Algarve Cup

Estádio Algarve

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's football (soccer). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events, alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football. Currently, 12 teams are invited, with the top eight competing for the championship. The teams are divided into three groups of four — A, B and C. Group C was added in 2002 to provide second-tier teams with high-level match experience every year. The current holder is Sweden.

The teams first play round-robin within their pool. Then the placement round proceeds as follows:

• 11th place: Bottom teams in Group C play one game.
• 9th place: The Group C runner-up plays one game against the lower-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B.
• 7th place: The Group C winner plays one game against the higher-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B.
• 5th place: The third-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.
• 3rd place: The second-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.
• 1st place: The first-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.

The most successful teams have been the USA with six titles and Norway with four. Norway's titles all came in the early years of the tournament, while the USA have won all their titles in the 2000s, including five in six years since 2003. Sweden has won three times, China two times and the current FIFA Women's World Cup holder Germany have won once. The USA, Norway and Germany are (so far) the only nations to win both the FIFA World Cup and the Algarve Cup.

The Algarve Cup, as an annual event featuring most of the world's top women's football teams, has no parallel in the men's game, given the fact that professional women's leagues are few and far between, thus not being likely to have scheduling conflicts.

Results

Year		Final				Third Place Match
		Winner	Score	Runner-up		3rd Place	Score	4th Place
1994		Norway	1–0	United States		Sweden	1-0	Denmark
1995		Sweden	3–2 (aet)	Denmark		Norway	3-3 (aet) (4-2) on penalties	United States
1996		Norway	4–0	Sweden		China PR	2-1	Denmark
1997		Norway	1–0	China PR		Sweden	0-0 (6-5) on penalties	Denmark
1998		Norway	4–1	Denmark		United States	3-1	Sweden
1999		China PR	2–1	United States		Norway	2-2 (aet) (4-1) on penalties	Denmark
2000		United States	1–0	Norway		China PR	1-0	Sweden
2001		Sweden	3–0	Denmark		China PR	5-1	Canada
2002		China PR	1–0	Norway		Sweden	2-1	Germany
2003		United States	2–0	China PR		Norway	1-0	France
2004		United States	4–1	Norway		France	3-3 (4-3) on penalties	Italy
2005		United States	1–0	Germany		France	3-2	Sweden
2006		Germany	0–0 (aet) (4-3) on penalties	United States		Sweden	1-0	France
2007		United States	2–0	Denmark		Sweden	3-1	France
2008		United States	2-1	Denmark		Norway	2-0	Germany
2009		Sweden	1–1 (4-3) on penalties	United States		Denmark	1-0	Germany

External links

• RSSSF.com history page, with links to full results

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