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McKenna, Payne & Quinn Set for Soccer’s Biggest Stage: The World Cup
7/19/2023 8:00:00 AM | Women's Soccer
DURHAM – The biggest stage of soccer is set to commence Thursday as the 2023 Women's World Cup opens in Australia and New Zealand with a trio of Duke women's soccer standouts set to represent their home countries. Kayla (McCoy) McKenna (Jamaica), Toni Payne (Nigeria) and Quinn (Canada) will compete July 20 through Aug. 20 in front of a world audience.
McKenna, a 2019 Blue Devil graduate, will see action in the World Cup for the second time in her career. Jamaica qualified for the second time as a squad and will participate for the second straight event. Jamaica will open action Sunday, July 23 versus France and then take on Panama (July 29) and Brazil (Aug. 2).
Payne, who graduated from Duke in 2017, will compete in her first World Cup and will represent Nigeria. Her country is appearing in its ninth World Cup and is coming off an appearance in the round of 16 in 2019. Nigeria's best finish came in the quarterfinals in 1999.
Nigeria kicks things off Thursday, July 20 against Canada, while also facing Australia (July 27) and Ireland (July 31).
A 2018 Duke graduate, Quinn and the Canada squad will see action in the World Cup for the eighth-straight staging, after advancing to the round of 16 and quarterfinals in the last two appearances. Coming off helping lead Canada to the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2020, Quinn will make their second consecutive appearance in the World Cup for Canada.
Canada gets things started Thursday, July 20 versus Nigeria followed by matches against Ireland (July 26) and Australia (July 31).
A field of 32 teams will open with a group stage consisting of four teams, with the top two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with the round of 16 teams. The World Cup will be played in 10 venues with six being contested in Australia (2 in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide) and four in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton).
The World Cup will be aired live on FS1, FOX, Telemundo Network – Spanish, Peacock – Spanish and Universo – Spanish.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC".
#GoDuke
McKenna, a 2019 Blue Devil graduate, will see action in the World Cup for the second time in her career. Jamaica qualified for the second time as a squad and will participate for the second straight event. Jamaica will open action Sunday, July 23 versus France and then take on Panama (July 29) and Brazil (Aug. 2).
Payne, who graduated from Duke in 2017, will compete in her first World Cup and will represent Nigeria. Her country is appearing in its ninth World Cup and is coming off an appearance in the round of 16 in 2019. Nigeria's best finish came in the quarterfinals in 1999.
Nigeria kicks things off Thursday, July 20 against Canada, while also facing Australia (July 27) and Ireland (July 31).
A 2018 Duke graduate, Quinn and the Canada squad will see action in the World Cup for the eighth-straight staging, after advancing to the round of 16 and quarterfinals in the last two appearances. Coming off helping lead Canada to the Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in 2020, Quinn will make their second consecutive appearance in the World Cup for Canada.
Canada gets things started Thursday, July 20 versus Nigeria followed by matches against Ireland (July 26) and Australia (July 31).
A field of 32 teams will open with a group stage consisting of four teams, with the top two teams progressing from each group to a knockout tournament starting with the round of 16 teams. The World Cup will be played in 10 venues with six being contested in Australia (2 in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide) and four in New Zealand (Auckland, Wellington, Dunedin and Hamilton).
The World Cup will be aired live on FS1, FOX, Telemundo Network – Spanish, Peacock – Spanish and Universo – Spanish.
To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC".
#GoDuke
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