Olympic champion Canada drawn with France, Colombia and New Zealand at Paris Games

Defending champion Canada avoided World Cup winner Spain and some familiar foes in Australia and Brazil at Wednesday’s women’s soccer draw for the Paris Olympics.

Instead, the ninth-ranked Canadians were drawn in Group A alongside No. 3 France, No. 23 Colombia and No. 28 New Zealand.

“I’m excited for the group,” said Canadian coach Bev Priestman. “I didn’t want to draw some familiar opponents. I always think it’s exciting when you play some new opponents.”

“It could have been a World Cup champion and some other routes that we could have gone down,” she added. “So overall pleased, excited but taking nothing for granted.”

The Canadians have only played Colombia twice, winning games in 2011 and 2012. Led by Real Madrid forward Linda Caicedo, the South Americans made it to the quarterfinals of last year’s World Cup, eventually losing 1-0 to runner-up England.

“They’re a difficult team, quite unorthodox,” said Priestman.

The South Americans reached the quarterfinals of the recent CONCACAF W Gold Cup, losing 1-0 to the U.S. who then dispatched Canada in a semifinal penalty shootout.

Canada is 10-1-4 all-time against New Zealand, with the lone loss coming the first time they met in 1987. Canada played New Zealand to a scoreless draw in the 2015 World Cup and won 2-0 when they met at the 2019 World Cup

Canada’s all-time record against France is 5-8-3 with the French having won five of the last six meetings, including a 2-1 victory last time out in Le Mans, France, last April. But Canada defeated France 1-0 in the 2012 Olympic bronze-medal game and 1-0 in the 2016 quarterfinals.

And the Canadians have experience in taking on host countries, defeating Britain in 2012, Brazil in 2016 (the bronze-medal game) and tying Japan in 2021.

“That’s always a unique and exciting experience,” said Priestman.

It was less pleasant at last summer’s World Cup when the Canadians exited the tournament after finishing the group stage with a humbling 4-0 loss to co-host Australia.

The 12-team Olympic women’s tournament runs July 25 through Aug. 10. Canada has made the Olympic podium the last three times, winning gold in Tokyo under Priestman and bronze in Rio and London under John Herdman.

Group B features the fourthranked U.S., No. 5 Germany, No. 12 Australia and either No. 58 Morocco or No. 65 Zambia. Group C is No. 1 Spain, No. 7 Japan, No. 10 Brazil and either No. 36 Nigeria or No. 51 South Africa.