Look away now: Podcast 511 - Our Women's World Cup 2023 draw

We conducted our own version of the draw for the 2023 Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Much like the men's World Cup in Japan and South Korea in 2002, the tournament is effectively split into two halves, with teams on one side of the draw avoiding teams on the other until the final. This means sides could meet in the semi-finals having played each other in the group stage

Groups B, D, F and H will make up one half of the draw and play all their games in Australia. The remaining teams will play almost exclusively in New Zealand, up to the final - the only exception to this are teams in groups E and G who will play their round of 16 games in Australia.

Here's how our draw came out:

GROUP A: New Zealand (co-hosts), South Africa, Denmark, Brazil
GROUP B: Australia (co-hosts), Netherlands, Colombia, Play-off A winner
GROUP C: France, Switzerland, China, Nigeria
GROUP D: USA, Vietnam, Zambia, Norway
GROUP E: Sweden, Play-off C winner, Ireland, Canada
GROUP F: England, Morocco, Japan, Jamaica
GROUP G: Spain, South Korea, Play-off B winner, Costa Rica
GROUP H: Germany, Argentina, Italy, Philippines

Play-off A: Portugal* v Cameroon or Thailand.
Play-off B: Chile* v Senegal or Haiti.
Play-off C: Chinese Taipei* or Paraguay v Papua New Guinea* or Panama

*Seeded teams. For the purposes of the draw only the seeded teams have a bearing on confederation restictions in the draw.

See how the real thing turned out: FIFA Women's World Cup 2023