The kick off for the Algarve Cup 2015 is given this afternoon. The 2015 edition, which runs until March 11, has several new features, the main one, a new competition model that allows any of the twelve participating teams to win the competition.
The first game will take place this afternoon at the Bela Vista Stadium, in Parchal, at 14:10 pm, between Japan – world champions – and Denmark (teams from group C, from Portugal). The national team enters the field later, against France, at the same stadium, at 18:00.
The presence of the Brazilian team, with Marta, five times elected the best footballer in the world, is another highlight of the 2015 edition of the competition. The “canarinha” makes her debut in the competition and shares group A with Sweden, Germany and China.
Group B has teams from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and the United States.
The Algarve Cup will serve as preparation for the Women's World Cup, which takes place this summer in Canada. Of the participating teams, only Portugal, Denmark and Iceland are not qualified for the competition.
In the 21 editions of the Algarve Cup already played, the United States team won on nine occasions, Norway on four, Germany and Sweden won three times each and China won the cup twice.
In 2014 the victory belonged to Germany, who beat Japan in the final, 3-0, with Iceland taking third place, ahead of Sweden.
The games for the 2015 edition of the Algarve Cup will take place at the Algarve Stadium, Bela Vista Stadium (Parchal), Vila Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium, Lagos Municipal Stadium and Albufeira Municipal Stadium.
Games program:
March 4:
14:10 pm: Japan-Denmark, at Bela Vista Stadium (Parchal)
15:00 pm: Brazil-China, at the Albufeira Municipal Stadium
15:00 pm: Switzerland-Iceland, at the Municipal Stadium in Lagos
16:00: Germany-Sweden, at Vila Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium
18:00: Portugal-France, at the Bela Vista Stadium (Parchal)
19:00: Norway-United States, at Vila Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium
March 6:
12:10: Japan-Portugal, at the Algarve Stadium
13:00: Germany-China, at Vila Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium
13:30: Sweden-Brazil, at the Municipal Stadium in Lagos
15:00 pm: France-Denmark, at the Algarve Stadium
17:00: United States-Switzerland, at Vila Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium
18:00: Norway-Iceland, at the Municipal Stadium in Lagos
March 9:
14:10 pm: Japan-France, at Bela Vista Stadium (Parchal)
14:10 pm: Portugal-Denmark, at the Albufeira Municipal Stadium
17:30 pm: Brazil-Germany, at the Bela Vista Stadium (Parchal)
17:30 pm: Sweden-China, at Real de Santo António Municipal Stadium
17:30 pm: United States-Iceland, at Lagos Municipal Stadium
17:30 pm: Norway-Switzerland, at the Albufeira Municipal Stadium
The final journey will take place on March 11, in fields to be indicated, according to the results obtained in the group stage, with the following pairings:
– worst ranked fourth against second worst ranked fourth
– best fourth against worst third place
– second worst third place against best third place
– worst runner-up against second-worst runner-up
– worst group winner against best runner-up
– best group winner versus second best group winner
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