+ This is how it is decided.
The WC will be played in Brampton outside Toronto from April 5-17.
Ten teams participate, with the five seeded playing in Group A and the rest in Group B.
All five teams from Group A advance to the quarter-finals and the top three from Group B. The four quarter-final losers play play-offs for fifth place which gives a place in the seeded group in the next World Cup.
Group A: Canada, USA, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Japan.
Group B: Finland, Sweden, Hungary, Germany, France.
+ Then Sweden plays.
April 6: Germany (5 p.m.), April 8: Hungary (5 p.m.), April 9: Finland (5 p.m.), April 11: France (9 p.m.).
The quarter-finals will be played on 13 and 14 April, the semi-finals on 15 April, the bronze medal match on 16 April and the final on the night of 17 April.
SVT broadcasts all of Sweden’s matches as well as semi-finals and medal matches.
+ Why is the WC being played again?
The WC in Denmark at the turn of the month August-September actually belonged to the 2021-22 season and it was the first time the WC on the women’s side was played in an Olympic year. This WC tournament is the regular one this season.
Team captain Marie-Philip Poulin (29) and her Canada are gold favorites at home in Brampton. Archive image.
+ Canada gold favorite.
Canada is the reigning champion and has taken over from the USA (five straight World Cup gold between 2013 and 2019). “Lönnlöven” took WC gold in both 2021 and 2022 and also won the Olympic gold in Beijing in February last year.
Canada and the United States have met in 20 of 21 World Cup finals in history. In 2019, Finland made it to the final at home against the USA and was just one controversial overtime goal away from the gold, which the USA won in a penalty shootout.
+ Does Sweden have a medal chance?
Well, it will probably be tough. Then it is necessary to win the group to avoid the giants Canada and the USA in the quarter-finals. To take home the group victory, the Olympic bronze medalist Finland must be defeated – not impossible, but very difficult. The Finns play in Group B after a bad tournament in Denmark where the team fell in the quarter-finals against the Czech Republic and then in the placement match against Japan.
The women’s crowns were supposed to have played the B WC last season, but were given a free place in the A WC in Denmark since Russia was banned from international play due to the war in Ukraine.
There, the team finished seventh after losing in the quarter-finals against Canada and then a placement match against Japan.
The last time Sweden won a WC medal was in 2007, when it was bronze.
Mira Jungåker.
+ Young and old in the Ladies’ Crowns.
Confederation captain Ulf Lundberg has mixed experience with talent in the squad where seven players are WC debutants.
Three players are taken from the U18 national team that took silver in the home WC in Östersund in January – HV back Mira Jungåker, 17, and 16-year-old forwards Hilda Svensson, HV71, and Ebba Hedqvist, Modo.
Jungåker already made his WC debut in Denmark and was a great success.
Among the veterans are goalkeeper Sara Grahn, 34, 29-year-old backs Josefine Holmgren and Anna Kjellbin, and forwards Fanny Rask, 31, and Lisa Johansson, 30.
Hanna Olsson, Frölunda, is one of the national team’s leading figures and became the best scorer and scorer in Denmark with five goals and eight points in six games.
However, Michelle Löwenhielm, the team captain in the last WC, is missing for personal reasons.