Canada will face the Olympic hosts and former FIFA Women’s World Cup™ champions Japan in the opening match of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament this summer. With the Official Draw conducted on 21 April, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team have learned they will face Japan, Great Britain and Chile in the group phase in July.
Canada will kick off their Olympic Games journey when
\u200bthey face Japan in the opening match of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament
\u200bin Sapporo on 21 July at 19.30 local (06.30 ET / 03.30 PT). Canada will then
\u200bface Chile on 24 July at 16.30 local (03.30 ET / 00.30 PT), before wrapping up
\u200bthe group phase against Great Britain in Kashima on 27 July at 20.00 local
\u200b(07.00 ET / 04.00 PT). From 12 nations in three groups, the top-eight nations
\u200badvance to the Olympic Quarterfinals from which winners then advance to the
\u200bSemifinals and then a chance to win a medal. The Women’s Olympic Football
\u200bTournament runs 21 July through 6 August 2021, with this year’s gold medal
\u200bmatch at Tokyo’s Olympic Stadium.
“Now that we know our pathway at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, I’m excited, the players are excited and we are ready to ramp up our preparations further to achieve our goals,” said Bev Priestman, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team Head Coach. “There is no easy opponent in a Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, but we will do everything in our power to make Canada proud. With hard work, the right mindset and a strong belief in our individual and collective ability, Canada can give any team a really difficult game and ultimately succeed in an Olympic Games.”
This will be the 15th international meeting between Canada and Japan since they first met on 5 May 1995 in Tokyo. The two sides have traded wins in their last two meetings, with Canada the winners in 2018 at the Algarve Cup in Portugal and Japan the winners in 2019 after Canada traveled to meet their hosts in Shizuoka. Both Canada and Japan most recently reached the Round of 16 at the FIFA Women’s World Cup France 2019™. In the past decade Japan were champions at the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 and silver medal winners at both the London 2012 Olympic Games and FIFA Women’s World Cup Canada 2015.
Canada and South American nation Chile have only faced
\u200beach other once before at the international “A” level. Chile, who are
\u200bparticipating in their first Women’s Olympic Football Tournament, were the 2013
\u200bwinners against Canada with a 1:0 win at the Torneio Internacional in Brazil in
\u200b2013.
Canada and Great Britain, meanwhile, faced each other
\u200bonce before at the London 2012 Olympic Games, with Canada eliminating the hosts
\u200bwith a 2:0 victory in the Quarterfinals. Great Britain will feature players
\u200bfrom England, Scotland and Wales, with notably England third- and fourth-place
\u200bfinishers at the past two FIFA Women’s World Cups. Earlier this month, Canada
\u200bwon a pair of away international “A” matches against both Wales (3:0 on 9
\u200bApril) and England (2:0 on 13 April).
Canada are one of just five nations in the world that
\u200bhave qualified for each of the past four Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments.
\u200bCanada are also the only nation in the world to reach the podium at both London
\u200b2012 and Rio 2016 in women’s football.
OLYMPIC MEDAL WINNERS & CONCACAF CHAMPIONS
\u200bCanada are two-time Olympic bronze medal winners
\u200b(2012 and 2016) and two-time Concacaf champions (1998 and 2010). In all, Canada
\u200bhave participated in seven consecutive editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™
\u200b(1995 to 2019) and three consecutive editions of the Women’s Olympic Football
\u200bTournament (2008 to 2016). At Rio 2016, Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team
\u200bwere the first Canadian Olympic team to win back-to-back medals at a summer
\u200bOlympic Games in more than a century.
\u200b
\u200bCanada Soccer’s Women’s National Youth Teams,
\u200bmeanwhile, have won four Concacaf youth titles: the 2004 and 2008 Concacaf
\u200bWomen’s Under-20 Championship, the 2010 Concacaf Women’s Under-17 Championship,
\u200band the 2014 Concacaf Girls’ Under-15 Championship. Canada have qualified for
\u200bseven editions of the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup (including a silver medal at
\u200bCanada 2002) and all six editions of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup (including
\u200ba fourth-place finish at Uruguay 2018).