2019 FIFA Women's World Cup: Hosts France look for home soil success
Updated 09:42, 07-Jun-2019
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On Friday, the FIFA women's world cup will kick-off in France with organisers saying this edition is set to be the best attended of all time. CGTN's Elena Casas is in Paris and breaks down the build up to what could be the start of a new era for the women's game.
Holders the USA are odds-on favourites to win the Women's World Cup - but the run up to their tournament has been hit by controversy, after some of the players travelling to France sued the US Soccer Federation for paying them less than the men's team. The players say they hope this tournament can kick the women's game to a new level.
ALEX MORGAN U.S. STRIKER "The World Cup is gonna be a really great one. I think France is going to put on an amazing tournament and I'm looking forward to FIFA as well stepping up and really seeing this World Cup as a guideline for the future of women's football."
Organisers the French football federation say they're taking this competition every bit as seriously as the men's game.
ERWAN LE PREVOST WOMEN'S WORLD CUP ORGANIZING COMMITTEE CHIEF "We've been promoting this for four years, since we became a candidate to host the World Cup, and women's football is really having a boom, we've gone from 50 thousand to 500 thousand girls playing in clubs since 2011. So, while women's football still isn't the most popular sport in France, it really is growing."
France's women are serious contenders for the title - alongside Germany and holders the USA - and France's Olympique Lyonnais recently beat Barcelona to the women's Champions League.
ELENA CASAS PARIS "France has been flush with footballing glory since the men's team brought the World Cup home last year. If the women's players also get a victory parade down the Champs Elysées, the future popularity of the women's game with French audiences will be guaranteed."
France's own games and the final rounds have already sold out.
GAETANE THINEY FRANCE STRIKER "Usually we play in front of 500, 1000 people - maybe a few more. Now we'll be playing in front of a sold out Parc des Princes - I think that's 47 thousand seats. Can you imagine, 47 thousand people and a World Cup at home, it's going to be extraordinary."
About half of tickets sold so far have gone abroad - with the US and the Netherlands expected to be especially well supported by travelling fans.
Organizers say this is set to be the best attended women's tournament ever -and these players will prove on the pitch that football really is for girls. Elena Casas, CGTN, Paris.