Tuesday, June 30, 2015

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FIFA Women's World Cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
FIFA Women's World Cup
Founded1991
RegionInternational (FIFA)
Number of teams24 (finals)
Current champions Japan
(1st title)
Most successful team(s) United States
 Germany
(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, after the first men's tournament was held 61 years prior. The United States beat Norway 2–1 in the final, to become winners of the first ever FIFA Women's World Cup. The current title holder is Japan.
The current format of the tournament involves 24 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 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 first Women's World Cup tournament, named the Women's World Championship, was held in 1991, sixty-one years after the men's firstFIFA World Cup tournament in 1930. The six World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams.
The most recent World Cup began on June 6, 2015. It is currently ongoing, hosted by Canada.

History[edit]

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.
Map of countries' best results
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[edit]

Final tournament[edit]

The final tournament has featured between twelve and twenty-four national teams competing over about one month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.[8]
In the group stage, 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 last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. The two teams finishing first and second in each group and the four best teams among those ranked third qualify for the round of 16, also called 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:[9]
  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 16. This is followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.[8]

Results[edit]

See also: List of FIFA Women's World Cup finals
YearHostChampionsScoreRunners-upThird PlaceScoreFourth PlaceNumber of teams
1991  China
United States		2–1
Norway
Sweden		4–0
Germany		12
1995  Sweden
Norway		2–0
Germany
United States		2–0
China PR		12
1999  United States
United States		0–0 a.e.t.
(5–4 pen)
China PR
Brazil		0–0[A]
(5–4 pen)
Norway		16
2003  United States
Germany		2–1 asdet
Sweden
United States		3–1
Canada		16
2007  China
Germany		2–0
Brazil
United States		4–1
Norway		16
2011  Germany
Japan		2–2 a.e.t.
(3–1 pen)
United States
Sweden		2–1
France		16
2015  Canada24
2019  France24
A No extra time was played.[10]

All-time performance[edit]

Main article: National team appearances in the FIFA Women's World Cup
#TeamTitlesRunners-upThird-placeFourth-place
1 United States2 (1991, 1999)1 (2011)3 (1995, 2003, 2007)–
2 Germany2 (2003, 2007)1 (1995)–1 (1991)
3 Norway1 (1995)1 (1991)–2 (1999, 2007)
4 Japan1 (2011)–––
5 Sweden–1 (2003)2 (1991, 2011)–
6 Brazil–1 (2007)1 (1999)–
7 China PR–1 (1999)–1 (1995)
8 Canada–––1 (2003)
 France–––1 (2011)

Awards[edit]

Main article: FIFA Women's World Cup 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[edit]

Main article: FIFA Women's World Cup records

Top scorers of all time[edit]

Main article: List of FIFA Women's World Cup goalscorers
Marta of Brazil is the all-time leading scorer of the World Cup.
Birgit Prinz has the second most goals in all tournaments, and won the title twice representingGermany.
RankNameWorld CupTotal
China
91		Sweden
95		United States
99		United States
03		China
07		Germany
11		Canada
15
1Brazil Marta374115
2Germany Birgit Prinz1175014
United States Abby Wambach364114
4United States Michelle Akers100212
5China Sun Wen127111
Germany Bettina Wiegmann333211
7Norway Ann Kristin Aarønes6410
Germany Heidi Mohr7310
9Norway Linda Medalen6219
Norway Hege Riise15309
Canada Christine Sinclair33129
12Germany Kerstin Garefrekes4228
United States Mia Hamm22228
United States Kristine Lilly032218
China Liu Ailing4138
Norway Marianne Pettersen3328
Germany Célia Šašić268
Japan Homare Sawa0030508
19Brazil Cristiane05207
Australia Lisa De Vanna4127
United States Tiffeny Milbrett3317
Brazil Sissi077
Formiga and Homare Sawa are the only players to appear in six Women's World Cup editions.

Most tournaments appeared (players)[edit]

Main article: List of players who have appeared in multiple FIFA Women's World Cups
#PlayerAppearances
1Brazil Formiga6 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
Japan Homare Sawa6 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
3United States Kristine Lilly5 (1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Norway Bente Nordby5 (1991*, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007)
Germany Birgit Prinz5 (1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011)
Canada Karina LeBlanc5 (1999*, 2003, 2007*, 2011, 2015*)
Germany Nadine Angerer5 (1999*, 2003*, 2007, 2011, 2015)
United States Christie Rampone5 (1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015)
*Did not play but was part of the squad.

Most matches played (players)[edit]

#PlayerMatches
1United States Kristine Lilly30
2Brazil Formiga24
United States Julie Foudy24
Germany Birgit Prinz24
5United States Joy Fawcett23
United States Mia Hamm23
Japan Homare Sawa23
United States Abby Wambach23
9Norway Bente Nordby22
Norway Hege Riise22
Germany Bettina Wiegmann22

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. Jump up^ "Women's World Cup History". Sports Illustrated. RetrievedMarch 25, 2007.
  2. Jump up^ "FIFA Women's World Cup — USA 1999". FIFA.com. RetrievedMarch 27, 2007.
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