The 1970 Women's World Cup (Italian: Coppa del Mondo; sponsored name

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Cup) was an

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

tournament organised by the Federation of Independent European Female Football (FIEFF) in Italy in July 1970. It featured women's teams from seven countries and is the first known tournament to be named as a women's football World Cup. Matches were played in

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the List of cities in Italy, sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian ce ...

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

Bari Bari ( , ; nap, label= Barese, Bare ; lat, Barium) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia region, on the Adriatic Sea, southern Italy. It is the second most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy a ...

Salerno Salerno (, , ; nap, label= Salernitano, Saliernë, ) is an ancient city and ''comune'' in Campania (southwestern Italy) and is the capital of the namesake province, being the second largest city in the region by number of inhabitants, after ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, and the third-place playoff and final were both in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

. The tournament was won by

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, represented by

Boldklubben Femina Boldklubben Femina (also known as BK Femina or Femina) is a women's association football team that play in Gladsaxe, Denmark. The club was formed in 1959 and play in white. In 2009 the club celebrated its 50th anniversary. At the time, the team wa ...

The tournament

Eight teams were scheduled to appear in the tournament. The first list of participants, published in February 1970, consisted of Argentina, Denmark, France, Italy, Brazil, Czechoslovakia, England, and the Soviet Union. This was changed in a later revision, with West Germany, Mexico, Austria and Switzerland replacing Argentina, France, Brazil and the Soviet Union in May 1970. Czechoslovakia would have been the only country from Europe's

Eastern Bloc The Eastern Bloc, also known as the Communist Bloc and the Soviet Bloc, was the group of socialist states of Central and Eastern Europe, East Asia, Southeast Asia, Africa, and Latin America under the influence of the Soviet Union that existed du ...

to compete, but the team withdrew because of visa issues. The crowds for the tournament were "30,000-strong". Denmark won the tournament after beating Italy 2–0 in the final. Teams were divided into the "northern" group (in Genoa, Bologna and Milan), and "southern" (Bari, Salerno, Naples) with the top teams meeting in the final. The tournament did not involve

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, which had held the first men's World Cup in 1930 but did not hold any women's event until

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. The host country's matches are considered official by the

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. The Italian women's league had been established in

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – "Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Januar ...

. Mexico, a losing semi-finalist 2–1 to Italy, were described as the "revelation" of the tournament.

Bracket

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ''

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withdrew due to visa issues, and so West Germany were given a second chance instead.'' ----

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

Memorials

Tournament memorabilia was collected at an exhibition in Pessione di Chieri (Turin) from June to August 2019.

Later tournaments

The tournament was followed by the

1971 Women's World Cup The 1971 Women's World Cup (Spanish: 1971 Campeonato de Fútbol Femenil) was an association football tournament organised by the Federation of Independent European Female Football (FIEFF) in Mexico in August–September 1971. Held in Mexico City a ...

in Mexico, and the series of five Mundialito tournaments from 1981–1988 in Japan and Italy, before the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament and

1991 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international gove ...

, both in China.

References

Bibliography

* {{FIFA Women's World Cup International women's association football invitational tournaments International association football competitions hosted by Italy Women's World Cup Women's World Cup July 1970 sports events in Europe