Germany to face Ivory Coast, Norway and Thailand at the World Cup

Germany women's national football team will meet the Ivory Coast, Euro 2013 runners-up Norway and Thailand in Group B at the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada (6th June-5th July). The draw took place on Saturday at the Museum of Ottawa exactly six months before the tournament kicks off. The matches will be played in Ottawa and Winnipeg while the opening game of the tournament in Edmonton will be between hosts Canada and China.

“With Norway, we have a strong opponent in our group. We know each other well and we last played against them at the final of the 2013 European Championships. Us and Norway are for sure favourites in the group,” said Germany coach Silvia Neid. “Thailand are playing at their first World Cup but Asian teams are known to be technically savvy and organised. Basically, African teams have to be taken seriously, as they are strong in the tackle, fast and athletic."

Prior to the draw, the audience in the auditorium were put in the right mood for the upcoming tournament in North America, as hosts Canada treated the audience to a 60 minute event filled with singing, dancing, speeches and pictures. In the audience there was also a DFB delegation of the women's team including Germany’s coach Silvia Neid, manager Doris Fitschen and team administrator Patrizia Hell. Immediately following the draw, various FIFA workshops were available to the DFB delegation, during which the tournament procedures were discussed. The group then visited the first two venues in order to examine the training grounds and crew’s quarters carefully.

For the first time there will be 24 countries at the World Cup and the teams will be play in six groups containing four teams each. The top two of each group and the four best third-place finishers will qualify for the next round. After the first round, there will then be the knock-out stages including the last 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place match and the final. The games will be played in six cities: Edmonton, Montreal, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Moncton and in Vancouver, where the final will take place.

An overview of the groups: