Group C of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 21 to 31 July 2023. [1] The group consisted of Spain, Costa Rica, Zambia and Japan. The top two teams, Japan and Spain, advanced to the round of 16. [2]
Japan secured their place in the knockout stage with wins in all three group games without conceding, a first for the country. With six points, Spain earned more points this year than in their previous Women's World Cups combined; a total of five across two editions. Despite being eliminated, debutants Zambia secured their first and only win in their last match against faltering Costa Rica, finishing third in the group.
Draw position | Team | Pot | Confederation | Method of qualification | Date of qualification | Finals appearance | Last appearance | Previous best performance | FIFA Rankings | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
October 2022 [nb 1] | June 2023 | |||||||||
C1 | Spain | 1 | UEFA | UEFA Group B winners | 12 April 2022 | 3rd | 2019 | Round of 16 (2019) | 6 | 6 |
C2 | Costa Rica | 3 | CONCACAF | 2022 CONCACAF W Championship fourth place | 8 July 2022 | 2nd | 2015 | Group stage (2015) | 37 | 36 |
C3 | Zambia | 4 | CAF | 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations third place | 13 July 2022 | 1st | — | Debut | 81 | 77 |
C4 | Japan | 2 | AFC | 2022 AFC Women's Asian Cup semi-finalists | 30 January 2022 | 9th | 2019 | Winners (2011) | 11 | 11 |
Notes
Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Japan | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 0 | +11 | 9 | Advance to knockout stage |
2 | Spain | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 4 | +4 | 6 | |
3 | Zambia | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 11 | −8 | 3 | |
4 | Costa Rica | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 8 | −7 | 0 |
In the round of 16:
All times listed are local, NZST (UTC+12).
Spain | 3–0 | Costa Rica |
---|---|---|
Report |
Spain | Costa Rica |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
Zambia | Japan |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
Japan | 2–0 | Costa Rica |
---|---|---|
Report |
Japan | Costa Rica |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
Spain | Zambia |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
This match broke long-held FIFA records. Japan women's 23% of possession is the lowest for a winning side at the FIFA Women's World Cup since 2011. This is often compared to Japan 2-1 Spain in the 2022 FIFA World Cup Group E, which Japan's 18% of possession is the lowest for a winning side at the FIFA World Cup since 1966. [3] [4] Match statistics reflected Japan women was more incisive and efficient, with only 23% possession, their expected goal (xG) was 0.9 vs 0.7, shots attempted were 7 vs 10, shots on target were 5 vs 2, and goals scored were 4 vs 0. [5]
The Spainish player Aitana Bonmatí reflected "[Japan had] a low block waiting for our mistakes and attacking on the counter, where they killed us". [6] Spain's coach Jorge Vilda said he was surprised by the intensity of Japan’s pressing in the midfield. [4]
Japan | 4–0 | Spain |
---|---|---|
| Report |
Japan | Spain |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
Costa Rica | 1–3 | Zambia |
---|---|---|
Herrera 47' | Report |
|
Costa Rica | Zambia |
|
|
Player of the Match: Assistant referees: |
Fair play points would have been used as tiebreakers in the group should the overall and head-to-head records of teams were tied. These were calculated based on yellow and red cards received in all group matches as follows: [2]
Only one of the above deductions was applied to a player in a single match.
Team | Match 1 | Match 2 | Match 3 | Points | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Japan | 0 | ||||||||||||
Spain | 2 | –2 | |||||||||||
Costa Rica | 1 | 3 | –4 | ||||||||||
Zambia | 1 | 2 | 2 | –7 |
The 2016 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup was the fifth edition of the FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-17 national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was held in Jordan from 30 September to 21 October 2016.
The 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup was the 21st edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, the biennial international men's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 1977 as the FIFA World Youth Championship. The tournament was hosted by South Korea from 20 May to 11 June 2017.
The Costa Rica women's national football team has represented Costa Rica at the FIFA Women's World Cup on two occasions, in 2015 and 2023.
Group C of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup took place from 12 to 20 July 2021 in Houston's BBVA Stadium and Orlando's Exploria Stadium. The group consisted of Costa Rica, Guadeloupe, Jamaica, and Suriname.
Group D of the 2021 CONCACAF Gold Cup took place from 13 to 20 July 2021 in Houston's BBVA Stadium and Orlando's Exploria Stadium. The group consisted of Grenada, Honduras, Panama, and invitees Qatar.
Group F of the women's football tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was played from 21 to 27 July 2021 and included Brazil, China PR, the Netherlands and Zambia. The top two teams, the Netherlands and Brazil, advanced to the knockout stage.
Group G of the women's football tournament at the 2020 Summer Olympics was played from 21 to 27 July 2021 and included Australia, New Zealand, Sweden and the United States. The top two teams, Sweden and the United States, advanced to the knockout stage, along with third-placed Australia as one of the two best third-placed teams among all three groups.
The 2022 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup was the 10th edition of the FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup, the biennial international women's youth football championship contested by the under-20 national teams of the member associations of FIFA, since its inception in 2002 as the FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship. The tournament was held in Costa Rica, which would have hosted the 2020 edition before it was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the second time that Costa Rica hosted a FIFA tournament after the 2014 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup.
The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship was the 11th edition of the CONCACAF W Championship, the quadrennial international women's football championship contested by the senior women's national teams of the member associations of CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North America, Central America, and the Caribbean. Eight teams played in the tournament, which took place from 4 to 18 July 2022 in Mexico. The United States emerged as the winner, defeating Canada 1–0 in the final.
Group A of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 20 to 30 July 2023. The group consisted of hosts New Zealand, Norway, the Philippines and Switzerland. The top two teams, Switzerland and Norway, advanced to the round of 16.
Group B of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 20 to 31 July 2023. The group consisted of hosts Australia, the Republic of Ireland, Nigeria and Canada. The top two teams, Australia and Nigeria, advanced to the round of 16.
Group D of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 22 July to 1 August 2023. The group consisted of England, Haiti, Denmark and China. The top two teams, England and Denmark, advanced to the round of 16.
Group E of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 22 July to 1 August 2023. The group consisted of defending world champions the United States, Vietnam, the Netherlands and Portugal. The top two teams, the Netherlands and the United States, advanced to the round of 16.
Group F of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 23 July to 2 August 2023. The group consisted of France, Jamaica, Brazil and Panama. The top two teams, France and Jamaica, advanced to the round of 16.
Group G of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches being played from 23 July to 2 August 2023. The group consisted of Sweden, South Africa, Italy and Argentina. The top two teams, Sweden and South Africa, advanced to the round of 16.
Group H of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was one of eight groups that formed the opening round of the tournament with the matches played from 24 July to 3 August 2023. The group consisted of Germany, Morocco, Colombia and South Korea. The top two teams, Colombia and Morocco, advanced to the round of 16.
Group E of the 2022 FIFA World Cup took place from 23 November to 1 December 2022. The group consisted of Spain, Costa Rica, Germany, and Japan. The top two teams, Japan and Spain, advanced to the round of 16. Japan became the third ever and the first Asian team to win a World Cup group since themselves in Group H and South Korea in Group D, both in 2002, a tournament both countries co-hosted. Germany was eliminated from the group stage for the second consecutive tournament after going out as defending champions in 2018. This was the third time the reigning world champions were eliminated in the group stage of the two subsequent tournaments, following Italy, who was eliminated in the following two group stages after winning both the 1938 and 2006 editions.
The 2023 UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship was the 20th edition of the UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship, the annual international youth football championship organised by UEFA for the women's under-19 national teams of Europe. Belgium hosts the tournament on 18–30 July. It is the first women's final tournament to be held in Belgium A total of eight teams are playing in the tournament, with players born on or after 1 January 2004 eligible to participate.
The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group A was one of the two groups in the group stage of the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, held from 4–11 July 2022 in Mexico. The teams in this group were Haiti, Jamaica, hosts Mexico, and the United States. The top two teams qualified for the knockout stage and the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while the third-placed team qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup repêchage.
The 2022 CONCACAF W Championship Group B was one of the two groups in the group stage of the 2022 CONCACAF W Championship, held from 4–11 July 2022 in Mexico. The teams in this group were Canada, Costa Rica, Panama, and Trinidad and Tobago. The top two teams qualified for the knockout stage and the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, while the third-placed team qualified for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup repêchage.