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 the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's international governing body. The competition has been held every four years and one year after the men's 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 the remaining 31 slots in a three-year qualification phase. The host nation's team is automatically entered as the first slot. The tournament, called the World Cup Finals, is contested at venues within the host nation(s) over about one month.

The nine FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments have been won by five national teams. The United States have won four times. The other winners are Germany, with two titles, and Japan, Norway, and Spain with one title each.

Eight countries have hosted the Women's World Cup. China and the United States have each hosted the tournament twice, while Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden have each hosted it once.

The 2023 edition was hosted by Australia and New Zealand, making it the first edition to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first Women's World Cup to be hosted by two countries, as well as the first FIFA competition for either men or women to be held across two confederations. The 2027 edition will be hosted by Brazil, making it the first edition to be held in South America.

Format

Qualification

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organized 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. Except for the UEFA, other confederations organize its qualification campaign throughout continental tournaments. Since the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, the number of finalists increased from 16 to 24 and now 32. Starting from the 2031 FIFA Women's World Cup, the number of finalists will once again increase from 32 to 48.

Final tournament

The final tournament has featured between 12 and 32 (48 starting from 2031) national teams competing over about one month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage.

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 qualified 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). Starting from 2031, the top 8 third place teams will also advance to the knockout stage.

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

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 remains 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

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 winners 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. Starting from 2031, the knockout stage will include the round of 32 to account for the expansion to 48 teams.

History

The first instance of a Women's World Cup dates back to 1970 in Italy, with the first tournament of that name taking place in July 1970, which Denmark won. This was followed by another non-FIFA World Cup tournament in Mexico in 1971, in which Denmark won the title after defeating Mexico, 3–0, in the final at the Azteca Stadium. In the 1980s, the Mundialito was held in Italy across four editions with both Italy and England winning two titles.

Several countries lifted bans on women's football in the 1970s, leading to new teams being established in many countries. After official continental women's tournaments were held in Asia in 1975 and Europe in 1984, Ellen Wille declared that she wanted better effort from the FIFA Congress in promoting the women's game. This came in the form of the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament 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, one each from CONMEBOL, CAF and OFC. After the opening match of the tournament between China and Canada was attended by 45,000 people, the tournament was deemed a success, with crowds averaging 20,000. Norway, who was the European champions, defeated Sweden, 1–0, in the final, 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. Again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the United States defeating Norway in the final, 2–1, with Michelle Akers scoring two goals.

The 1995 edition in Sweden saw the experiment of a timeout concept throughout the tournament which was later tightened mid-tournament to only occur after a break in play. The timeout only appeared in the one tournament which saw it scrapped. The final of the 1995 edition saw Norway, who scored 17 goals in the group stage, defeat Germany, 2–0, to capture their only title. In the 1999 edition, one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastain's victory celebration after scored the Cup-winning penalty kick against China. She took off her jersey and waved it over her head (as men frequently do) as she celebrated. The 1999 final in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, had an attendance of 90,185.

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. As compensation, China retained their 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 competition saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams.

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, both Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan appeared in their record sixth World Cup, a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Pearce became the oldest player to ever play in a Women's World Cup match, at the age of 40 years. In March 2015, FIFA awarded France the right to host the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup over South Korea.

In the 2019 edition, which was held in France, the United States won the tournament for the fourth time.

In 2023, Australia and New Zealand hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time as joint hosts, and the number of participants was expanded from 24 to 32. It was also the first tournament to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. With Australia and New Zealand respectively being members of the Asian Football Confederation and Oceania Football Confederation, this was the first FIFA senior competition to be hosted across two confederations. Spain won their first-ever title, defeating England 1-0 in the final. This made Spain the 2nd nation to win both the Men's and Women's World Cup, after Germany. In 2027, Brazil will host the FIFA Women's World Cup, bringing the tournament to South America and Latin America for the first time. In 2031, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico, and the United States will host the second joint hosted tournament, and the number of participants will be expanded from 32 to 48. In 2035, the home nations of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) will host.