The Women's World Cup is about to kick off in Australia. England are coming into the competition off the back of their Euros win but injuries have blighted the team and dented their chances. So who will win the World Cup? And which players will shine at the tournament?
Sports reporter Sonia Twigg answers your questions on what might happen at the World Cup and who's looking good to lift the trophy.
Keep up to date with all the latest Women's World Cup news on Independent Sport.
Sports reporter Sonia Twigg answers your questions on what might happen at the World Cup and who's looking good to lift the trophy.
Keep up to date with all the latest Women's World Cup news on Independent Sport.
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Hi, I'm Sonia and I'm a sports reporter at The Independent
00:02 and I'm here to answer your questions about the Women's Football World Cup.
00:05 The first question is, who cares about women's football?
00:17 It's slow, boring and lacks technical skills.
00:20 And I would say that all of that is pretty wrong.
00:23 Women's football has grown massively over the last few years.
00:26 England has a fully professional league and their team just won
00:29 the last Euros in front of a sell-out Wembley.
00:32 In 2019, the Women's Football World Cup, according to the BBC,
00:36 was watched by 22.2 million viewers,
00:39 whereas the 2015 one was just 12.4.
00:42 That shows the audience has almost doubled in that time.
00:44 This World Cup is due to be the biggest one yet,
00:47 so I think everyone is pretty excited about it
00:49 and those views about women's football are very outdated.
00:52 Now, England have three main injuries.
00:58 Leah Williamson, Beth Mead and Fran Kirby,
01:01 who will all be absent from the tournament.
01:02 There are also question marks over the fitness of Millie Bright.
01:06 Unfortunately, the injuries really have dented England's chances.
01:10 These are three players who were so important during their Euro success,
01:13 including the captain, Leah Williamson.
01:15 So it'll be very interesting to see how England do,
01:18 but unfortunately, it definitely has dented their chances.
01:21 One of you has asked, Leah Williamson ACL.
01:23 Surely something can be done to reduce ACLs in women's football,
01:27 as it's actually as common as catching a cold.
01:29 Now, ACL is your anterior cruciate ligament on the inside of your knee.
01:33 It's really important for holding all the muscles and stuff together,
01:37 and a bad injury and a tear in it can cause you to be out for nine months.
01:41 It is a massive problem and there hasn't been enough research
01:44 into why it happens to women's sports players.
01:46 All the research has been mostly male-focused
01:49 and it's a much more common injury for women
01:51 and no one quite understands why.
01:53 There are now women's football boots in an attempt to try and solve the problem,
01:56 but basically more research is needed and it's very under-looked at.
02:00 Who are the stars to look out for?
02:02 Although England's main stars, Frank Kirby, Leah Williamson and Beth Mead,
02:06 are unfortunately injured, so won't be at the tournament.
02:08 That doesn't mean there's less.
02:10 You just might have to watch other games other than England
02:13 to find out who they are.
02:14 So Australia in their home tournament are led by Sam Kerr,
02:18 who's an amazing striker playing for Chelsea,
02:20 who celebrates with some amazing backflips.
02:22 There's Alexa Portelas, who plays for Spain,
02:24 who wasn't at the last Euros and she is one of the best players in the world,
02:28 holds the Ballon d'Or and everyone will be really excited
02:30 to see what she can do on the top international stage.
02:33 There's also Megan Rapinoe, who doesn't really need an introduction.
02:37 She's sort of taken the world by storm, hairstyles, celebrations, everything.
02:42 And this will probably be her last World Cup.
02:44 Is there a fantasy football game of any description for the Women's World Cup?
02:48 And there is. There's the official one, which is played every day,
02:52 but it's only a team of seven.
02:54 And there's a She Plays One, which is your more traditional style
02:57 of fantasy football for those of you who like getting involved in that.
02:59 Someone has asked, football friends, where can I watch the Women's World Cup?
03:03 Now, the Women's World Cup, all 64 games are going to be shown across BBC and ITV.
03:08 Some of the games, unfortunately, for those of us in Europe,
03:11 are at like three o'clock in the morning.
03:13 But England's games are at 10.30, 9.30 and 12 in the group stages.
03:18 So you can definitely watch all of those, even if it's a bit of an early start.
03:22 Thank you for asking your questions about the Women's World Cup.
03:24 You can get more episodes of You Asked the Questions at Independent TV.
03:27 [Music]