Michael Essien to participate in FIFA WWC draw in France today

Former Ghana midfielder Michael Essien will join an elite group of football stars to take part in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup draw in Paris, France on December 8.

Essien, was selected alongside former footballers, Kaka, Luis Saha, Alex Scott, Steffi Jones, Aya Miyama, Mia Hamm, Marie Bochet and France national team coach, Didier Deschamps to held conduct the draw for the tournament, which comes off from June 7 to July 7 in France.

FIFA named the Ghanaian icon, who won two Premier League titles and a UEFA Champions League medal with Chelsea, among the legends to participate in an event which is slated for the La Seine Musicale in Paris.

According to FIFA, the Women’s World Cup France 2019 will take place across nine host cities namely, Grenoble, Le Havre, Lyon, Montpellier, Nice, Paris, Reims, Rennes and Valenciennes.

The draw for the tournament will be attended by officials from the qualified teams, FIFA Legends, several VIPs and the tournament’s mascot.

The opening match will be played in Parc des Princes in Paris on June 7 with the semi-finals and final set to be played in Lyon on July 2, 3 and 7 respectively.

The 24 teams that have qualified for the World Cup are:

Africa: Cameroon, Nigeria and South Africa.

Asia: Australia, Japan, Republic of Korea, PR China, Thailand.

Europe: Germany, Scotland, Spain, France, England, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands and Sweden.

North America, Central America and the Caribbean: Canada, the United States and Jamaica.

Oceania: New Zealand.

South America: Argentina, Brazil and Chile.