Canada Women's National Team is ready to take on the World
Canada is the ninth and last realistic favourite to win the Women’s World Cup, while the United States is predicted to win the third straight title, according to Nielsen’s Gracenote.
The reigning Olympic champions Canada, with a 6% chance, are right up there with the top eight favourites like Brazil (7%), co-hosts Australia (8%), Spain (8%), European champions England (8%), France (9%), Germany (11%), Olympic silver medalists Sweden (11%) and the US (18%) to bank home $10.5 million of champions’ prize money.
The Gracenote prediction is based on around one million simulations of the FIFA tournament, which is in its ninth edition and set to be the biggest ever, with most teams (32), most matches (64) and having sold most tickets (over a million).
The Champions will take $4.29 Million Prize Money
According to the FIFA announcement in June, the total prize money of this edition is $110 million, around $80 million more than that of the previous one. The champions association will take home $4.29 million, with each player banking $270,000, totalling $10.5 million.
Co-hosted by Australia and New Zealand, the Women’s World Cup, will kick off this Thursday and run from 20 July to 20 August 2023. The top two in each group will advance to the knockout stage of the last 16.
Canada #8 Jayde “Yuk Fun” Riviere’s Asian “Root”
“What I’m really proud about is that both of them [my parents] aren’t Canadian-born.”
22-year-old Canadian full-back Jayde Riviere told FeverSports’ Brian Wong in an exclusive interview: “I think it helped me build ‘me’ having two parents from two different countries and really taught me the importance of loving and respecting your roots and where you come from.”
Born in Markham, Ontario, Riviere’s dad Tony was born in Dominica while her mom Emily was born in Kowloon, Hong Kong, according to Canada Soccer.
Riviere’s full first name is listed as “Jayde Yuk Fun” in the official World Cup squad list published by FIFA, showing a bit of her Hong Kong roots.
When asked by FeverSports how her parents helped her become who she is right now, the former Michigan Wolverines star Riviere said: “Both my parents are obviously immigrants from Canada.
“My dad was more of the soccer athletic type of person, so he’s the one that really got me into soccer and took the time out of his day to coach me personally.
“My mom wasn’t a soccer player growing up, but she was definitely the nurturing type. She’s the one you know that made sure on the emotional side that, you know, I obviously had a mom that was there when dad was getting angry about soccer games.
“I think it’s really nice to see that even though I am born in Canada that both people from Hong Kong, and both people from Dominica still support me a hundred percent.”
Having finished college soccer in 2022, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic gold medalist signed her first professional contract with Manchester United in January 2023. Jayde “Yuk Fun” became the second Canadian at Manchester United women’s team, and is on a deal running until 2025.
This was a special moment 🤗
— Manchester United Women (@ManUtdWomen) January 25, 2023
🇨🇦 @JaydeRiviere & @LeonAdriana9 reunited! 🤝 #MUWomen pic.twitter.com/ddUO7eDPYz
Other Asian Representation in the 2023 Women's World Cup
Apart from Riviere, the 30-year-old Jamaican midfielder #6 Havana Solaun is another World Cup star with a root in Hong Kong. Solaun was born in Shatin to an Afro-Cuban father Felix and a Jamaican mother Sandra.
Five Asian countries are competing in the tournament, which is poised to record audience again, as Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, the Philippines and China play in five different groups.
FIFA claimed a combined 1.12 billion viewers turned into the official broadcast of the last women’s world cup four years ago.
Canada will play against Nigeria (21 July 2023), the Republic of Ireland (26 July 2023) and co-hosts Australia (31 July 2023) in the three Group B matches.