Your guide to FIFA Women's World Cup 2019

As the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off on June 7 in France, Sportstar tells you all you need to know ahead of the event.

This will be the eighth edition of the Women's World Cup.

The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup will begin on June 7 in Paris, France as 24 countries will fight for the biggest honour in football.

The tournament will be held across nine venues in France. In March 2015, France won the hosting right for the event, which was the first time it will host the tournament, and the third time a European nation will.

United States is the defending champion and also the most successful team with three World Cups.

Here's all you need to know about the tournament:

Teams

24 teams from six confederations will participate in the World Cup, with Europe having the most participants (9). Chile, Jamaica, South Africa and Scotland will make their World Cup debuts.

Here's how the teams have been grouped:

Group A: France, South Korea, Norway, Nigeria
Group B: Germany, China PR, Spain, South Africa
Group C: Australia, Italy, Brazil, Jamaica
Group D: England, Scotland, Argentina, Japan
Group E: Canada, Cameroon, New Zealand, Netherlands
Group F: United States, Thailand, Chile, Sweden

Full squad lists of all 24 teams can be found here.

Format

Teams have been placed across six groups (A-F), with four teams in each group. The winner and runner-up of each group will automatically qualify to the round of 16.

Among the third-placed teams across all groups, four teams with the highest points will progress to the pre quarterfinal.

Match schedule

The group stages will be played from June 7 until June June 21. The round of 16 fixtures will begin from June 22 and last until June 25.

After a day's break, the quarterfinal will start on June 27; the semifinals will be held on July 2 and 3. The third place playoff will be played on July 6.

The final will be played in Lyon on July 7 at the 59,186-seater Parc Olympique Lyonnais stadium.

Full list of group stage matches can be found here.

Venues

Out of 12 cities, nine were shortlisted for venues, which included Lyon, Paris, Nice, Montpellier, Rennes, Le Havre, Valenciennes, Reims and Grenoble. The stadiums are as follows:

1) Parc Olympique Lyonnais, Lyon
2) Parc des Princes, Paris
3) Allianz Riviera, Nice
4) Stade de la Mosson, Montpellier
5) Roazhon Park, Rennes
6) Stade Oceane, Le Havre
7) Stade du Hainaut, Valenciennes
8) Stade Auguste-Delaune, Reims
9) Stade des Alpes, Grenoble

Parc Olympique, Allianz Riviera and Parc des Princes were also were used at the 2016 UEFA Euros.

Broadcast

The Women's World Cup will be telecast in India on the Sony Pictures Network. Matches will also be streamed live on SonyLiv.

New addition

Video assistant referees (VAR) will be used at a Women's World Cup for the first time. 15 VAR officials from four confederations, namely AFC, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL and UEFA were announced earlier in May.