New Zealand Women vs. Norway Women: Two bets for opening match of the Women's World Cup 2023

Co-hosts New Zealand face Norway in the opening match of the Women's World Cup 2023.

The countries will contest the first game at Auckland's Eden Park on Thursday 20th July, with kick-off scheduled for 8am BST, live on BBC 1.

Here at BettingOdds, we've analysed the markets and unearthed our two best bets for the eagerly anticipated opening clash of the tournament.

Norway, champions in 1995 and quarter-finalists four years ago, have been installed as the short-priced 1/4 favourites to open up their World Cup campaign with a win, while New Zealand are way out at 10/1 to conjure up a surprise three points.

New Zealand have never won a match at the Women's World Cup, losing 12 and drawing the other three of their 15 matches. Their recent form doesn't make for great reading either, with their win over Vietnam earlier this month representing their only win in 12 matches.

Norway's recent form hasn't exactly been top notch either, having failed to win any of their last four matches. However, they have recorded draws against Sweden and France in that period, and last November drew with England, which won them back a significant dose of pride following that 8-0 trouncing at last summer's European Championships.

As mentioned, The Grasshoppers are a slim price at 1/4 to win the match, but I like the look of the 21/20 on offer for a win to nil.

New Zealand have lost seven of their last nine matches to nil and lost all three games at the 2019 World Cup without scoring.

On top of that, the teams played a year ago with Norway running out 2-0 winners.

Norway have the exceptional Ada Hegerberg in their ranks, with the Lyon striker priced at 20/1 to win the Golden Boot, while she's as short as 4/9 to score against New Zealand.

One Norway player I like in this market is Frida Maanum, who stands-out at 15/4 (bet365) to find the back of the net on Thursday.

Maanum played more minutes than any of her teammates in qualifying for the women's World Cup and has scored three goals in her last six games for Norway: a brilliant brace in their 3-3 draw against Sweden and the equaliser against England.

A nominee for the WSL’s Player of the Season, Maanum notched an impressive 16 goals and nine assists in 38 matches in all competitions for Arsenal last season, including nine in the WSL, and five in the Champions League during the club's run to the semi-finals.