Canada, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain, Norway, China and Scotland are the seven qualifying teams for the World Championship, which have the Algarve as a demanding ‘appetizer’ for the competition set to take place in France, between 7 June and 7 July.

Sweden is part of group D, with Switzerland and Portugal, which in 2018 had their best performance in the history of the tournament, ending in third place and is currently out of the World Cup.

However, Portugal are preparing for the qualification phase for the Euro 2021 from August.

The Netherlands, current European champion, are part of group B, facing Spain and Poland.

Canada, 2016 champion, is to face Icland and Scotland in group A.

Norway, the winner of four of the first five editions of the tournament, between 1994 and 1998, was placed in group C with China and Denmark.

The Algarve Cup has Portuguese referee Sandra Bastos with England’s Lisa Rashid and Sweden’s Julian Magnusson as assistants.

The women’s football tournament is held annually in Portugal.

This year it begins on 6 March with the final and five more qualifying games in places to be disclosed after the last round of the group stage.