Canada Women's Soccer Team Preps for Olympic Defense with Australian Challenge

The Canadian women's national soccer team will play Australia in a friendly match in Marbella, Spain, next week. This is part of their final preparations for defending their Olympic title. The team will also face an undisclosed opponent behind closed doors and gather players from Europe and North America for the camp.

The Canadian women's national team will play Australia in a friendly in Marbella, Spain, next week as part of their final preparations for the defence of their Olympic soccer title, Canada Soccer said on Wednesday. After facing Australia on July 13, eighth-ranked Canada will play behind closed doors on July 17 against opponents yet to be disclosed.

"Australia has been a consistent podium threat across recent major tournaments, and we wanted to really test ourselves prior to going into France," Canada head coach Bev Priestman said in a news release. "It will be important to blend minutes, form partnerships, and continue to grow as a squad in order to be ready come 25 July."

Canada have faced Australia five times since 2022, the most recent game coming last December in Vancouver, where they secured a 1-0 victory as the country bid farewell to Canadian soccer great Christine Sinclair. The preparation camp in Marbella, where the team will remain until heading to the Paris Olympics, will see European-based players gather on Thursday while North American-based players will join on July 8.

Earlier this week, Canada Soccer unveiled an 18-player roster for the Paris Olympics that featured 13 women from the group that won gold in Tokyo. Canada have reached the knockout stage in all four of their previous Olympic appearances, securing bronze medals at London 2012 and Rio 2016 before winning gold at Tokyo 2020.

Canada will play New Zealand (July 25), France (July 28) and Colombia (July 31) in the group stage of the competition at the Paris Games.

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