Women’s World Cup Odds: Preview, Predictions & Golden Boot Picks

• The Women’s World Cup expands to 32 teams and kicks off in Australia and New Zealand on Thursday, July 20
• The USA are favorites to win their third Women’s World Cup in a row
• Read on for all of the Women’s World Cup odds, odds to win each group and our best WWC picks

The ninth edition of the Women’s World Cup is upon us and four-times winner the United States have been installed as favorites to win their third title in a row in the Women’s World Cup odds. Can they pull a three-peat? We break down the top contenders and make our Women’s World Cup predictions here.

Women’s World Cup Odds

Four teams are given short odds to win the Women’s World Cup. USA have the shortest at +250, followed by England +350, Spain +450 and Germany +650. Odds from DraftKings July 18.

Seven nations have qualified for every single previous edition of the tournament. Those countries include USA, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Brazil, Japan and Nigeria. So it’s no surprise to see most of those teams all among the top Women’s World Cup contenders. Six of them rank in the top 12 of the odds, with only Nigeria, The Super Falcons coming in as longshots at +25000.

Meanwhile. with the expanded field from 24 to 32 teams, there are also eight debutants in the tournament for the first time in Haiti, the Republic of Ireland, Zambia, Vietnam, Portugal, Morocco, Panama and the Philippines.

Zambia are the lowest-ranked nation at #77 but are third favorites in Group C and recently upset Germany in a friendly 3-2.

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Upsets can happen in any sport, but they rarely come at the Women’s World Cup. Only eight countries have ever even made it to the final and only four have ever won. As such, looking anywhere past say the top 10-13 teams in the odds would simply be swinging for a longshot and a huge payday.

Women’s World Cup Favorites

Here’s a look at some of the top favorites in this year’s Women’s World Cup.

USA

Defending champions USA fell to Canada in the semifinals of the Olympics in 2021 and then ran off a streak of 21 games undefeated. After a brief blip that saw them lose to England, Spain and Germany in friendlies, they were back in the win column and have won each of their past nine games where they’ve outscored their opponents 21-2.

The US boasts an incredibly deep player pool. While they’ll still bring plenty of familiar faces to Australia-New Zealand such as Alex Morgan and Megan Rapinoe, head coach Vlatko Andonovski has also chosen 14 players who will be making their World Cup debuts. They’re also be missing the likes of Mallory Swanson, Catarina Macario, captain Beck Sauerbrunn and Sam Mewis. This likely means a bigger role for the likes of Sophia Smith, Trinity Rodman, Alyssa Thompson and others.

"This team is something special" 🇺🇸@AlexMorgan13 discusses the squad chosen to represent the @USWNT at the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/HuXyv6Htrg

— FOX Soccer (@FOXSoccer) July 16, 2023

England

England slipped up in their last two World Cup warm-up matches with a 0-0 draw with Portugal and 2-0 loss versus Australia. But prior to that, they had been rolling, going undefeated in 30 games including a win over Brazil in the Finalissima. During qualifying the Lionesses coasted at 10-0-0 and outscored their opponents 80-0.

England were in the semifinals in 2019, then in the 2020 Olympics, English players played as Great Britain, losing in the quarterfinals. In 2022 they won the Euro Championship 2-1 in extra-time over Germany. England will also be without several big names with injuries to captain Leah Williamson, Golden Boot winner Beth Mead and Fran Kirby, plus the retirements of Jill Scott and Ellen White.

Spain

One of the top favorites for this tournament, Spain have been brushing aside their opponents since losing to England in the quarterfinals of the Women’s Euros last summer. They’re 12-1-1 since, while outscoring their opponents 52-6. Their lone defeat came to Australia in the Cup of Nations (3-2). They’ve won each of their past six games.

This is despite the team going through a mutiny against their head coach and 15 players leaving the team. The results wouldn’t show it and three of the players who left, Alexia Putellas, Irene Parades and Jenni Hermosa have since returned. Getting Ballon d’Or winner Putellas back from an ACL injury is a huge boost. But she’s only just returned and did leave training early already this week so likely will need to be used with a minutes restriction.

Germany

Despite being one of the top Women’s World Cup favorites, the Germans have only two wins in their past six games including a 3-2 loss to 77th-ranked Zambia. But these are still the Euro finalists from last summer who lost their star striker Alexandra Popp to a pre-game injury in warm-ups heading into that final. Popp’s teammate Lena Oberdorf was voted best young player of the tournament in the Euros and was Germany’s youngest-ever player at the World Cup in 2019 at 17 years old. Up until age 16, she also had always only played in boys’ soccer.

France

Les Bleues have all sorts of disfunction among their ranks but it hasn’t shown in their results. They’re 6-1-1 in their past eight and have outscored their opponents 18-6. In their past 31 games they are 25-2-4.

After falling out with some of the team’s top players, head coach Corrine Diacre was sacked. New head coach Herve Renard has only been in charge of four friendlies but is 3-0-1 in that time, with the one loss coming to Australia in their most recent game, 1-0.

Recent Women’s World Cup Winners

The United States have won the past two Women’s World Cups and have reached the final in each of the past three tournaments. The US have won the most Women’s World Cups with four, followed by Germany in second with two. Japan and Norway each have one title on their resumes. This will be the ninth edition of the tournament which began in 1991.

Women’s World Cup Contenders

After the top five here are some notes of some other Women’s World Cup contenders.

Australia

So what about the co-hosts of this year’s tournament? Australia, the Matildas, are ranked 10th in the World and will be favored to win Group B with Canada, Ireland and Nigeria.

Hosts Australia played a final warm up match against France on July 14 and won 1-0. They’ve now won 9/10 with wins over fellow World Cup participants South Africa (4-1), Denmark (3-1), Sweden (4-0), Spain (3-2), Jamaica (3-0), England (2-0) and France. Needless to say, they should be brimming with confidence entering the tournament in front of their home fans and with one of the game’s best strikers in Sam Kerr.

Sweden

Prior to November 11, 2022, Sweden had been in stellar form. They had suffered just one defeat in 20 games and just two in 38. But following a 4-0 defeat to Australia, they’ve won just 1/5. The tournament tune-up matches in 2023 have read: 4-1 win (China), 0-0 draw (Germany), 1-0 loss (Denmark) and 3-3 draw (Norway).

But still, they’re ranked third in the World, were semifinalists in 2019, finalists in the 2020 Olympics and semifinalists again in the 2022 Euros. This is an experienced side with excellent attacking options in Stina Blackstenius, Rolfo and Kosovare Asllani. They have been dealt some blows on the defensive side with fullbacks Hanna Glas and Hanna Lundkvist both suffering injuries.

Netherlands

The Americans’ toughest opponents in Group E will be the Dutch, whom they beat 2-0 in the 2019 final.

The Dutch are flying right now with 5-0 and 4-1 wins over Belgium and Poland but lost to one of the favorites, Germany 1-0 in their match prior.

Netherlands also lost 2-2 (4-2) in penalties to the US in the quarterfinals of the Olympics. At the 2022 Euros, Netherlands went out in the quarterfinals to France in extra-time. The Dutch have plenty of talent but will be without star striker Vianne Miedema who is just coming back from an ACL injury.

Japan

The Japanese have just two wins in their past seven, beating Portugal 2-1 and Canada 3-0. Their losses have all been mostly lower-scoring affairs with four 1-0 losses and one 4-0 defeat. Japan made the round of 16 in 2019 and the quarterfinals at the Olympics. Assuming Japan comes second in Group C to Spain, they’ll likely play either Norway or Switzerland in the round of 16, prior to a likely showdown with USA in the quarters. So a deep run in the WWC is unlikely.

Brazil

Brazil have wins over Chile and Germany in their past two, but have losses versus England, USA and Canada in the three matches prior. They’ll be hoping to send off all-time World Cup scoring leader Marta (17 goals) with a title but look to have a tough path even to win their group, playing alongside France in Group F.

Canada

The Canadians are ice-cold entering this competition off back-to-back losses to fellow tournament contenders France and Japan. They’ve also both beaten and lost to Brazil, plus a loss to USA in their past five. But these are still the defending Olympic champions who play rock-solid defense and have Christine Sinclair up top who’s scored 190 international goals. The star striker though is now 40 years old.

Women’s World Cup Group Odds

You can see the Women’s World Cup Group Stage odds above. England at -2500 to win Group D. Germany at -1600 to win Group H and Spain -650 to win Group C are given the shortest odds of topping their groups.

Women’s World Cup Predictions

If USA wins Group E their path to the semifinals looks relatively straight forward through the runner-up of Group G and then the Winner of Group A / Runner-up of Group C. That could set them up for a showdown with likely one of Spain, Sweden or Netherlands, based on the odds. I’m siding with Spain given their recent form.

On the other side of the bracket, if Australia can top Group B, they should face one of France or Brazil and their home field advantage and the scoring of Kerr tips the scales to the Matildas for me there.

Germany should easily walk through Group H and I’ll pick them to get past France or Brazil in the round of 16. That sets up a quarterfinal with what could be England or Canada in my WWC predictions. I’ll back my home team Canadians to edge past England but come up short versus the Germans.

That leaves us with semifinals featuring USA vs Spain and Australia vs Germany.

The are a lot of new faces, injuries and coaching/team disputes this tournament, Both USA and Spain are dealing with many of those issues. Let’s go for an upset of Spain beating the US, something we did see just last October. Then we’ll pick Germany to return to the final and this time, after coming up short in the Euros, to lift their first major trophy since the Olympics in 2016.

WWC Pick: Germany (+650)

Women’s World Cup Golden Boot Odds

Alex Morgan is given the shortest odds of +450 for an implied probability of 18.18% to score the most goals in the Women’s World Cup.

In the 2019 World Cup Morgan came oh-so-close to winning the award. She finished with six goals and three assists, which was tied with teammate Rapinoe. Though with less minutes played, Rapinoe took home the Golden Boot. England’s White also finished with six goals, while Sam Kerr of Australia had five.

In the 2020 Olympics, Miedema of the Netherlands led the way with ten goals, while each of Kerr, Barbra Banda (Zambia) and White had six. Sweden’s Blackstenius had five.

In the latest major competition, the 2022 Euros, England’s Mead and Germany’s Popp each finished with six goals. Alessia Russo of England (4) as well as Lina Magull (Germany) and Grace Geyoro (France) were also among the leaders with three each.

"Sam Kerr… She is the best goal scorer of our generation."@jordanangeli and @darian_jenkins breaks down what makes @samkerr1 so special. 🇦🇺 pic.twitter.com/XKdOAks3gI

— Attacking Third (@AttackingThird) July 17, 2023

When picking a winner for this year’s Women’s World Cup Golden Boot, there’s a few key areas to look. Who can rack up the goals versus weak opponents in the group stage? Will they make it deep in the competition? Who takes penalties? And finally, who is coming into the tournament in good form?

I think the Americans will likely spread out their scoring among many players.

Whereas someone like Lea Schuller for Germany scored the second-most goals in qualifying with 15 in nine games and could have good value at +1600. She also had 14 goals in 22 matches last season for Bayern Munich in the Frauen-Bundesliga. Though teammate Popp was Germany’s leading scorer at the Euros with six goals (scoring in every game leading up to the final), now scoring in five straight Euros and has 62 goals for Germany.

Spain’s Esther Gonzalez was tied in seventh for goals in qualifying with ten goals in six games. Meanwhile, Kerr will have the fans behind her and is the Matildas’ all-time scorer with 63 goals in 120 appearances and is also the NWSL’s all-time leading scorer with 77 goals. Now with Chelsea, she had 12 goals in 21 matches last season.

I think the Germans could put up some lopsided wins in the group stages and given I’m picking Germany to win the title, I’ll back Schuller for the Golden Boot so long as she pushes Popp for minutes. You also certainly couldn’t go wrong with a bet on Kerr.

Women’s World Cup Golden Boot Pick: Lea Schuller (+1600)

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