FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Women's World Cup

Founded	1991
Region	International (FIFA)
Number of teams	16 (Finals)
Current champions	Germany
Most successful team	Germany  United States (2 each)
Website	Official webpage

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. Contested every four years, 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 current format has sixteen teams competing every four years for the winner's trophy.

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. Over 660,000 spectators attended the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in the United States, ^[2] and nearly one billion viewers from seventy countries tuned in to watch sixteen countries fight for the title.^{[citation needed]} The United States and Germany have won the championship twice, and Norway once. Germany are the two-time defending champions,

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 shot 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 will host the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, as decided by vote in October 2007. The 2015 event is currently being contested between Canada and Chile.^[5]

At the 2007 World Cup in China, U.S. captain Kristine Lilly competed in her fifth World Cup, making her the only woman and one of three players in history to appear in five World Cups.^[6]

Format

The participants qualify through the regional football confederations of Oceania (OFC), Europe (UEFA), North America, Central America and the Caribbean (CONCACAF), South America (CONMEBOL), Asia (AFC) and Africa (CAF).

The competition takes place over the course of three weeks. In the group stage, 16 teams seeded into four groups (A,B,C, and D) compete against each other in a round-robin tournament. After Germany trounced Argentina 11–0 in the opening game of the 2007 World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter conceded that the one-sided match was "not good for the game" and was something that FIFA would consider in deciding whether or not to expand the group phase to 24 teams. ^[7]

In the knockout phase, the top two teams from each group advance to the quarterfinals, 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. The winner of Group A plays the runner-up of Group B, The winner of Group B plays the runner-up of Group A, etc.

The winners of the four quarterfinal games move on to the semifinal matches, which determine the contestants for the championship game. The losing semifinalists compete to determine third place.

Impact

Since its conception in 1989, the Women's World Cup has continued to grow in popularity. FIFA estimates that there are currently forty million girls and women playing football around the world.^{[citation needed]} Planning for the 2007 Women's World Cup in China reflects the growth.^{[citation needed]}

Tournaments

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Champion	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1991 Details	China		United States	2–1	Norway		Sweden	4–0	Germany
1995 Details	Sweden		Norway	2–0	Germany		United States	2–0	China PR
1999 Details	United States		United States	0–0 asdet (5–4) on penalties	China PR		Brazil	0–0 asdet (5–4) on penalties	Norway
2003 Details	United States		Germany	2–1 asdet	Sweden		United States	3–1	Canada
			Match decided on golden goal
2007 Details	China		Germany	2–0	Brazil		United States	4–1	Norway
2011 Details	Germany

• Key:
  • aet — after extra time
  • asdet — after sudden death extra time

All-time performance

Team	Titles	Runners-up	Third-place	Fourth-place
Germany	2 (2003, 2007)	1 (1995)	-	1 (1991)
United States	2 (1991, 1999)	-	3 (1995, 2003, 2007)	-
Norway	1 (1995)	1 (1991)	-	2 (1999, 2007)
Brazil	-	1 (2007)	1 (1999)	-
Sweden	-	1 (2003)	1 (1991)	-
China PR	-	1 (1999)	-	1 (1995)
Canada	-	-	-	1 (2003)

Awards

Golden Ball

World Cup	Golden Ball Award
1991 China	Carin Jennings
1995 Sweden	Hege Riise
1999 USA	Sun Wen
2003 USA	Birgit Prinz
2007 China	Marta

Golden Shoe

World Cup	Golden Shoe Award	Goals
1991 China	Michelle Akers	10
1995 Sweden	Ann-Kristin Aarønes	6
1999 USA	Sissi Sun Wen	7
2003 USA	Birgit Prinz	7
2007 China	Marta	7

Fair Play Team

World Cup	Fair Play Team Award
1991 China	Germany
1995 Sweden	Sweden
1999 USA	China
2003 USA	China
2007 China	Norway

Records and statistics

Overall top goalscorers

14 goals

• Birgit Prinz

12 goals

• Michelle Akers

11 goals

• Sun Wen
• Bettina Wiegmann

10 goals

• Ann Kristin Aarønes
• Marta
• Heidi Mohr

9 goals

• Linda Medalen
• Hege Riise
• Abby Wambach

8 goals

• Liu Ailing
• Mia Hamm
• Kristine Lilly
• Marianne Pettersen

7 goals

• Tiffeny Milbrett
• Sissi

Most tournaments appeared (players)

Player	Appearances
Kristine Lilly	5 (1991, 95, 99, 03, 07)
Bente Nordby	5 (1991*, 95, 99, 03, 07)
Joy Fawcett	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Julie Foudy	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Mia Hamm	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Hege Riise	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Sun Wen	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Bettina Wiegmann	4 (1991, 95, 99, 03)
Formiga	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Katia	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Tânia	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Sandra Minnert	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Birgit Prinz	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Sandra Smisek	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Maureen Mmadu	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Andrea Neil	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Cheryl Salisbury	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Homare Sawa	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)
Briana Scurry	4 (1995, 99, 03, 07)

*Did not play but was part of the squad.

FIFA Women's World Cup winning captains and managers

Year	Captain	Head coach	Team
1991	April Heinrichs	Anson Dorrance	USA
1995	Heidi Støre	Even Pellerud	Norway
1999	Carla Overbeck	Tony DiCicco	USA
2003	Bettina Wiegmann	Tina Theune-Meyer	Germany
2007	Birgit Prinz	Silvia Neid	Germany

See also

• FIFA Men's World Cup

References

External links

• FIFA official site
• UEFA's page on the FIFA Women's World Cup
• Photos: FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 on Time.com (a division of Time Magazine)
• RSSSF's pages

v • d • e International women's football FIFA · World Cup · Olympics · Algarve Cup · Pan American Games · World Rankings · Player of the Year · FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup · FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup · Teams Asia AFC – Women's Asian Cup Africa CAF – Women's Championship North America CONCACAF – Women's Gold Cup South America CONMEBOL – Sudamericano Femenino Oceania OFC – Women's Championship Europe UEFA – Women's Championship Non-FIFA NF-Board – Women's Viva World Cup

v • d • e FIFA Women's World Cup Tournaments China 1991 · Sweden 1995 · USA 1999 · USA 2003 · China 2007 · Germany 2011 Qualification 1991 · 1995 · 1999 · 2003 · 2007 · 2011 Team appearances · Goalscorers