International Women's Club Championship

Nestle Cup International Women's Club Championship
Founded 2012
Region International
Number of teams 6
Current champions São José (1st title)
Website International Women's Club Championship (Japanese)
2014 tournament

The International Women's Club Championship (IWCC), previously named the mobcast Cup and now the Nestlé Cup for sponsorship reasons,[1] is an international association football knockout cup competition contested by women's champion clubs. It is organised by the Japan Football Association and the Nadeshiko League.[2] The first International Women's Club Championship took place in Japan in November 2012 with participation from four teams; Olympique Lyonnais (Europe), Canberra United FC (Australia), INAC Kobe Leonessa (Japan) and NTV Beleza (cup winner, Japan).[3] The holders and de facto world club champions are São José, who beat wild card entrant Arsenal Ladies 2–0 in the 2014 final.

The Nadeshiko League's senior executive announced in October 2012 that they intended to run the competition for three years and expand to include more champions, such as the South American Copa Libertadores winner.[4] It was envisaged that International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), the sport's global governing body, would ultimately endorse the tournament as a female equivalent of the FIFA Club World Cup.[5]

In October 2013 FIFA's Executive Committee heard a proposal from their Women's Football Task Force to explore the idea of an official Club World Cup.[6] The following month Brazilian broadcaster Globo reported that FIFA had already sanctioned a separate Club World Championship, with similarities to the men's Intercontinental Cup, to be contested by the South American champions São José and European champions VfL Wolfsburg during 2014.[7] This match, however, was never played.

Organization

The first competition was hosted by the Japan Football Association and Japan Women's Football league and organized by "mobcast cup International Women's Club Championship 2012 organization committee" in 2012.

Results

Year Host Final Third place match Number of teams
Winners Score Runners-up Third place Score Fourth place
2012
details		 Japan
Japan		 France
Olympique Lyonnais		 2–1
(a.e.t.)		 Japan
INAC Kobe Leonessa		 Japan
NTV Beleza		 4–3 Australia
Canberra United		 4
2013
details		 Japan
Japan		 Japan
INAC Kobe Leonessa		 4–2 England
Chelsea		 Australia
Sydney FC		 3–3
4–2 (pen.) 		Chile
Colo Colo		 5
2014
details		 Japan
Japan		 Brazil
São José		 2–0 England
Arsenal		 Japan
Urawa Red Diamonds		 4–0 Japan
Okayama Yunogo Belle		 6

Honours

Year Most Valuable
Player		 Most Impressive
Player		 Top Goalscorer
2012 France Corine Franco South Korea Ji So-Yun Japan Azusa Iwashimizu
Japan Asano Nagasato
Switzerland Lara Dickenmann
United States Beverly Goebel-Yanez
2013 Chile Francisca Lara
United States Beverly Goebel-Yanez
Japan Emi Nakajima
Australia Renee Rollason

Prize money

The winners earned $60,000 out of a total purse of $100,000.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "International Women's Club Championship 2014". Full Bloom Guidebook. 28 October 2014. Retrieved 28 October 2014.
  2. ↑ Kessel, Anna (29 November 2013). "Chelsea Ladies anticipate 'mind-blowing' reception in Japan for IWCC". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2013.
  3. ↑ "Women’s round-up: November 2012". FIFA. 30 November 2012. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 International women’s club championship set for November Japan Football Association, Oct 18, 2012, viewed Nov. 23, 2012
  5. ↑ "１１月に国際女子クラブ選手権初開催！日テレなど参加 (International Women's Club Championship will be first held in November! NTV etc. participate)" (in Japanese). Japan. Sports Nippon. 2012-10-17. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
  6. ↑ FIFA ExCo exploring idea of Women’s Club World Cup Equalizer Soccer, Oct 4, 2013, viewed Nov 30, 2013
  7. ↑ "Fifa estuda Mundial de futebol feminino entre São José e Wolfsburg". Globo Esporte (in Portuguese). Rede Globo. 11 November 2013. Retrieved 7 December 2013.

External links