There are 24 countries, including Australia, competing in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup in France, which runs from 7 June to 7 July.
More than 750 million people worldwide watched the 2015 tournament in Canada – and even more are expected to tune in this time.
While this year's tournament is being held in Europe - which will mean late nights and early mornings for fans in Australia - Football Federation Australia has confirmed it will .
The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup is the eighth time the tournament has taken place, having been held every four years since 1991.
The first match takes place on Saturday at 5am (AEST) between France and South Korea.
What's been happening in the lead-up?
Tickets for various matches – including the opening match, semi-finals and final - sold out in record time.
“Ticket sales figures show that people are excited about the competition and we are looking forward to seeing the stadiums across France packed with passionate fans,” FIFA CCO Philippe Le Floc’h said.
But there have also been a few issues.
Fans around the world found sets of tickets purchased at the same time did not correlate with seats next to one another, meaning .
There has been additional criticism levelled at the scheduling of the final, which takes place on the same date as finals of two men's continental championships.
The 2019 tournament will also be first Women's World Cup to use the , which made a controversial debut in the men's competition last year.
What are Australia’s chances?
The sixth-ranked Matildas have been drawn in Group C with Italy (ranked 15th), Brazil (10th) and World Cup debutants Jamaica (53rd). Here is when the team will play its group stage matches:
- Australia v Italy, Sunday 9 June, 8:30pm (AEST)
- Australia v Brazil, Friday 14 June, 1:30am (AEST)
- Jamaica v Australia, Wednesday 19 June, 4:30am (AEST)
Former Socceroo Ante Milicic took over as coach earlier this year .
Australia has never progressed to a women’s World Cup semi-final before and will be hoping to do so this year.
Former Matildas goalkeeper and football analyst Melissa Barbieri said it will be a tightly-contested tournament.
"Once you get out of the group, it is anybody’s game,” she told SBS News.
“If Australia finishes top of its group it’ll play a third-placed team from one of the other groups - so unless some of the bigger teams have an absolute catastrophe, Australia could very well see itself within a semi-finals birth."
Others think the Matildas could do even better.
Matildas players Gemma Simon, Emily Gielnick, Laura Alleyway and head coach Ante Milicic Source: AAP
Senior ABC sports reporter Tracy Holmes told SBS News: “When you get to big sporting events, like a FIFA World Cup, you do have to rely a little bit on luck. You've done everything you can in the build-up, and then it just comes down to what happens on the day.”
“With that little bit of luck, Australia could, most certainly, win this World Cup."
Who are the players to watch?
The Matildas’ undisputed star is captain Sam Kerr. She has 147 Matildas caps and 47 goals - but is surprisingly yet to hit the back of the net at a World Cup.
Among other key Australian players are strikers Caitlin Foord and Lisa De Vanna, defender Alanna Kennedy, and midfielders Emily van Egmond and Elise Kellond-Knight.
The whole squad, Holmes said, has a good mix of youth and experience.
Matildas captain Sam Kerr Source: AAP
“There are a couple of players who are in their fourth World Cup [De Vanna, defender Clare Polkinghorne, and goalkeeper Lydia Williams] who will provide the strength, the calm and the backbone,” she said.
“There has also been quite a bit of news about Mary Fowler, who is making her World Cup debut at just 16 years of age, and then, you have the rest of the girls aged in between."
Given the strides the women's game has taken in recent years, the 2019 World Cup squad is uniquely placed for success, Barbieri said.
Mary Fowler, 16, has made the squad. Source: AAP
“It is really the first time in Matildas history where players are playing professional football for 356 days a year," she said. "This is perhaps our first batch of very, very well rounded, experienced players."
What about the other countries?
The USA are the defending champions, the world’s top-ranked nation and the favourites. They're seeking a fourth title.
Hosts France have never progressed past a World Cup semi-final, but are currently ranked fourth and will be hoping to duplicate the men's win in Russia last year.
Germany, ranked 2nd, could do well, as could Japan (7th), who won in 2011 and finished runner-up in 2015. European champions the Netherlands could also be a challenger for the title.
Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd are two of the star US players. Lloyd won the player of the tournament award at the 2015 World Cup.
Vivianne Miedema and Lieke Martens are leading figures for the Netherlands. Dzsenifer Marozsan will be a key player for Germany, as will Amadine Henry for France.
USA forward Carli Lloyd. Source: AP
Why does the tournament matter?
It is hoped a well-watched and received tournament will encourage countries and organisations to further reduce the inequalities that exist between the men's and women's games.
Norway’s Ada Hegerberg, who is largely considered one of, if not the best player in the world, will not be at the tournament.
She decided in 2017 to stop playing international football in protest of how Norway treats women's football. She was also in December last year.
There are also no Middle-Eastern countries involved at the tournament, not least because some do not permit women to play, or even attend football matches.
And while the overall prize money on offer for the 2019 tournament (AU$43.4 million) has doubled since 2015, it is dwarfed by the amount offered in last year’s men's World Cup (AU$578 million).
“Football remains even further from the goal of equality for all World Cup players, regardless of gender," Players' union FIFPro said in a statement.
Although inequality has been reduced in recent years, the women’s game in remains some distance behind the men’s,” Barbieri said.
“I know the World Cup is coming up, but why isn’t it on every news bulletin on the radio while I’m driving my kids to school? Until I start to hear those adverts on every radio station, on every TV news station, that's when I’ll' start to say, 'okay, now we're getting somewhere’.”
Homes said she hopes funding and infrastructure for the Matildas will soon be on par with the Socceroos, particularly given the Matildas' comparatively lofty place in the world rankings.
"I'm not disparaging the talent in the Socceroos [currently 41st in the men's rankings] because they have come such a long way, but the Australian team that is most likely to win a World Cup sooner rather than later is going to be the Matildas," she said.
"In that regard alone, you kind of think, 'shouldn't whatever go into one team go into the other?'
"Audiences for the Matildas have been building, but I think at the moment it is a bit like a wheel with a whole lot of different spokes, and some of the spokes just are not in place yet."
Tracey Holmes will be part of SBS's televised and online 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup coverage, which includes all Matildas’ matches, as well as the opening match, quarter-finals, semi-finals and the final.
Melissa Barbieri will be part of SBS Radio’s coverage, which includes all 52 matches live and in multiple languages.
and app will stream all SBS matches live, alongside the latest scores, highlights, news and analysis.
