FIFA Women's World Cup

 

The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament which is played by the women's senior national teams of the member clubs of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) which is the governing body of international football. The event has been held every four years and every year following when there is a FIFA World Cup since 1991 which was the year the inaugural tournament, formerly known as"the FIFA Women's World Championship, was held in China. In the current format national teams compete for 23 slots during the three-year qualifying phase. The team of the host nation is automatically enrolled as in the slot 24. The tournament itself, sometimes known as"the World Cup Finals, is held in venues of the hosting nation(s) during a time that is about a month.

In the eight FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments have been taken by four national teams. They are the United States have won four times, and are currently the present champions following their victory this year's tournament in France. Other winners include Germany with two titles and Japan and Norway each with a title.

Six countries have been host to this year's Women's World Cup. China along with the United States have each hosted the event twice. Canada, France, Germany and Sweden have held it at least once.

History

The first appearance of an Women's World Cup dates back to the year 1970 The first ever international tournament being held in Italy in July of 1970. The tournament was followed by an non-official event the following year in Mexico in which Denmark was awarded the title following winning against Mexico at the end of the tournament. In the mid-1980s, Mundialito was played in Italy in four different editions, and both Italy and England winning two titles.

Many nations lifted their ban on women's football during the 1970s, which led to the creation of new teams all over Europe in Europe and North America. Following the first women's international tournaments were played throughout Asia in 1975, and in Europe during 1984. Ellen Wille declared that she was looking for a greater performance at the FIFA Congress in promoting the women's sport. The first time this was done was in 1988 as an invitational event in China as an attempt to test whether an international women's World Cup was feasible. Twelve national teams were involved in the tournament: four teams from UEFA three from AFC Two from CONCACAF and one in CONMEBOL, CAF and OFC. After the first match in the competition with China with Canada was watched by more than 45,000 people, the event was declared a success with attendance of around 20000. Norway as champions of the tournament, was European champion, lost to Sweden with a score of 1-0 in the final. Brazil was third after defeating hosts in an infamous penalty shootout. The event was considered successful and on the 30th of June FIFA approved the creation of an officially-confirmed World Cup, which was to be held in 1991 in China. There were 12 teams competing with the final being winning by the United States defeating Norway in the final by 2-1 which included Michelle Akers scoring two goals.

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The 1995 tournament in Sweden was the first time that Sweden tried the concept of a time-out throughout the tournament. This was later restricted mid-tournament and only occurred when there was an interruption in the match. The time-out concept was only introduced during one tournament, which was later scrapped. The final match of the 1995 edition was a triumphant one for Norway score 17 times in their group phase, lose to Germany with a score of 2-0, and claim their first trophy. In 1999 among the more well-known moments of the competition was American player Brandi Chastain's celebration of victory after scoring the Cup's winning penalty against China. She stripped off her jersey and placed it on her head (as men do often) while showing off her strong torso and athletic bra when she screamed. The 1999 final of the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California attracted a crowd of 90,185. This was a record for a female sporting event.

In 1999 as well as 2003, the Women's World Cups were both held in the United States; in 2003 China was to host the tournament, however the tournament was relocated because of SARS. In compensation, China retained their automatic eligibility to the 2003 tournament as the host country, and was then automatically selected for hosting in 2007 the FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany was the host for this year's FIFA Women's World Cup, following a votes in October 2007. In March of 2011, FIFA awarded Canada the rights to host 2015's FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2015 tournament included an increase in the number of teams from 16 teams to 24.

The 2015. FIFA Women's World Cup, both Formiga from Brazil as well as Homare Sawa from Japan played in their record-breaking sixth World Cup, a feat that was never achieved previously by male or female players. Christie Pearce is the oldest player ever to play in the Women's World Cup match, at 40 years old. In March 2015 FIFA granted France an opportunity to host next year's FIFA Women's World Cup against South Korea.