All set for the 2023 World Cup

At 9am CEST, the first ball will kicked off in the World Cup, as New Zealand and Norway set the ball rolling at the most prestigious tournament for women's international football. Two Barça players are likely to play in the first game of the ninth edition of the Women's World Cup - namely Engen and Hansen for Norway. The Club has 18 players there, more than any other club side.

18 players, eight national sides

The FC Barcelona players are representing eight different national sides. The Spanish squad features the most Barça players, namely Irene Paredes, Aitana, Mariona Caldentey, Alexia Putellas, Laia Codina, María Pérez, Salma Paralluelo, Cata Coll and Ona Batlle. England (Keira Walsh and Lucy Bronze) and Norway (Engen and Hansen) both have two blaugranas in their squads. Nigeria (Oshoala), Brazil (Geyse), Italy (Giulia Dragoni), Sweden (Rölfo) and Switzerland (Crnogorčević) all have one Barça player.

Two clashes between Barça players

The second game of the group stage will see Barça players face off against each other for the first time, when Switzerland play Norway on Tuesday, 25 July at 10am CEST, i.e. Crnogorčević against Engen and Hansen.

There is one more group stage game with a Barça player on each side, the game between Sweden and Italy on Saturday 29 July, during the second round of group stage games.

When to watch each FC Barcelona player's debut with their national side

Every squad featuring a Barça player has a game between the opening fixture and Monday 24 July. Here is a run-down of each national side's first game when a blaugrana player could feature:

Thursday 20, 9:00am: New Zealand v Norway
Friday 21, 4:30am: Nigeria v Canada
Friday 21, 7:00am: Philippines v Switzerland
Friday 21, 9:30am: Spain v Costa Rica
Saturday 22, 11:30am: England v Haití
Sunday 23, 7:30am: Sweden v South Africa
Monday 24, 8:00am: Italy v Argentina
Monday 24, 1:00pm: Brazil v Panama

*All times CEST

The World Cup favourites

The list of Women's World Cup winners shows one side dominates over the rest - United States of America - having won four of the previous eight editions played so far. They lifted two of those trophies in the last two editions of 2019 and 2015. Their squad includes stars such as Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan and Rose Lavelle.

Another national side with World Cup winning pedigree are Germany. Despite not being at their best at present, they have won two World Cups and eight Euros, finishing second at the 2022 Euros.

The winners of that tournament last summer were England. The Lionesses also come into the tournament as 'Finalísima' winners against Brasil. However, they have lost three key players to injury, namely Fran Kirby, Leah Williamson and Bethany Mead.

As FC Barcelona are current Champions League holders, Spain clearly cannot be ruled out. 9 of the squad of twenty-six players come from the side that won the WCL on 3 June in Eindhoven.