Women's World Cup: Profiles of Groups A, B and C

The pressure is on France as they kick off the Women's World Cup against South Korea on June 7, but while the Koreans, Norwegians and Nigerians are all potentially tricky opponents for the hosts, the format of the group stage leaves them some room to manoeuvre.

The first round will eliminate just eight teams of the 24 teams, with the top two finishers in each of the six groups advancing along with four best third-place teams.

Here AFP, looks at the contenders in groups A, B and C:

Group A

France (World Ranking: Number 4), Norway (No. 12), South Korea (No. 14), Nigeria (No. 38) 

Hosts France start as one of the tournament favourites, as the backbone of the starting XI play for Lyon, the dominant team in European club football. Sarah Bouhaddi is described by team-mates as "the best goalkeeper in the world", central defender Wendie Renard captains Lyon while defensive midfielder Amandine Henri captains France. Striker Eugenie Le Sommer has scored 74 goals for the national team.

Further improving their chances is the absence of their star team-mate Ada Hegerberg, who is boycotting a Norway team that should still have enough to advance from the group.

South Korea took the fifth and...