DK Network staff picks, predictions for 2023 women’s World Cup

End of World Cup: Spain won the final over England 1-0, which means Chinmay wins the DK Network staff pool. Here are the final standings.

Chinmay - 43 points

Henry - 41 points

Ryan - 41 points

Grace - 38 points

Collin - 35 points

David - 33 points

Spencer - 26 points

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End of semifinal round: Spain and England are in the final, and the standings have shifted once again for the DK Network staff picks. Chinmay, David and Henry have all moved up since they were the only ones who had England in the final. If England goes on to win the final, Henry will win the pool. Otherwise, Chinmay will win the pool.

Chinmay - 43 points

Henry - 41 points

Ryan - 41 points

Grace - 38 points

Collin - 35 points

David - 33 points

Spencer - 26 points

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End of quarterfinal round: The quarterfinal round is complete and since there are more points at stake in the later rounds, correct picks have a bigger impact. Chinmay, David and Henry all have England in the final, which would push them towards the top of the standings. Henry has England winning it all and would win the pool if the Lionesses do indeed take home the title.

Ryan - 41 points

Grace - 38 points

Collin - 35 points

Chinmay - 35 points

Henry - 33 points

Spencer - 26 points

David - 25 points

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End of round of 16: We are through the round of 16 and the top of the standings remains close. Collin and Ryan are tied with 29 points, while Grace has 28. Collin is still in the best position as his champion is alive. Here are the latest standings in the DK Network staff picks.

Collin - 29 points

Ryan - 29 points

Grace - 28 points

Henry - 23 points

Chinmay - 23 points

Spencer - 22 points

David - 15 points

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End of group stage: It’s been a whirlwind group stage with plenty of upsets and shock results, which has led to some underwhelming numbers overall from our staff picks. Here’s a look at the standings entering the round of 16.

Collin - 17 points

Ryan - 15 points

Grace - 15 points

Spencer - 15 points

Henry - 13 points

Chinmay - 12 points

David - 11 points

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The 2023 FIFA women’s World Cup begins Thursday, July 20 with New Zealand and Norway facing off in the opening match. This is the first women’s World Cup to feature two host countries and it’ll also be the first tournament to have 32 teams instead of the usual 24.

We’ve brought together a handful of the DK Network staff to make picks for each round and also select award winners. There will be a scoring system to track every panelist’s progress through the competition and we’ll see who finishes with the most points at the end of the World Cup. Here’s a look at our panel.

Chinmay Vaidya - Sports Editor

Spencer Limbach - Newsdesk Writer

David Fucillo - DK Network Editor-in-Chief

Henry Palattella - Newsdesk Writer

Ryan Sanders - Newsdesk Writer

Grace McDermott - Staff Writer

Collin Sherwin - Deputy College Sports Editor

Here’s the how the scoring system will work. The 16 teams advancing to the knockout round are assigned seeds, with the group winner being 1 and the runner-up being 2. For example, the winner of Group A will be A1. Each panelist has selected 16 teams by seed. There will be one point awarded for each correct team picked, and one additional point for the correct seed.

From the round of 16, there will be two points awarded for every correct team in the quarterfinal round. One additional point will be given for correct placement in the bracket. From there, panelists will get four points for every correct team in the semifinal round with two additional points for correct placement. Each correct finalist will add eight points and picking a correct winner will be worth 16 points.

Here’s a look at how our staff sees the group stage, round of 16, quarterfinals, semifinals and final playing out.

Group Stage Predictions

The groups which will likely differentiate this pool will be Groups A, D and H. New Zealand is a popular pick to advance, but Ryan and Grace are backing Switzerland. Spencer (who won the World Cup 2022 staff picks pool), has Colombia coming out of Group H while everyone else is picking South Korea. It’s a 4-3 split for China vs. Denmark in Group D. Group G could also be a source of differentiation, where Ryan and Collin have Argentina advancing while everyone else is backing Italy.

Round of 16 Predictions

England and Germany are universal selections. Spain is nearly unanimous, with Collin thinking co-hosts New Zealand can spring a surprise here over his group winner Japan. Ryan, Collin and Grace all have Australia moving into the quarterfinal round. Chinmay and Ryan have Japan advancing, while everyone else has Norway. Collin has Norway taking out Spain, who he has picked to finish second in the group.

Quarterfinal, Semifinal, Final Predictions

This is where the real differentiation will come into play, especially since there are several champions being picked. Henry has picked England to win it all, while Collin is backing France. In fact, Collin is the only one who doesn’t have USA in the final. Everyone else has the Americans winning the whole thing.

Chinmay, David and Henry all have a USA-England final, while Ryan and Grace have a USA-France final. Spencer has a USA-Germany final, while Collin has a Netherlands-France final.

Let’s see how it all plays out over the next month!