2023 Women's World Cup: Winners and Losers of the Tournament | News, Scores, Highlights, Stats, and Rumors

Three African teams qualified for the knockout stages at Australia & New Zealand. Nigeria, South Africa and Morocco showed immense quality to ensure a trio of the continent's best teams made it through to the last 16 for the first time ever. This was no fluke.

A combined two group stage losses from the three aforementioned teams was the result of incredible grit, technical skill and quality.

Nigeria's goalless draw with Canada in their opening game indicated they were a serious force. Following that up with a 3-2 win over co-hosts Australia put everyone on notice. The Super Falcons then pushed England all the way in the quarters, even racking up 20 shots on goal in the 0-0 draw, before losing on penalties.

South Africa provided one of the moments of the tournament in their final group game against Italy. Thembi Kgatlana's last-minute winner to send them through had the team erupting in celebration, knowing they had already achieved so much against the odds.

Morocco, too, weaved one of the unlikeliest stories of the competition that we'll be talking about for a long time. Few teams make it out of the group stage after a 6-0 defeat in the opening game. Germany ominously walked through them, but that wasn't goodnight.

Back-to-back 1-0 wins over Korea Republic and quarter-finalists Colombia eliminated the Germans, who many picked to win the entire thing before the tournament. That's an unbelievable story for Morocco and one of the sport's biggest ever shocks.

A word too, on Morocco's Nouhaila Benzina, who became the first player to wear a hijab during a World Cup match.

Such visibility will inspire Muslim girls into football at all levels and should be seen as a seminal moment for Arab representation. It's these massive moments that trigger smaller changes–such as Benzina's hijab being added to EA FC–leading to greater inclusivity throughout the sport.