The Women’s International Champions Cup (ICC) will begin today in Cary, North Carolina. The tournament will bring together Olympique Lyonnais, Atlético de Madrid, Manchester City Women, and the North Carolina Courage, four of the best women’s teams in the world. The Courage players are no strangers to success in this tournament, holding the title of 2018 Women’s ICC tournament champions. During last year’s tournament, the Courage defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 to advance to the finals, where they faced Lyon. Heather O’Reilly scored the only goal of the championship match, beating Lyon 1-0 and crowning the Courage as the inaugural victors of the tournament. For the Courage, the first match-up of this year’s tournament is against five-time UEFA Champions League winners, Manchester City Women. While Manchester City participated and won third place in the Women’s ICC last year, they did not cross paths with the NC Courage. Founded in 1988, Manchester City Women’s Football Club is based out of Manchester, England. They compete in the FA Women’s Super League. Current club manager, Nick Cushing, took over in 2013 and has helped lead Man City to victory in both the FA Women’s Cup and the FA WSL Continental Cup. The club is associated with Manchester City F.C., a Premier League team. Both the Courage and their first-round opponent saw multiple players from each of their rosters get called up to represent their countries in the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup. From the Courage, Abby Dahlkemper, Crystal Dunn, Sam Mewis and Jessica McDonald were all members of the 2019 United States Championship Team. In addition to the US players, Debinha represented Brazil, Stephanie Labbé for Canada, and Courage Captain, Abby Erceg, for New Zealand. Man City saw nine of their players leave for France this past summer, including Jill Scott, Karen Bardsley, Steph Houghton, Georgia Stanway, Demi Stokes, Keira Walsh, and Ellen White all representing England. Caroline Weir was a part of Scotland’s first team to go to the Women’s World Cup, and Janine Beckie was a member of the Canadian team. Olympique Lyonnais will face Atlético de Madrid on Thursday, August 15th at 5:00 p.m. Shortly after that match, the Courage will play Manchester City Women at 7:30 p.m. The third-place game will take place on August 18th at 5:00 p.m. and the final will commence at 7:30 p.m. on the same day. All matches will be held at Sahlen’s Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina. Tickets to the matches can be purchased here.