Algarve Cup set to kick off on Wednesday

The Algarve Cup is set to kick off this Wednesday, March 4th with the opening game in Parchal between current World Champions Japan and Denmark. This year marks the 22nd edition of the women's international tournament which is held annually in the Algarve region.

The Algarve Cup is one of the most anticipated and prestigious female football events in the World. The competition consists of 12 teams broken into 3 groups. This year it will be even more sought after by fans as the competition will be turned up a notch with the inclusion of both France and Brazil who will be making their debut. It will be exciting to see how the teams perform in the final challenge ahead of this Summer’s FIFA Women’s World Cup for 9 of the 12 teams involved.

Group A: Sweden, Germany, Brazil, China.

Group B:Norway, USA, Switzerland, Iceland.

Group C: Denmark, France, Japan, Portugal

The opening day of the tournament is set to have some exciting fixtures that will be broadcast by Eurosport. Eurosport will be providing full television coverage of the tournament including the final.

Group A        14:00     Brazil v China PR      

Group A        15:00     Germany v Sweden   (Broadcast)

Group B        14:00     Switzerland v Iceland  

Group B        18:00     Norway v USA

Group C        13:10    Japan v Denmark   (Broadcast)

Group C        16:10    Portugal v France  (Broadcast)

Game of the day:

Our pick for the game of the day would be current Algarve cup holders Germany versus Sweden. The German's secured their third tournament win last year against current World Champions Japan in a 3 - 0 defeat. This moved them into the rankings of being one of the most successful teams in the competition behind the United States (9 x winners) and Norway (4 x winners).  The German's are the current European champions and have recently moved into the number one spot in the FIFA Women's World ranking.

On the other hand, they face a strong Swedish side that is currently ranked fifth in the World and is coached by previous FIFA Women's World Coach of the Year Pia Sundhage. The Swedish also have held the crown of Algarve Cup champions three times and will be hoping that this year they will lift their fourth to see them on par with their Scandinavian neighbors Norway.  You can follow all the action from the tournament including live updates of Match Day 3, the Final and behind the scenes features here on ExtraTime.ie. Please note above times are Irish time.