This article is about the women ‘s association football tournament. For the men ‘s tournament, see FIFA World Cup
Association football rival for women ‘s national teams
Football tournament

The FIFA Women’s World Cup is an international association football rival contested by the senior women ‘s national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA ), the frolic ‘s external government consistency. The competition has been held every four years and one year after the FIFA World Cup since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the FIFA 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 state ‘s team is mechanically 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 menstruation of about one calendar month. The eight FIFA Women ‘s World Cup tournaments have been won by four national teams. The United States have won four times, and are the current champions after winning it at the 2019 tournament in France. The other winners are Germany, with two titles, and Japan and Norway with one title each. six-spot countries have hosted the Women ‘s World Cup. China and the United States have each hosted the tournament twice, while Canada, France, Germany, and Sweden have each hosted it once .

format [edit ]

qualification [edit ]

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones ( Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe ), and are organised by their respective confederations : confederation of African Football ( CAF ), asian Football Confederation ( AFC ), Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football ( CONCACAF ), south american Football Confederation ( CONMEBOL ), Oceania Football Confederation ( OFC ), and Union of European Football Associations ( UEFA ). For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the act of berths awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative force of the confederations ‘ teams. The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. Since the 2015 FIFA Women ‘s World Cup, the number of finalists increased from 16 to 24 and now 32. [ 1 ]

Final tournament [edit ]

The final tournament has featured between 12 and 24 national teams competing over about one month in the host state ( s ). There are two stages : the group stagecoach followed by the hard stage. [ 2 ] In the group degree, 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 final circle of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. In the 2015 24-team format, the two teams finishing inaugural and moment in each group and the four best teams among those rate third base qualified for the orotund of 16, besides called the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a succeed, one for a draw and none for a loss ( before, winners received two points ). The rank of each team in each group is determined as follows : [ 2 ]

  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 smasher stage is a single-elimination tournament in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with extra fourth dimension and penalty shootouts used to decide the winners if necessary. It begins with the round of golf of 16. This is followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place match ( contested by the losing semi-finalists ), and the final examination. [ 2 ]

history [edit ]

The first exemplify of a Women ‘s World Cup dates back to 1970, with the first external tournament taking place in Italy in July 1970. [ 3 ] This was followed by another unofficial tournament the take after year in Mexico, where Denmark won the championship after defeating Mexico in the final examination. [ 4 ] [ 5 ] [ 6 ] In the mid-1980s, the Mundialito was held in Italy across four editions with both Italy and England winning two titles. [ 7 ] several countries lifted their banish on women ‘s football in the 1970s, leading to new teams being established across Europe and North America. After the first base international women ‘s tournaments were held in Asia in 1975 [ 8 ] and Europe in 1984, Ellen Wille declared that she wanted better effort from the FIFA Congress in promoting the women ‘s game. [ 9 ] This came in 1988 in the mannequin of an invitational tournament in China as a test to see if a ball-shaped women ‘s World Cup was feasible. Twelve national teams took character in the rival – four from UEFA, three from AFC, two from CONCACAF, and one each from CONMEBOL, CAF and OFC. After the possibility equal of the tournament between China and Canada was attended by 45,000 people, the tournament was deemed a achiever, with push averaging 20,000. Norway, who was the european champion, defeated Sweden, 1–0, in the concluding, while Brazil clinched third base place by beating the hosts in a penalty gunfight. [ 10 ] The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the constitution of an official World Cup, which was to take place in 1991 again in China. Again, twelve teams competed, this clock time culminating in the United States defeating Norway in the final, 2–1, with Michelle Akers scoring two goals. [ 11 ] The 1995 edition in Sweden saw the experiment of a time-out concept throughout the tournament which was later reduce mid-tournament to only occur after a break in in play. The time-out only appeared in the one tournament which saw it scrapped. The concluding of the 1995 version saw Norway, who scored 17 goals in the group stage, get the better of Germany, 2–0, to capture their entirely title. [ 12 ] In the 1999 edition, one of the most celebrated moments of the tournament was american english 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 mesomorphic torso and sports brassiere as she celebrated. The 1999 final in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, had an attendance of 90,185, a earth record for a women ‘s sporting event. [ 13 ] 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. [ 14 ] As compensation, China retained their automatic pistol 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 correctly to host the 2015 FIFA Women ‘s World Cup. The 2015 rival saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams. [ 15 ] During the 2015 FIFA Women ‘s World Cup, both Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan appeared in their record sixth World Cup, [ 16 ] a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Pearce is the oldest player to ever play in a Women ‘s World Cup pit, at the senesce of 40 years. [ 17 ] In March 2015, FIFA awarded France the correctly to host the 2019 FIFA Women ‘s World Cup over South Korea. [ 18 ]

trophy [edit ]

The current trophy was designed in 1998 for the 1999 tournament, and takes the kind of a spiral dance band, enclosing a football at the top, that aims to capture the athleticism, dynamism, and elegance of international women ‘s football. In the 2010s, it was fitted with a conic base. Underneath the basis, the diagnose of each of the tournament ‘s previous winners is engraved. [ 19 ] The trophy is 47 curium ( 19 in ) grandiloquent, weighs 4.6 kilogram ( 10 pound ) and is made of greatest argent dress in 23-karat yellow and white gold, with an estimated measure in 2015 of approximately $ 30,000. By contrast, the men ‘s World Cup trophy is fabricated in 18-karat gold and has a cherished alloy value of $ 150,000. however, a new Winner ‘s Trophy is constructed for each women ‘s champion to take home, while there is only one master men ‘s trophy which is retained by FIFA with each men ‘s champion claim home a replica trophy. [ 20 ] Since 2007, the winners are besides awarded the FIFA Champions Badge, which is worn on the jersey of the winning team until the winners of the adjacent tournament has been decided. [ 21 ]

Hosts [edit ]

Total times teams hosted by confederation
Confederations and years italicized & in bold have an upcoming competition.
Confederation Total (Hosts) Years
AFC 3 China1991, China2007, & Australia2023
CAF 0  
CONCACAF 3 United States1999, United States2003, & Canada2015
CONMEBOL 0  
OFC 1 New Zealand2023
UEFA 3 Sweden1995, Germany2011, & France2019

attendance [edit ]

Notes :

  • The 2003 Women’s World Cup was originally planned to be hosted by China, but was awarded to the United States in May 2003 after a major SARS outbreak.
  • The 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup set a new attendance record for all FIFA competitions besides the men’s FIFA World Cup.[23]

Results [edit ]

Notes
  1. ^[25] No excess clock was played .

In all, 36 nations have played in at least one Women ‘s World Cup. Of those, four nations have won the World Cup. With four titles, the United States is the most successful Women ‘s World Cup team and is one of alone seven nations to play in every World Cup. They have besides had the most top four finishes ( 8 ), medals ( 8 ), and concluding appearances ( 5 ), including the longest streak of three back-to-back finals in 2011, 2015, and 2019 .
Map of countries ‘ best results

Teams reaching the top four [edit ]

* = hosts

Best performances by confederations [edit ]

As of 2019, four of the six FIFA confederations have made it to a Women ‘s World Cup final examination, the only exceptions being CAF ( Africa ) and the OFC ( Oceania ). CONMEBOL is the only alliance to have made a World Cup concluding without winning, following Brazil ‘s frustration in the 2007 final. The farthest boost african team was Nigeria, who were eliminated in the stern finals in 1999. Oceania has sent two teams, Australia and New Zealand, to the World Cup, but Australia did not advance from the group phase until after the state ‘s football association moved to the Asian Football Confederation, and New Zealand ( which remains in the OFC ) has never advanced to the smasher rounds. The United States and Norway are the merely teams to have won the tournament in their own confederations, with the U.S. winning in 1999 ( at home ) and 2015 ( in Canada ), and Norway in 1995 ( in Sweden ). The United States are besides the entirely team that has won the tournament in every continent was played : Asia ( in 1991 ), Europe ( in 2019 ) and in North America ( in 1999 and in 2015 ). Germany has won in Asia ( in 2007 ) and in North America ( in 2003 ), Japan has won in Europe ( in 2011 ) .

Round reached
Confederation AFC CAF CONCACAF CONMEBOL OFC UEFA Total
Final 3 0 5 1 0 7 16
Semi-finals 4 0 9 2 0 17 32
Quarter-finals 14 1 10 4 0 35 64
Round of 16 (since 2015) 7 3 4 3 0 15 32
Total appearances 29 16 20 15 8 48 136

Broadcasting and tax income [edit ]

As of 2017, the 2015 FIFA Women ‘s World Cup Final was the most watch football match in american history with closely 23 million viewers, [ 26 ] more than the 2015 NBA Finals and Stanley Cup. [ 27 ] It was besides the most watch Spanish-language broadcast in tournament history. [ 26 ] More than 750 million viewers were reported to have watched the tournament global. [ 28 ] The 2015 Women ‘s World Cup generated about $ 73 million. By comparison, the 2018 men ‘s tournament generated an calculate $ 6.1 billion in tax income. [ 29 ]

Awards [edit ]

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

  • The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1991); 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 (first awarded in 1991). The Silver Boot and the Bronze Boot have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively.
    • If two or more players finish the tournament with the same number of goals, tiebreakers are used in the following order:
      • Most assists.
      • Fewest minutes played.
  • The Golden Glove Award for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group. First awarded in 2007 as “Best Goalkeeper”; current award name adopted in 2011.
  • The Best Young Player Award for the best player no older than age 21 as of 1 January of the year of the final tournament, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first awarded in 2011).
  • 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 (first awarded in 1991).
  • The All-Star Team, consisting of the best players of the tournament as determined by the FIFA Technical Study Group (first selected in 1999).
  • The Dream Team, consisting of the best players of the tournament as chosen by users of fifa.com (first selected in 2015).

Another award is presented a week after the concluding match :

  • The Goal of the Tournament, consisting of the tournament’s best goal, as chosen by users of fifa.com from a shortlist of 12 goals selected by FIFA’s web administrators (first awarded in 2015).

One past award is no longer presented :

  • 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 (awarded in 2003 and 2007).

Records and statistics [edit ]

Boldface indicates a player still playing .

top goalscorers [edit ]

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

Individual
Country
Rank Player Goals scored
#1  United States 138
#2  Germany 121
#3  Norway 93
#4  Sweden 71
#5  Brazil 66
#6  China PR 53
#7  England 43
#8  Japan 39
#9  Australia 38
#10  Canada 34

All-time table for champions [edit ]

Rank Team Participations Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Titles
1  United States 8 50 40 6 4 138 38 100 126 4
2  Germany 8 44 30 5 9 121 39 82 95 2
3  Norway 8 40 24 4 12 93 52 41 76 1
4  Japan 8 33 14 4 15 39 59 -20 46 1

See besides [edit ]

References [edit ]

Read more: Willem Dafoe