THE original FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy, to be competed for in Australia and New Zealand from July 20 to August 20 this year, is now in Nigeria.
The trophy, which is on a worldwide tour, arrived in Abuja yesterday to round off its African leg of the tour.
Already, the coveted prize has been taken to the three other African countries that will participate in the finals along with Nigeria: Morocco, South Africa and Zambia.
Nigeria is the fourth leg of the 32-leg journey that the trophy will undertake, before heading to Australia and New Zealand – the two countries that are the joint hosts of the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup in history, which will have 32 participating teams.
The trophy will be on display at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel, Abuja from 12 noon today, with a photo session planned for a number of invited guests.
Only four countries have won the trophy since the competition’s first edition in 1991: United States of America, Germany, Norway and Japan.
USA have triumphed on four occasions and Germany have lifted it twice. Japan and Norway have been champions once each.
This year’s tournament will be staged in 10 venues across two countries in two different confederations – the first time a FIFA World Cup championship will be staged across two confederations.
There are six venues in five different cities in Australia and four venues in New Zealand, with only Sydney in Australia having two venues. These are the Sydney Football Stadium and the Stadium Australia, which is the venue for the final match.
