
Japan ????????#FIFAWWC | #PlayFightAndWin pic.twitter.com/J6khpAUrZE— Spanish Women’s Soccer Team (@SEFutbolFem) October 22, 2022
Japan, eleventh in the FIFA ranking, has participated in the eight World Cups played so far and was champion in 2011 in Germany, when they beat the United States in the final (2-2 and 3-1 on penalties). They qualified after accessing the Asian Cup semi-finals this year with a win over Thailand (7-0), but they were out of the final after losing to China, who then won the title against Korea.
Zambia will be the other rival of Spain, one of the selections debutantes in this championship with Morocco, Philippines, Republic of Ireland and Vietnam. To access the round of 16, Spain will cross with those classified from group A, made up of selections from New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines and Switzerland.
The World Cup will be played from July 20 to August 20 next year at nine venues, the Australian cities of Sydney, Perth, Adelaide, Brisbane and Melbourne and the New Zealanders Auckland, Wellington, Hamilton and Dunedin.
World Cup 2023 Groups
Group A: New Zealand, Norway, Philippines, Switzerland
Group B: Australia, Ireland, Nigeria, Canada
Group C: Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia, Japan
Group D: England, winner qualification B, Denmark, China
Group E: United States, Vietnam, Netherlands, winner classification A
Group F: France, Jamaica, Brazil, winner classification C
Group G: Sweden, South Africa, Italy, Argentina
Group H: Germany, Morocco, Colombia, South Korea
The stage is set! ????
Who will claim the #FIFAWWC? ????#BeyondGreatness pic.twitter.com/aaf9lt8zFf— #FIFAWWC Draw (@FIFAWWC) October 22, 2022
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The last three participants will be the winning teams of the three qualifying tournamentswhich will be played from February 17 to 23.
In the group A, Portugal, Cameroon and Thailand will compete. In the group B, Chile, Senegal and Haiti and in the C, the only one with four teams, Panama, Paraguay, Taiwan and Papua New Guinea.