FIFA Women's World Cup

	The BC Place hosting a 2015 Women's FIFA World Cup match
Tournaments
	1991; 1995; 1999; 2003; 2007; 2011; 2015; 2019; 2023;

FIFA Women's World Cup
Founded	16 November 1991; 26 years ago (as the FIFA Women's World Championship)
Region	FIFA (International)
Number of teams	24 (finals)
Current champions	United States; (3rd title)
Most successful team(s)	United States; (3 titles)
Website	FIFA Women's World Cup
	2019 France

The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international 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 competition has been held every four years 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 nation's team is automatically 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 period of about one month.

The seven FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments have been won by four different national teams. The current champion is the United States, after winning their third title in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.

History[edit]

In 1988 – 58 years after the first Men's FIFA World Cup tournament in 1930 and approximately 17 years after the FA ban on women's football was eliminated in 1971^[1] — FIFA hosted an invitational in China as a test to see if a global women's World Cup was feasible. Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from UEFA, three from AFC, two from CONCACAF and one from CONMEBOL, CAF and OFC. The tournament saw European champion Norway defeat Sweden 1–0 in the final to win the tournament, while Brazil clinched third place by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout. The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup, which was to take place in 1991 again in China.^[2] Again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the United States beating Norway in the final 2-1.

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 saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams.^[5]

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, both Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan made a record of appearing in six World Cups,^[6] a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Rampone is the oldest player to ever play in a Women's World Cup match, at the age of 40 years.^[7]

In March 2015, FIFA awarded France the right to host the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup over South Korea.^[8] The tournament will begin on 1 June 2019 and the final will be played on 30 June 2019^[9]; both the opening and final matches will be played at Parc Olympique Lyonnais, a venue with a capacity of 58,000 in the Lyon suburb of Décines.

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 number of berths awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength 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.^[10]

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.^[11]

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. In the 2015 24-team format, 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:^[11]

Greatest number of points in group matches
Greatest goal difference in group matches
Greatest number of goals scored in group matches
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
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.^[11]

Results[edit]

Year	Host	Champions	Score	Runners-up	Third Place	Score	Fourth Place	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 p)	China PR	Brazil	0–0^[A] (5–4 p)	Norway	16
2003	United States	Germany	2–1 (a.g.g.e.t.)	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 p)	United States	Sweden	2–1	France	16
2015	Canada	United States	5–2	Japan	England	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Germany	24
2019	France							24
2023	TBD