Welcome to the first-ever Thunder Football email.
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What today’s email is all about:

• The buildup to the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

• Transfer Talk: Messi in Miami, Rice in Red

• Standing Ovation: Brazil’s Marta

• Just For Fun: Meme of the Week

3 DAYS
to the start of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup

The 5 most important things you need to know about the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup:

1️⃣ The Hosts

Australia 🇦🇺 & New Zealand 🇳🇿 

10 stadiums across 9 cities.

Eden Park in Auckland will host the opening game, with Stadium Australia in Sydney to host the final match.

2️⃣ The Groups

3️⃣ The Biggest Group Stage Fixtures

A few big group-stage games lie in store for us. We’ve selected our top 3
The number in the bracket represents the country’s FIFA World Ranking. Times are according to South African Standard Time (UCT+2).

• United States (1) vs Netherlands (9)

  • 27 July; 03:00

• France (5) vs Brazil (8)

  • 29 July; 12:00

• Canada (7) vs Australia (10)

  • 31 July; 12:00

4️⃣ The Favourites

Since this is point #4 we have selected 4 teams that we believe are the favourites to win the World Cup.

United States 🇺🇸

The big favourite to win the 2023 Women's World Cup is the United States. They are ranked first in the world and are the current world champions after winning the last two World Cups (2015 & 2019) back-to-back. Definitely the team to beat.

England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Although the 'Three Lions' have never won this tournament, they are on a roll after recently winning the 2022 European Championship. Might it be #ComingHome this year?

Germany 🇩🇪

Second in the FIFA ranking and a finalist at the last European Championship. With eight European Championships and two World Cups to their name, the Germans will be counting on an experienced squad to try to upset the strongest teams.

Spain 🇪🇸

Spain is also up there amongst the favourites and is currently ranked 6th in the world. They have a strong squad which includes the two-time Ballon d'Or winner Alexia Putellas.

5️⃣ The History

• 2023 will be the 9th edition of the Women’s world cup with the first having been hosted by China in 1991.

• The United States has finished in the Top 3 of the tournament on every occasion and has won the tournament a record 4 times.

• The number of participating teams has steadily increased over the years. The tournament began with 12 teams in 1991, and it expanded to 24 teams in 2015. The 2023 edition will feature 32 teams, matching the men's tournament for the first time.

• The Women's World Cup has witnessed a significant increase in attendance and popularity. The 2019 tournament in France set a new record with over 1.1 million spectators attending matches throughout the competition.

Inter Miami’s new number 10

It’s long been finalised, but now it’s official. Welcome to the MLS Messi.

The Gunners finally got their guy

It’s taken quite some time to finalise the paperwork but Declan Rice is now a Gunner.

Rice became Arsenal’s record transfer signing and also jumped into the Top 10 list of most expensive transfers ever. Who else is on the list?

Every week Thunder Football will be giving a Standing Ovation to someone of note. With the Women’s World Cup around the corner, it is only fitting that this week we honour the queen of football herself, Brazil’s Marta.

Marta is in the Brazil squad for this year’s world cup. Will it finally be Brazil and her time to lift the trophy?

We hope you enjoyed this week’s Thunder Football Newsletter!
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