From 28 February to 7 March Portugal will host the 25th edition of the Algarve Cup. If the holder of the Spanish title will not be in the game, we will find the champions of Netherlands Europe or Australia, 4th in the FIFA rankings.


Created in 1994, the Algarve Cup is an international friendly tournament that takes place every year at this time of the year, in Portugal. This competition attracts teams from around the world every year. Before the creation of the SheBelieves Cup, the French team had participated, even losing in the final against the United States in 2015, which is the most successful team (10 final wins). As in the first 24 editions, no African nation will be present.


The Netherlands will be at the rendezvous


For this 25th edition, the reigning champion, Spain will not defend his trophy as the Iberian players will travel to Cyprus to participate in the Cyprus Cup, which takes place at the same time. Conversely, many other leading teams will follow. Starting with teams already having one or more titles to their credit in the tournament. Among them, Norway (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998), Sweden (1995, 2001, 2009), China (1999, 2002), and Canada (2016).


Fifth in the last edition beating Japan, the Netherlands will be new presents this year, this time with the Nadeshiko in their group. A group where we also find Denmark, finalist unhappy last Euro, precisely against the selection Oranje. Co-top scorer last year with Japanese Kumi Yokoyama (4 goals), Denmark's Pernille Harder will be there to help her team take their revenge on the Dutch.

Portugal, host country and last in the previous edition, will have in its group China but also Australia, rising nation of women's football. Currently 4th in the FIFA rankings, the Matildas will try to win their first title in the Algarve. Norway will also be there, but without the neo-Parisian Andrine Hegerberg who was not selected by Martin Sjögren to play this competition.


Three days then a classification match


12 international teams participate in the Algarve Cup and are divided into three groups, A, B and C. Three days are scheduled, allowing each team to meet the opponents of his group once. The first day will take place on Wednesday, February 28th, the second day on Friday, March 2nd and the third on Monday, March 5th. Each victory earns 3 points, a draw equals one point and a defeat, no point.

At the end of these three days, according to the points obtained, the first two teams compete for the final, The team which finished first with the lowest number of points (or difference of goals in case of a tie ) meets the best second for the third place finish and so on. These ranking matches will take place on Wednesday, March 7th.


Five Portuguese stadiums in the Algarve region were selected to host these matches: Estadio Algarve, Albufeira Municipal Stadium, Lagos Municipal Stadium, Bela Vista Municipal Stadium in Parchal and Vila Real de Sabto Antonio.


Algarve Cup - Composition of groups


Group A: Australia / China / Norway / Portugal

Group B: Canada / South Korea / Russia / Sweden

Group C: Denmark / Iceland / Japan / The Netherlands


==> The complete program / results of the Algarve Cup 2018