Algarve Cup

For the current tournament, see 2013 Algarve Cup.

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events,^[1] alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football. There is also an Algarve Cup competition for male under-17 football players that is held every February.

The most successful teams have been the United States, with nine titles, and Norway, with four. Norway's titles all came in the early years of the tournament, while the USA has won all its titles since 2000, including seven in nine years since 2003. Sweden has won three times, China and Germany have both won twice.^[2] The USA, Norway and Germany are the only nations to have won 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 that there are fewer professional women's leagues and thus fewer scheduling conflicts.

Format [edit]

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 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.

Results [edit]

Year	Winner	Score	Runner-up	3rd place	Score	4th place
Year	Final			Third place match
1994	Norway	1–0	United States	Sweden	1–0	Denmark
1995	Sweden	3–2 (aet)	Denmark	Norway	3–3 (aet) 4–2 (pso)	United States
1996	Norway	4–0	Sweden	China PR	2–1	Denmark
1997	Norway	1–0	China PR	Sweden	0–0 6–5 (pso)	Denmark
1998	Norway	4–1	Denmark	United States	3–1	Sweden
1999	China PR	2–1	United States	Norway	2–2 (aet) 4–1 (pso)	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 (pso)	Italy
2005	United States	1–0	Germany	France	3–2	Sweden
2006	Germany	0–0 (aet) 4–3 (pso)	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 (pso)	United States	Denmark	1–0	Germany
2010	United States	3–2	Germany	Sweden	2–0	China PR
2011	United States	4–2	Iceland	Japan	2–1	Sweden
2012	Germany	4–3	Japan	United States	4–0	Sweden
2013	United States	2–0	Germany	Norway	2–2 (aet) 3–2 (pso)	Sweden

Rankings [edit]

Team	Winner	Runner up	3rd place	4th
United States	9 (2000, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013)	4 (1994, 1999, 2006, 2009)	2 (1998, 2012)	1 (1995)
Norway	4 (1994, 1996, 1997, 1998)	3 (2000, 2002, 2004)	5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2008, 2013)	-
Sweden	3 (1995, 2001, 2009)	1 (1996)	6 (1994, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2007, 2010)	6 (1998, 2000, 2005, 2011, 2012, 2013)
Germany	2 (2006, 2012)	3 (2005, 2010, 2013)	-	3 (2002, 2008, 2009)
China PR	2 (1999, 2002)	2 (1997, 2003)	3 (1996, 2000, 2001)	1 (2010)
Denmark	-	5 (1995, 1998, 2001, 2007, 2008)	1 (2009)	4 (1994, 1996, 1997, 1999)
Japan	-	1 (2012)	1 (2011)	-
Iceland	-	1 (2011)	-	-
France	-	-	2 (2004, 2005)	3 (2003, 2006, 2007)
Canada	-	-	-	1 (2001)
Italy	-	-	-	1 (2004)

Participating nations [edit]

Team	94	95	96	97	98	99	00	01	02	03	04	05	06	07	08	09	10	11	12	13
Australia	-	-	-	-	-	5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Austria	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10th	11th	-	-	-
Canada	-	-	-	-	-	-	5th	4th	8th	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Chile	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11th	-	-
China PR	-	-	3rd	2nd	5th	1st	3rd	3rd	1st	2nd	6th	7th	6th	10th	9th	5th	4th	7th	9th	6th
Denmark	4th	2nd	4th	4th	2nd	4th	6th	2nd	6th	9th	7th	6th	9th	2nd	2nd	3rd	5th	6th	5th	7th
England	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9th	-	-	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Faroe Islands	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12th	-	-	-
Finland	6th	5th	8th	6th	8th	8th	7th	7th	7th	6th	9th	10th	7th	6th	8th	7th	8th	10th	-	-
France	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	3rd	3rd	4th	4th	-	-	-	-	-	-
Germany	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	-	-	2nd	1st	8th	4th	4th	2nd	-	1st	2nd
Greece	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th	11th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Hungary	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12th	10th
Republic of Ireland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11th	-	-	10th	11th	12th	-	-	-	11th	-
Iceland	-	-	6th	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9th	7th	6th	9th	2nd	6th	9th
Italy	-	7th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	4th	-	-	7th	6th	-	-	-	-	-
Japan	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3rd	2nd	5th
Mexico	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	9th	8th	-	-	-	-	-	-	8th
Netherlands	-	6th	-	5th	6th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Northern Ireland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12th	12th	WD	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Norway	1st	3rd	1st	1st	1st	3rd	2nd	5th	2nd	3rd	2nd	5th	5th	5th	3rd	9th	6th	5th	7th	3rd
Poland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	11th	11th	-	-	-	-
Portugal	5th	8th	7th	8th	7th	7th	8th	8th	11th	10th	8th	11th	11th	12th	10th	8th	10th	9th	10th	11th
Romania	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	7th	12th	-	-
Russia	-	-	5th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Scotland	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	10th	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Sweden	3rd	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	6th	4th	1st	3rd	5th	5th	4th	3rd	3rd	5th	1st	3rd	4th	4th	4th
United States	2nd	4th	-	-	3rd	2nd	1st	6th	5th	1st	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	2nd	1st	1st	3rd	1st
Wales	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12th	12th	10th	-	-	-	-	12th	-	8th	8th	12th