Germany, the United States and Brazil are the favourites as the battle for the ultimate prize in football gets underway on Sunday in the 2011 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup.
\nOther countries among the 16 finalists will be looking to upset including England, Sweden and Norway who are hoping to stake their claim to the title in the sixth edition of the women\u2019s tournament first\u00a0staged in 1991.
\nBrazil\u2019s five-time Player of the Year Marta and all-time World Cup top scorer Birgit Prinz of Germany are among the big names who will headline the 51-million-euro showcase over three weeks.
\nThe United States, the two-time Olympic gold medallists, and Germany have traditionally dominated the tournament winning two titles each with Norway taking the honours in 1995.
\nBut five-time European champions Germany, trained by the world\u2019s top women\u2019s coach Silvia Neid, will be the team to beat, as they take on Canada, Nigeria and France in Group A.
\nThe tournament kicks off with two-time defending champions Germany taking on CONCACAF champions Canada in Berlin\u2019s 75,000-seater Olympic Stadium on June 26 with the final set for Frankfurt on July 17.
\nThe USA, the top ranked team in the world, have bounced back from their struggle through qualifying by winning the Algarve Cup in Portugal, and are in Group C with North Korea, newcomers Colombia and Sweden.
\nThe USA open their campaign against North Korea in Dresden on Tuesday.
\nJapan, New Zealand, Mexico and England face off in Group B with Brazil, the 2007 runners-up, headlining Group D, where they are up against Asian champions Australia, Norway and debutants Equatorial Guinea.
\nMarta, dubbed the female version of Pele by Brazilian coach Kleiton Lima, insists their time has come to emulate their countrymen\u2019s achievements.
\n\u2018We really want to win, it\u2019s a title that we\u2019ve had in our hands in the past but didn\u2019t win because of small details,\u2019 said Marta, whose side open against Australia in Moenchengladbach on Wednesday.
\n\u2018We\u2019ve been finalists twice in the Olympic Games and once at the World Cup. Now it\u2019s time to win,\u2019 she added.
\nBut Australia coach Tom Sermanni believes that the tournament is more wide open than ever as the Matildas bid to better their quarter-final spot four years ago.
\n\u2018The women\u2019s game has grown and developed significantly having become quicker, technically better and teams are more tactically mature,\u2019 Sermanni told FIFA.com.
\n\u2018Germany are obviously, for me, the favourites. Brazil and the US have earned the right to be classed as teams that can win it. Outside of that there are a big group of teams \u2013 around seven or eight \u2013 that could go deep into the tournament in the right circumstances, should they get on a roll.
\n\u2018I honestly think there is not a lot between many teams now.\u2019
\nNine cities \u2013 Augsburg, Berlin, Bochum, Dresden, Frankfurt, Leverkusen, Monchengladbach, Sinsheim and Wolfsburg \u2013 will host the matches for which 80 per cent of tickets have been sold so far, according to FIFA.<\/p>\n

-With New Age<\/span> input<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Germany, the United States and Brazil are the favourites as the battle for the ultimate prize in football gets underway on Sunday in the 2011 FIFA Women\u2019s World Cup. Other countries among the 16 finalists will be looking to upset including England, Sweden and Norway who are hoping to stake their claim to the title … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_editorskit_title_hidden":false,"_editorskit_reading_time":0,"_editorskit_is_block_options_detached":false,"_editorskit_block_options_position":"{}","footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[4333],"yoast_head":"\n