FIFA Women's World Cup

This article is about the women's competition. For the men's competition, see FIFA World Cup. For other uses, see World Cup.
FIFA Women's World Cup
Founded 1991
Region International (FIFA)
Number of teams 24 (Finals)
Current champions  Japan
(1st title)
Most successful team(s)  Germany
 United States
(2 titles each)
Website Official webpage
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association 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 championship has been awarded every four years since the 1991 inaugural tournament held in China, after the first men's tournament was held 61 years prior. The United States beat Norway 2-1 in the final, to become winners of the first ever FIFA Women's World Cup. The current title holder is Japan.

The current format of the tournament involves 24 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about three weeks;– this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s).

The FIFA Women's World Cup is recognized as the most important international competition in women's football and is played amongst women's national football teams of the member states of FIFA, the sport's global governing body. The first Women's World Cup tournament, named the Women's World Championship, was held in 1991, sixty-one years after the men's first FIFA World Cup tournament in 1930. The six World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams.

The next World Cup will be hosted by Canada in 2015.

History

The tournament was originally the brainchild of the then FIFA president João Havelange.[1] The inaugural tournament was hosted in China in 1991, with twelve teams sent to represent their countries. The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup was held in Sweden with twelve teams. [2] The United States and Germany have won the championship twice, and Norway and Japan once each.

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.[3]

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.[4] 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 will see the field expand from 16 to 24 teams.[5]

At the 2007 World Cup in China, U.S. captain Kristine Lilly competed in her fifth (and ultimately final)[6] World Cup, making her the first woman and at the time one of three players in history to appear in five World Cups.[7]

Until the 2015 tournament, there is 32 countries participating FIFA Women's World Cup (7 from AFC, 5 from CAF, 4 from CONCACAF, 4 from CONMEBOL, 11 from UEFA and a team from OFC).

Format

Final tournament

The final tournament features 12-24 national teams competing over about one month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.[8]

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 top teams from each group advance to 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:[9]

  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.[8]

Results

Year Host Champions Score Runners-up Third Place Score Fourth Place Number of 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 pso)
China PR
Brazil		 0–0[A]
(5–4 pso)
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 pso)
United States
Sweden		 2–1
France		 16
2015  Canada
 24
2019  France
 24

A No extra time was played.[10]

All-time performance

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

Awards

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:

An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1999.

Records and statistics

Top scorers of all time

Rank Name World Cup Total
China
91 		Sweden
95 		United States
99 		United States
03 		China
07 		Germany
11
1Brazil Marta 3 7 4 14
Germany Birgit Prinz 1 1 7 5 0 14
3 United States Abby Wambach 3 6 4 13
4 United States Michelle Akers 10 0 2 12
5 China Sun Wen 1 2 7 1 11
Germany Bettina Wiegmann 3 3 3 2 11
7 Norway Ann Kristin Aarønes 6 4 10
Germany Heidi Mohr 7 3 10
9 Norway Linda Medalen 6 2 1 9
Norway Hege Riise 1 5 3 0 9
11 Germany Kerstin Garefrekes 4 2 2 8
United States Mia Hamm 2 2 2 2 8
United States Kristine Lilly 0 3 2 2 1 8
China Liu Ailing 4 1 3 8
Norway Marianne Pettersen 3 3 2 8
Japan Homare Sawa 0 0 3 0 5 8
17 Brazil Cristiane 0 5 2 7
United States Tiffeny Milbrett 3 3 1 7
Canada Christine Sinclair 3 3 1 7
Brazil Sissi 0 7 7

Most tournaments appeared (players)

Striker Birgit Prinz made an appearance in five editions of the tournament and won the title twice representing Germany.
# Player Appearances
1 United States Kristine Lilly 5 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Norway Bente Nordby 5 (1991*, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Formiga 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Germany Birgit Prinz 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Japan Homare Sawa 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
6 United States Joy Fawcett 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
United States Julie Foudy 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
United States Mia Hamm 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Nigeria Nkiru Okosieme 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Nigeria Florence Omagbemi 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Norway Hege Riise 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
China Sun Wen 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Germany Bettina Wiegmann 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Brazil Pretinha 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2007)
Brazil Katia 4 (1995*, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Tânia 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Germany Sandra Minnert 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Germany Sandra Smisek 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Nigeria Maureen Mmadu 4 (1995, 1999*, 2003, 2007)
Canada Andrea Neil 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Australia Cheryl Salisbury 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
United States Briana Scurry 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Andréia 4 (1999*, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Canada Karina LeBlanc 4 (1999*, 2003, 2007*, 2011)
Germany Nadine Angerer 4 (1999*, 2003*, 2007, 2011)
Germany Ariane Hingst 4 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
United States Christie Rampone 4 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)

*Did not play but was part of the squad.

Most matches played (players)

# Player Matches
1 United States Kristine Lilly 30
2 Germany Birgit Prinz 25
3 United States Julie Foudy 24
4 United States Joy Fawcett 23
United States Mia Hamm 23
6 Germany Bettina Wiegmann 22
Norway Bente Nordby 22
Norway Hege Riise 22

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Women's World Cup History". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  2. ↑ "FIFA Women's World Cup — USA 1999". FIFA.com. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  3. ↑ "Women's World Cup History". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  4. ↑ Koppel, Naomi (2003-05-03). "FIFA moves Women's World Cup from China because of SARS". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
  5. ↑ Molinaro, John F. (March 3, 2011). "Canada gets 2015 Women's World Cup of soccer". CBC Sports. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  6. ↑ "U.S. Soccer Legend Kristine Lilly Retires" (Press release). United States Soccer Federation. January 5, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  7. ↑ Goff, Steven (September 7, 2007). "U.S. Women Still Have One Link to the Past". Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Formats of the FIFA World Cup final competitions 1930–2010" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  9. ↑ "Regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. p. 41. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  10. ↑ "Brazil takes third". SI/CNN. 10 July 1999. Retrieved 2 July 2011.

External links