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FIFA Women's World Cup

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FIFA Women's World Cup
File:Germany vs Canada in Dresden (pic14).JPG
The FIFA Women's World Cup Trophy, awarded to the World Cup champions since 1999
Founded1991
RegionInternational (FIFA)
Number of teams24 (Finals)
Current champions Japan
Most successful team(s) Germany
 United States
(2 titles each)
WebsiteOfficial webpage
2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the 1991 inaugural tournament held in China. The United States beat Norway 2-1 in the final, to become winners of the first ever FIFA Women's World Cup.

The current format of the tournament involves 16 teams competing for the title at venues within the host nation(s) over a period of about three weeks;– this phase is often called the World Cup Finals. A qualification phase, which currently takes place over the preceding three years, is used to determine which teams qualify for the tournament together with the host nation(s).

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. 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 six World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams.

The next World Cup will be hosted by Canada in 2015.

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. [2] The United States and Germany have won the championship twice, and Norway and Japan once each.

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 kick 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 hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, as decided by vote in October 2007. In March 2011, FIFA awarded Canada the right to host the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2015 edition will see the field expand from 16 to 24 teams.[5]

At the 2007 World Cup in China, U.S. captain Kristine Lilly competed in her fifth (and ultimately final)[6] World Cup, making her the first woman and at the time one of three players in history to appear in five World Cups.[7]

Format

Final tournament

The current final tournament features 16 national teams competing over about three weeks in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.[8]

In the group stage, teams compete within four groups of four teams each. 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.[9] On 3 December 2009, FIFA decided to expand the women's World Cup to 24 teams for 2016.

Each group plays a round-robin tournament, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams.The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since 1994, three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points).

The ranking of each team in each group is determined as follows:[10]

  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 knockout stage is 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. It begins with the round of 8 (or the second round) in which the winner of each group plays against the runner-up of another group. This is followed by the semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.[8]

Results

Year Host Champions Score Runners-up Third Place Score Fourth Place Number of teams
1991
Details
 China
United States
2–1
Norway

Sweden
4–0
Germany
12
1995
Details
 Sweden
Norway
2–0
Germany

United States
2–0
China
12
1999
Details
 United States
United States
0–0 asdet
(5–4 pso)

China

Brazil
0–0[A]
(5–4 pso)

Norway
16
2003
Details
 United States
Germany
2–1 asdet
Sweden

United States
3–1
Canada
16
2007
Details
 China
Germany
2–0
Brazil

United States
4–1
Norway
16
2011
Details
 Germany
Japan
2–2 a.e.t.
(3–1 pso)

United States

Sweden
2–1
France
16
2015
Details
 Canada
24

A No extra time was played.[11]

All-time performance

# Team Titles Runners-up Third-place Fourth-place
1  United States 2 (1991, 1999) 1 (2011) 3 (1995, 2003, 2007)
2  Germany 2 (2003, 2007) 1 (1995) 1 (1991)
3  Norway 1 (1995) 1 (1991) 2 (1999, 2007)
4  Japan 1 (2011)
5  Sweden 1 (2003) 2 (1991, 2011)
6  Brazil 1 (2007) 1 (1999)
7  China 1 (1999) 1 (1995)
8  Canada 1 (2003)
 France 1 (2011)

Awards

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

  • The Golden Ball for the best player, determined by a vote of media members (first awarded in 1982); 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. The Silver Boot and the Bronze Boot have been awarded to the second and third top goalscorers respectively.
  • The Golden Glove Award for the best goalkeeper, decided by the FIFA Technical Study Group
  • 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.
  • 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 (first awarded in 2003)

An All-Star Team consisting of the best players of the tournament has also been announced for each tournament since 1999.

Records and statistics

Top Scorers Of All Time

Rank Name World Cup Total
China
91
Sweden
95
United States
99
United States
03
China
07
Germany
11
1 Brazil Marta 3 7 4 14
Germany Birgit Prinz 1 1 7 5 0 14
3 United States Abby Wambach 3 6 4 13
4 United States Michelle Akers 10 0 2 12
5 China Sun Wen 1 2 7 1 11
Germany Bettina Wiegmann 3 3 3 2 11
7 Norway Ann Kristin Aarønes 6 4 10
Germany Heidi Mohr 7 3 10
9 Norway Linda Medalen 6 2 1 9
Norway Hege Riise 1 5 3 0 9
11 Germany Kerstin Garefrekes 4 2 2 8
United States Mia Hamm 2 2 2 2 8
United States Kristine Lilly 0 3 2 2 1 8
China Liu Ailing 4 1 3 8
Norway Marianne Pettersen 3 3 2 8
Japan Homare Sawa 0 0 3 0 5 8
17 Brazil Cristiane 0 5 2 7
United States Tiffeny Milbrett 3 3 1 7
Canada Christine Sinclair 3 3 1 7
Brazil Sissi 0 7 7

Most tournaments appeared (players)

Striker Birgit Prinz made an appearance in five editions of the tournament and won the title twice representing Germany.
# Player Appearances
1 United States Kristine Lilly 5 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Norway Bente Nordby 5 (1991*, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Formiga 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Germany Birgit Prinz 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Japan Homare Sawa 5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
6 United States Joy Fawcett 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
United States Julie Foudy 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
United States Mia Hamm 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Norway Hege Riise 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
China Sun Wen 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Germany Bettina Wiegmann 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003)
Brazil Pretinha 4 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2007)
Brazil Katia 4 (1995*, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Tânia 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Germany Sandra Minnert 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Germany Sandra Smisek 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Nigeria Maureen Mmadu 4 (1995, 1999*, 2003, 2007)
Canada Andrea Neil 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Australia Cheryl Salisbury 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
United States Briana Scurry 4 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Brazil Andréia 4 (1999*, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Canada Karina LeBlanc 4 (1999*, 2003, 2007*, 2011)
Germany Nadine Angerer 4 (1999*, 2003*, 2007, 2011)
Germany Ariane Hingst 4 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
United States Christie Rampone 4 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)

*Did not play but was part of the squad.

Most matches played (players)

# Player Matches
1 United States Kristine Lilly 30
2 Germany Birgit Prinz 25
3 United States Julie Foudy 24
4 United States Joy Fawcett 23
United States Mia Hamm 23
6 Germany Bettina Wiegmann 22
Norway Bente Nordby 22
Norway Hege Riise 22

Winning managers and captains

World Cup Manager Captain
1991 China United States Anson Dorrance United States April Heinrichs
1995 Sweden Norway Even Pellerud Norway Heidi Støre
1999 USA United States Tony DiCicco United States Carla Overbeck
2003 USA Germany Tina Theune Germany Bettina Wiegmann
2007 China Germany Silvia Neid Germany Birgit Prinz
2011 Germany Japan Norio Sasaki Japan Homare Sawa

See also

References

  1. ^ "Women's World Cup History". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  2. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup — USA 1999". FIFA.com. Retrieved March 27, 2007.
  3. ^ "Women's World Cup History". The Sports Network. Retrieved March 25, 2007.
  4. ^ Koppel, Naomi (2003-05-03). "FIFA moves Women's World Cup from China because of SARS". USA Today. Retrieved 2007-03-27. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
  5. ^ Molinaro, John F. (March 3, 2011). "Canada gets 2015 Women's World Cup of soccer". CBC Sports. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  6. ^ "U.S. Soccer Legend Kristine Lilly Retires" (Press release). United States Soccer Federation. January 5, 2011. Retrieved May 9, 2011.
  7. ^ Goff, Steven (September 7, 2007). "U.S. Women Still Have One Link to the Past". Washington Post. Retrieved September 7, 2007.
  8. ^ a b "Formats of the FIFA World Cup final competitions 1930–2010" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Retrieved 1 January 2008.
  9. ^ "FIFA chief dismayed at 11–0 scoreline in women's World Cup opener". AFP. Retrieved September 11, 2007.
  10. ^ "Regulations of the 2010 FIFA World Cup" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. p. 41. Retrieved 21 June 2010.
  11. ^ "Brazil takes third". SI/CNN. 10 July 1999. Retrieved 2 July 2011.

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