FIFA Women's World Cup

Founded	1991
Region	International (FIFA)
Number of teams	24 (finals)
Current champions	United States (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	United States (3 titles)
Website	Official webpage

The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition has been held every four years since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the Women's World Championship, was held in China.

Under the tournament's current format, national teams vie for 23 slots in a three-year qualification phase. (The host nation's team is automatically entered as the 24th slot.) The tournament proper, alternatively called the World Cup Finals, is contested at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about three weeks.

The seven FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams, including the United States, which beat Norway 2–1 in the first final. The current champion is the United States, after winning their third title in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

History[edit]

In 1988 – 58 years after the first men's FIFA World Cup tournament in 1930— FIFA hosted an invitational in China as a test to see if a global women's World Cup was feasible. Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from UEFA, three from AFC, two from CONCACAF and one from CONMEBOL, CAF and OFC. The tournament saw European champion Norway defeat Sweden 1–0 in the final to win the tournament, while Brazil clinched third place by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout. The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup, which was to take place in 1991 again in China.^[1] Again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the United States beating Norway in the final 2-1.

In the 1999 edition, one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastain's victory celebration after scoring the Cup-winning penalty kick against China. She took off her jersey and waved it over her head (as men frequently do), showing her muscular torso and sports bra as she celebrated. The 1999 final in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California had an attendance of 90,185, a world record for a women's sporting event.^[2]

The 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cups were both held in the United States; in 2003 China was supposed to host it, but the tournament was moved because of SARS.^[3] As compensation, China retained its automatic qualification to the 2003 tournament as host nation, and was automatically chosen to host the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, as decided by vote in October 2007. In March 2011, FIFA awarded Canada the right to host the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2015 edition saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams.^[4]

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, both Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan made a record of appearing in six World Cups,^[5] a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Rampone is the oldest player to ever play in a Women's World Cup match, at the age of 40 years old.^[6]

Format[edit]

Final tournament[edit]

The final tournament has featured between twelve and twenty-four national teams competing over about one month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.^[7]

In the group stage, teams are drawn into groups of four teams each. Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. The two teams finishing first and second in each group and the four best teams among those ranked third qualify for the round of 16, also called the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).

The ranking of each team in each group is determined as follows:^[7]

1. Greatest number of points in group matches
2. Greatest goal difference in group matches
3. Greatest number of goals scored in group matches
4. If more than one team remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined as follows:
   1. Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams
   2. Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams
   3. Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those teams
5. If any of the teams above remain level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined by the drawing of lots

The knockout stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra time and penalty shootouts used to decide the winner if necessary. It begins with the round of 16. This is followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.^[7]

Results[edit]

Year	Host		Champions	Score	Runners-up		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place		Teams
1991	China		United States	2–1	Norway		Sweden	4–0	Germany		12
1995	Sweden		Norway	2–0	Germany		United States	2–0	China PR		12
1999	United States		United States	0–0 a.e.t. (5–4 pen)	China PR		Brazil	0–0 [A] (5–4 pen)	Norway		16
2003	United States		Germany	2–1 asdet	Sweden		United States	3–1	Canada		16
2007	China		Germany	2–0	Brazil		United States	4–1	Norway		16
2011	Germany		Japan	2–2 a.e.t. (3–1 pen)	United States		Sweden	2–1	France		16
2015	Canada		United States	5–2	Japan		England	1–0 a.e.t.	Germany		24
2019	France										24

^A No extra time was played.^[8]

• Key:
  • a.e.t. — after extra time
  • asdet — after golden goal (sudden death) extra time
  • pen — penalty shootout

All-time performance[edit]

#	Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place	Total
1	United States	3 (1991, 1999, 2015)	1 (2011)	3 (1995, 2003, 2007)	–	7
2	Germany	2 (2003, 2007)	1 (1995)	–	2 (1991, 2015)	5
3	Norway	1 (1995)	1 (1991)	–	2 (1999, 2007)	4
4	Japan	1 (2011)	1 (2015)	–	–	2
5	Sweden	–	1 (2003)	2 (1991, 2011)	–	3
6	Brazil	–	1 (2007)	1 (1999)	–	2
7	China PR	–	1 (1999)	–	1 (1995)	2
8	England	–	–	1 (2015)	–	1
9	Canada	–	–	–	1 (2003)	1
	France	–	–	–	1 (2011)	1

Awards[edit]

At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to the players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament. There are currently five awards:

• The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1982); the Silver Ball and the Bronze Ball are awarded to the players finishing second and third in the voting respectively
• The Golden Boot (also known as the Golden Shoe) for the top goalscorer. The Silver Boot and the Bronze Boot have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively.
• The Golden Glove Award for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group
• The FIFA Fair Play Award for the team with the best record of fair play, according to the points system and criteria established by the FIFA Fair Play Committee.
• The Most Entertaining Team Award for the team that has entertained the public the most during the World Cup, determined by a poll of the general public (first awarded in 2003)

From 1999 to 2011, an All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament was announced.

Records and statistics[edit]

Top scorers of all time[edit]

Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the World Cup.

Birgit Prinz is tied for the second most goals in all tournaments, and won the title twice representing Germany.

Rank	Name	World Cup							Total
		91	95	99	03	07	11	15
1	Marta				3	7	4	1	15
2	Birgit Prinz		1	1	7	5	0		14
	Abby Wambach				3	6	4	1	14
4	Michelle Akers	10	0	2					12
5	Sun Wen	1	2	7	1				11
	Bettina Wiegmann	3	3	3	2				11
7	Ann Kristin Aarønes		6	4					10
	Heidi Mohr	7	3						10
9	Linda Medalen	6	2	1					9
	Hege Riise	1	5	3	0				9
	Christine Sinclair				3	3	1	2	9
12	Kerstin Garefrekes				4	2	2		8
	Mia Hamm	2	2	2	2				8
	Kristine Lilly	0	3	2	2	1			8
	Liu Ailing	4	1	3					8
	Marianne Pettersen		3	3	2				8
	Célia Šašić						2	6	8
	Homare Sawa		0	0	3	0	5	0	8
19	Cristiane				0	5	2	0	7
	Lisa De Vanna					4	1	2	7
	Carli Lloyd					0	1	6	7
	Tiffeny Milbrett		3	3	1				7
	Sissi		0	7					7

Formiga and Homare Sawa are the only players to appear in six Women's World Cup editions.

Most tournaments appeared (players)[edit]

#	Player	Appearances
1	Formiga	6 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
	Homare Sawa	6 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
3	Kristine Lilly	5 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
	Bente Nordby	5 (1991*, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
	Birgit Prinz	5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
	Karina LeBlanc	5 (1999*, 2003, 2007*, 2011, 2015*)
	Nadine Angerer	5 (1999*, 2003*, 2007, 2011, 2015)
	Christie Rampone	5 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)

*Did not play but was part of the squad.

Most matches played (players)[edit]

#	Player	Matches
1	Kristine Lilly	30
2	Abby Wambach	25
3	Formiga	24
	Julie Foudy	24
	Birgit Prinz	24
	Homare Sawa	24
7	Joy Fawcett	23
	Mia Hamm	23
9	Bente Nordby	22
	Hege Riise	22
	Bettina Wiegmann	22

See also[edit]

• FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup
• FIFA Women's Club World Cup
• List of FIFA Women's World Cup broadcasters

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• FIFA official site
• UEFA's page on the FIFA Women's World Cup
• Photos: FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 on Time.com
• RSSSF's pages

International women's association football FIFA World Cup Olympics Algarve Cup Cyprus Cup U-20 World Cup U-17 World Cup World Rankings Player of the Year Player of the Century FIFA Ballon d'Or Geography Teams Competitions Federations Codes Asia AFC Women's Asian Cup U-19 U-16 Regional (ASEAN, EAFF, SAFF, WAFF) Africa CAF Women Cup of Nations U-20 U-17 North America, Central America and Caribbean CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup U-20 U-17 South America CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina U-20 U-17 Oceania OFC Women's Nations Cup U-20 U-17 Europe UEFA Women's Championship U-19 U-17 Non-FIFA NF-Board Women's Viva World Cup Games All-Africa Games Asian Games Central America and Caribbean Central American Games Pan American Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games Universiade See also International men's football

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