Women's World Cup 2015: Full results and bracket following USA's WWC triump

Complete coverage of USA's World Cup final victory over Japan.

The eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup kicks off on June 6, when hosts Canada will attempt to get off to an excellent start en route to a country-pleasing victory. This is the best chance they've ever had to lift the trophy, but they're far from heavy favorites. As usual, the United States and Germany lead the pack, while the likes of France, Brazil and Japan should be extremely competitive.

A lot of eyes will be on the Americans early after they were drawn into the so-called group of death. All of their opponents -- Sweden, Australia and Nigeria -- are capable of beating them on their best day and getting out of this group.

Abby Wambach and the rest of America's forwards will be formidable as usual, but they're probably not the top goal-scorers in the tournament. Célia Šašić of Germany and Lotta Schelin of Sweden are the world's top forwards on form, while Canada's Christine Sinclair and Brazil's Marta will need to be sensational for their teams to compete.

Here's everything you need to get caught up on how the teams got here, how the tournament works and how the schedule will unfold.

The format

Qualification started all the way back in May of 2013, when the AFC Women's Asian Cup got underway. Since then, all of the confederations have gone through their qualifying process, setting the field of 24 teams, up from 16 in the last World Cup. Europe sent eight teams, Asia sent five, North America four, Africa three, South America three and Oceania one. Ecuador won an intercontinental playoff to get in, while Canada automatically qualified as hosts.

Teams were drawn into six groups of four, with the top six teams seeded and the rest distributed according to geography. The top two teams in each group will advance to the knockout stages, along with the four best third-placed teams. Group stage games can end in draws, but knockout stage games will have a winner. In the event a knockout stage game ends in a draw, the two teams will play two 15-minute extra time periods to their completion, with no golden goal rule. If the score is still tied after extra time, the teams go to penalty kicks, which are best of five followed by sudden death.

The teams

Group A

Canada
China
New Zealand
Netherlands

Group B

Germany
Ivory Coast
Norway
Thailand

Group C

Japan
Switzerland
Cameroon
Ecuador

Group D

United States
Australia
Sweden
Nigeria

Group E

Brazil
South Korea
Spain
Costa Rica

Group F

France
England
Colombia
Mexico

Bracket

You can find a full bracket here on our 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup guide.

Schedule and results (all times Eastern)

Saturday, June 6

Canada 1-0 China
New Zealand 0-1 Netherlands

Sunday, June 7

Norway 4-0 Thailand
Germany 10-0 Ivory Coast

Monday, June 8

Sweden 3-3 Nigeria
Cameroon 6-0 Ecuador
USA 3-1 Australia
Japan 1-0 Switzerland

Tuesday, June 9

France 1-0 England
Colombia 1-1 Mexico
Spain 1-1 Costa Rica
Brazil 2-0 South Korea

Thursday, June 11

Germany 1-1 Norway
China 1-0 Netherlands
Ivory Coast 2-3 Thailand
Canada 0-0 New Zealand

Friday, June 12

Australia 2-0 Nigeria
Switzerland 10-1 Ecuador
USA 0-0 Sweden
Japan 2-1 Cameroon

Saturday, June 13

France 0-2 Colombia
Brazil 1-0 Spain
England 2-1 Mexico
South Korea 2-2 Costa Rica

Monday, June 15

Ivory Coast 1-3 Norway
Thailand 0-4 Germany
China 2-2 New Zealand
Netherlands 1-1 Canada

Tuesday, June 16

Ecuador 0-1 Japan
Switzerland 1-2 Cameroon
Australia 1-1 Sweden
Nigeria 0-1 USA

Wednesday, June 17

England 2-1 Colombia
Mexico 0-5 France
Costa Rica 0-1 Brazil
South Korea 2-1 Spain

Saturday, June 20

Germany 4-1 Sweden
China 1-0 Cameroon

Sunday, June 21

Brazil 0-1 Australia
France 3-0 South Korea
Canada 1-0 Switzerland

Monday, June 22

Norway 1-2 England
United States 2-0 Colombia

Tuesday, June 23

Japan 2-1 Netherlands

Friday, June 26

Germany 1-1 (5-4 PKs) France
China 0-1 USA

Saturday, June 27

Australia 0-1 Japan
England 2-1 Canada

Tuesday, June 30

USA 2-0 Germany

Wednesday, July 1

Japan 2-1 England

Saturday, July 4

Third place: Germany 0-1 England

Sunday, July 5

Final: USA 5-2 Japan