Canada announces home-and-away series with Germany

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today that it has organized a home-and-away series for its women’s national team against the reigning two-time world champion Germany. The two countries have agreed to meet this 15 September 2010 in Germany with a return match to be played in Canada the following year in 2011. The first match will lend to both program’s preparations for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011 while the second match will be part of the preparations for the 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament.



“It is important that we continue to improve our international experience,” said national coach Carolina Morace. “Germany is a team with a long history as one of the best teams in Europe and in the world.”



Canada will travel to Germany this September for the first international friendly match. It will be the women’s team’s first trip to Germany since April 2005. This match will provide an excellent test before the CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, which is expected to take place in the last quarter of 2010 in North America. The 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup is the confederation qualifier for the FIFA Women’s World Cup Germany 2011.



The return match will be played in 2011 after the FIFA Women’s World Cup, which runs 26 June to 17 July of next year. That means the match will be part of both team’s early preparations for the 2012 Women’s Olympic Football Tournament in London, England.



Canada and Germany have participated in each of the last four FIFA Women’s World Cups. Germany won the two most recent competitions, both at USA 2003 and China 2007. Germany will host the tournament in 2011; Canada is bidding for the next FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015.



Canada’s women’s team, whose title sponsor is Winners and whose presenting sponsor is Teck, recently opened the 2010 season by winning the 2010 Cyprus Women’s Cup. Canada has in fact won all five of its international matches this season, helping it improve to 10th place on the FIFA/Coca-Cola Women’s World Rankings. As part of its 2010 schedule, it will play at least two games at home, with dates, venues and opponents yet to be announced. As for the 2010 CONCACAF Women’s Gold Cup, that schedule is expected be announced shortly by CONCACAF, with the top-two teams qualifying for Germany 2011 and the third-place team entering a playoff against the fifth-place team from Europe.