Is a football tournament really a football tournament without infographics? This was the leading question in the most recent board meeting at FantasyBet HQ.

After a few hours of deliberation and a compelling powerpoint presentation which included several infographics about the power of infographics, it was unanimously agreed that a football tournament without infographics is like a 99’ without a flake.

Thus we spent the next day or two making infographics all about the Women’s World Cup. Five of them, to be precise.

But an infographic is nothing without a piece of mediocre analysis to accompany it; which is why I was drafted in to furnish them with some painfully ordinary insight. Let’s get started.

Women’s World Cup All-Time Leading Goalscorers

We’ll kick-off with this wholesome infographic: the all-time World Cup top goalscorers. This is the infographic for the masses.

The Women’s World Cup is merely a millennial; born in 1991 and still yet to fully realise its awesome potential. Though sprightly when compared to the antiquity of the men’s competition, the names you see in this infographic have firmly established themselves as legends in the lore of the game.

Two of them – Brazil’s talismanic Marta and 35-year-old* Christine Sinclair from Canada – have been selected for 2019’s tournament, meaning they could well add to their already impressive tallies.

Happily, there’s a plethora of younger talent hoping to break through in France. But, as the old adage goes, class tends to be permanent. Don’t ignore the titans.

*she’ll actually turn 36 during the early stages of the tournament, so don’t come back here in a week or so and call me up on getting it wrong.

Top Assisters (2018/19) Playing In The 2019 Women’s World Cup

Now we’re talking. This is one for the purists; if I know FantasyBet’s audience like I think I do, notes are being furiously scrawled at this very moment.

Norway’s Caroline Hansen (no relation to Alan) is streets ahead with a frightening 25 assists. At just £7.5m, she’s an affordable forward with huge points potential.

Germany’s Svenja Huth (possible relation to Robert) has also had an impressive few seasons, registering 18 assists for FFC Turbine. At £9.5m she’s definitely not cheap, but she’ll surely be a linchpin in a much-fancied German attack.

Women’s World Cup Top Goalscorer Odds

We couldn’t go a whole article without some integration of the bookies’ odds. For the first known time in human history, we’ve actually managed to fuse the bookies’ odds with an infographic; making it the most powerful piece of information on planet Earth.

Unsurprisingly to anyone who harbours even a passing interest in women’s football, Alex Morgan (£12.5m) tops the bookies’ likelihood of winning this year’s Golden Boot. With 18 international goals in 19 games last year and a penchant for turning up on big occasions, last World Cup final’s hattrick scorer doesn’t appear to have slowed down since.

Behind her are more premiums: Le Sommer, Kerr, Miedema and Lloyd will all set you back double figures. It’s almost as if the people that set the pricing for FantasyBet’s tournaments actually know what they’re talking about.

Top Goalscorers (2018/19) Playing In The 2019 Women’s World Cup

There’s a head-scratching disparity between the current in-form goalscorers as shown above and those tipped to bag the Golden Boot. Atletico Madrid’s Jennifer Hermoso (or ‘Jenni’ to her mates) has scored the most goals over the past few seasons for her club but finds herself nowhere near the top goalscorer favourites ahead of the World Cup.

That’s because, unfortunately for Jenni (I’m her mate, by the way), the Spanish women’s team is actually pretty poor. If Jenni has some Canadian or Australian ancestry, now would be a great time to hunt them down. Still, at £7.5m, you could certainly do worse.

Holland’s Vivianne Miedema, in second, appears to be the full package: a form player backed by the bookies who happens to be from a country that cultivates its women’s football almost as effectively as it cultivates its flowers.

A comparison of Men’s & Women’s FIFA rankings

What would a set of Women’s World Cup infographics be without a side-by-side comparison to the men’s game?

Here we see the top 10 nations according to FIFA’s occasionally dubious ranking system.

The fact that England’s men are ranked fourth in this table undeniably dents its credibility, but it does illustrate an important point: some “good” footballing nations are not so hot on the women’s game, and vice versa.

You’ll notice that the likes of Japan (who won the thing in 2011 and were finalists in 2015), Australia, USA and Canada all make strong appearances in the women’s rankings. That isn’t a strange quirk of FIFA’s methodology; it’s because they’re actually good.

Conspicuous in their absence are the likes of the aforementioned Spain, Belgium (whose men’s team is ranked first, by the way) and Argentina, all of whom field mediocre women’s teams at best.

The morale of the story is simple: do away with your preconceived notions of “good” and “bad” footballing countries. The women have taken the footballing fates of their nations into their own hands, which should make France ’19 all the more compelling.