England at the Women’s World Cup: Who are Lionesses playing and when is it on TV?
Hopes are high for England at the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand, where the Lionesses are among the most fancied teams.
Having won their first major honours at last summer’s European Championship on home soil, Sarina Wiegman’s side now have their sights set on winning a maiden World Cup.
Here is all you need to know about the Lionesses’ campaign Down Under and the rest of the tournament.
When do England play their first game of the Women’s World Cup?
The Lionesses are due to kick off their campaign on Saturday morning at 10:30am against minnows Haiti at the Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane.
England will be expected to swat aside the Caribbeans, who are the second lowest-ranked team in the competition and come into the World Cup on a four-match losing run.
Haiti came through a play-off with Senegal and Costa Rica to reach the finals for the first time but are the rank outsiders to progress from Group D.
Is England v Haiti on TV?
All of England’s Women’s World Cup fixtures are being broadcast live on terrestrial television as they are among the so-called crown jewels of sports broadcasting which can’t be put behind a paywall or subscription service.
England v Haiti is on ITV1, whose coverage of the tournament is fronted by Laura Woods and includes pundits such as straight-talking Chelsea manager Emma Hayes and former England stars Eni Aluko and Karen Carney.
Build-up starts at 9:40am, 50 minutes before kick-off, and post-match reaction and discussion runs until 1pm. The BBC and ITV are alternating as broadcasters of Lionesses matches.
Who is in England’s Women’s World Cup group?
Aside from Haiti, the Lionesses are also up against Denmark and China in Group D. It is the only group to include three teams ranked in the world’s top 15.
Denmark failed to qualify for the last three editions of the Women’s World Cup but were runners-up at the 2017 European Championship and have beaten Scandinavian neighbours Sweden and Norway already this year.
England play Denmark on Friday 28 July in Sydney. Kick-off is at 9:30am and the match will be shown on BBC One.
The final group game is against China, who were losing finalists at the 1999 Women’s World Cup but have not been past the quarter-finals since.
They meet on Tuesday 1 August at 12 noon in a match that will be shown on ITV1.
Who will England play in the last 16 and other knockout rounds?
If England finish in the top two of their group they will face a side from Group B in the last 16.
Co-hosts Australia and Olympic champions Canada are the two strongest sides in that pool, where they are joined by Ireland and Nigeria.
Overcome that potentially difficult knockout match and the Lionesses would likely play two of Germany, France or Spain in the quarter-finals and semi-finals.
They cannot face holders USA, fancied Spain or anyone else from Groups A, C, E or G until the final.