The Jamaica women’s national team have announced their withdrawal from the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup Qualifiers.

Instagram posts were sent out this evening by members of the team, including Tottenham Hotspur players – goalkeeper Rebecca Spencer and Drew Spence, stating that “whilst it was one of the hardest decisions” they have had to make, it was felt “necessary to take such a drastic stance to put an end to the constant mistreatment” received from the Jamaican Football Federation (JFF).

The players explain that the reason for withdrawing from the competition relates to receiving information about coaching and medical staff in an “untimely manner and through unprofessional communication”.

Further, the players confirm that they are yet to receive “full and correct payments” from their World Cup performance as well as “numerous outstanding bonuses for qualifying” in 2022.

The players’ issues with the JFF are long-standing. Prior to the World Cup in June, the players were public in their criticism of the JFF stating that, due to their disorganisation, they had missed several FIFA friendly matches and had raised concerns about “subpar planning, transportation, accommodation, training conditions, compensation and nutrition”.

Despite the significant…

In the days leading up to their opening World Cup matches, Jamaica’s national team head coach Lorne Donaldson found himself on the upper floor of a Sydney nightclub.

He soon noticed a group of Colombians partying downstairs. Donaldson and his group went to mingle and said they all marvelled at the serendipity: representatives of two nations, tens of thousands of miles from home, finding the same venue to let loose before locking in for the biggest tournament in women’s football.

A few weeks later, they met again for a different kind of dance, 440 miles away in Melbourne.

“I think it makes it better that you have countries like this who enjoy life first,” said Donaldson before Jamaica and Colombia’s last-16 tie. “Hopefully, whoever is left standing in this game, we can walk over and say ‘good job.’”

The two nations’ journeys through the World Cup have shared a healthy overlap. Both have featured in headlines alongside words like “stun” or “shock”: Colombia beat Germany 3-2, while Jamaica held France and Brazil to scoreless draws. Two star strikers, albeit with very different playing styles, are the poster players of each side in Colombia’s Linda Caicedo and Jamaica’s Bunny Shaw. Both teams have cultivated and reaped the benefits of meticulously…

From the jubilant scenes at full-time, you would have assumed Jamaica had won. “The last World Cup we didn’t get a point,” said defender Deneisha Blackwood. “So just to get a point in a big game, it’s a victorious feeling for us.”

Few would blame them for celebrating one point like three. Coming into this World Cup, opponents France were one of the most exciting sides, boosted by the appointment of international tournament specialist Herve Renard as their manager. The French offer speed out wide, goalscoring ability up front, and, in captain Wendie Renard, arguably the most revered centre-back in the competition.

Coach Renard set them up in an aggressive 4-2-4. France were ready to get the tournament started.

Instead, we got one of the least exciting games of the tournament so far in terms of goalmouth action, something which reflects excellently on the team France were up against. Jamaica had to battle at times, and they survived a late scare when Kadidiatou Diani hit the post and ended playing 11 vs 10. But, against the odds, they eventually secured their first-ever point at a Women’s World Cup.

In a wider context, the result in Sydney doesn’t feel like an anomaly.

Our Girlz first-ever point at the @FIFAWWC!

: @mr_geniuz
.#ReggaeGirlz

The 2023 Women’s World Cup gets under way in Australia and New Zealand on July 20, with the U.S. hoping to navigate an expanded 32-team tournament to become the first country to win football’s biggest prize three times in a row.

They are the favourites, but will the four-time winners actually pull off the ‘three-peat’? What of England, European champions but decimated by injuries to key players as they attempt to win the tournament for the first time? Will Germany bounce back from losing the final of the Euros to lift the game’s biggest prize?

How will the likes of France, Spain and Canada perform after their preparations have been disrupted by disputes with their federations over the past few months?

And can we expect any surprises from any of the eight countries — Haiti, Morocco, Panama, Philippines, Portugal, Republic of Ireland, Vietnam and Zambia — making their World Cup debuts?

Our expert writers give their verdicts on what they think will happen over the next five weeks.

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Flo Lloyd-Hughes, women’s football reporter

Winner: Germany. This is a very open tournament and there are four or five teams that have a good chance of winning the title. Germany are often the masters of their own downfall, but given their disappointment at the Euros last summer and their…

Let’s start with a few fun facts. 

Asisat Oshoala has been African women’s footballer of the year five times. She has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times. She has two Golden Boots and two Golden Balls at international tournaments: two each at AFCON and the Under-20 World Cup. 

She was the top scorer in Spain in 2021-22 and last season, notched a personal-best 21 goals for Barcelona — accompanied by three assists, which was comfortably more than her team-mates.

In 2019, she became the first African woman to score in a Champions League final. Two years later she became the first African woman to win a Champions League title. A year after that, she became the first African woman to be nominated for the Ballon d’Or. 

We could go on. There will certainly be better players at this World Cup, but there won’t be many as exciting to watch, or indeed many with a more interesting career story, than Oshoala. 

Born in Ikorodu, a coastal city about an hour’s drive from the Nigerian capital Lagos, Oshoala wasn’t exactly encouraged to pursue her sporting dreams as a child. Her parents would frequently not give her any food if she disobeyed them and went to play football, considering it a waste of time. They wanted her to become a lawyer instead. 

But when she was…

The Jamaica women’s national team have expressed their concerns over preparations ahead of the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup this summer. 

A joint statement highlighted the issues around “transportation, accommodations, training conditions, compensation, communication, nutrition, and accessibility to proper resources,” with the tournament beginning in just over one month on July 20. 

Multiple meetings are alleged to have taken place with the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF), with members of the women’s national team saying their “questions go unanswered and our concerns unresolved.” 

Several key players, including Manchester City’s Khadija Shaw and Chicago Red Stars’ Cheyna Matthews shared the statement on social media. 

pic.twitter.com/f0omHZYEh0

— Cheyna Matthews (@Cheynalee_) June 15, 2023

The statement read: “In recent months, due to extreme disorganisation of camp logistics, we have missed several official FIFA friendly matches. This will undoubtedly impact our preparation for Australia. 

“The Reggae Girlz consist of professional and collegiate footballers who are spread out across the world. To be left questioning whether a camp will even take place two to three days before the expected start is unprofessional and often unfairly prohibitive for…

The 2023 Women’s World Cup is almost here. It is the ninth iteration of the tournament and the biggest yet as, for the first time, 32 teams will compete for the trophy.

That means a new format with more matches and more players, as well as some new rules that have not been in operation before.

Here’s a primer ahead of the biggest women’s football tournament in history.

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The basics

What is the Women’s World Cup?

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international tournament that pits the best national sides against one another every four years.

Where is it being held?

The tournament is being played in Australia and New Zealand.

It is the first Women’s World Cup to be hosted across two countries and the first World Cup (regardless of gender) to be hosted across two confederations — Australia are part of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and New Zealand are part of the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC).

When is it?

The first two games of the tournament — New Zealand vs Norway and Australia vs Republic of Ireland — will be played on July 20.

The group stage will conclude with the final two games in Group H a fortnight later on August 3.

The knockout stage will begin on…