Nigeria’s capital, Abuja, are playing host to the original FIFA Women’s World Cup trophy to be competed for by 32 teams from across the globe from July 20 to Aug. 20.
The trophy arrived in Abuja on Saturday afternoon after being taken to the three other African countries which will participate in the finals —- Morocco, South Africa and Zambia.
Nigeria is the fourth leg of the 32-leg trip the trophy is undertaking before heading to Australia and New Zealand.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that both Australia and New Zealand are the joint hosts of the biggest FIFA Women’s World Cup in history.
The trophy will be on display at the Transcorp Hilton Hotel in Abuja from 12 noon on Sunday, with a photo session planned for a number of invited guests.
Only four countries have ever won the trophy, namely the U.S., Germany, Norway and Japan.
The U.S. have won it on four occasions and Germany have lifted it twice, while Japan and Norway were champions once each.
This year’s finals will be staged in 10 venues across the two host countries in two different confederations — Asian Football Confederation (AFC) and Oceania Football Federation (OFC).
It is the first time a FIFA World Cup championship will be staged across two confederations.
There are six venues in five different cities in Australia and four venues in New Zealand, with only Sydney in Australia having two venues.
These are the Sydney Football Stadium and the Stadium Australia, which is the venue for the Final match.