The 1997 Algarve Cup was the fourth edition of the

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

, an invitational

women's association football Women's association football, more commonly known simply as women's football or women's soccer, is a team sport of association football when played by women only. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 176 national te ...

tournament. It took place between 10 and 16 March 1997 in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

with

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...

winning the event for the third time in its history, defeating the PR China, 1-0 in the final-game. Sweden ended up third defeating Denmark, 6-5 following a penalty shootout, in the third prize-game.

Format

The

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

returned to the tournament, replacing

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...

. The eight invited teams were split into two groups that played a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament (or all-go-away-tournament) is a competition Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero ...

. On completion of this, the fourth placed teams in each group would play each other to determine seventh and eighth place, the third placed teams in each group would play each other to decide fifth and sixth place, the second placed teams in each group would play to determine third and fourth place and the winners of each group would compete for first and second place overall. Points awarded in the group stage followed the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss.

Group A

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Group B

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Seventh Place

Portugal finished bottom of their group for the fourth year in a row and lost the seventh place play-off on penalties to Iceland.

Fifth Place

Third Place

1996 runners up Sweden finished in third place overall after winning a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pen ...

following a goalless game.

Final

Norway won the competition for the third time thanks to

Hege Riise Hege Riise (born 18 July 1969) is a Norwegian football coach and former midfield player who is coaching the Norway women's national football team. One of the best footballers of her generation, she won the FIFA Women's World Cup, the Olympic Game ...

's 75th-minute penalty.

Awards

References

External links

1997 Algarve Cup
on RSSSF {{DEFAULTSORT:Algarve Cup

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; ''Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of t ...

1997 in women's association football 1996–97 in Portuguese football 1997 in Norwegian women's football 1997 in Swedish women's football 1997 in Chinese football 1997 in Icelandic football 1996–97 in Danish women's football 1996–97 in Dutch football 1997 in Finnish football March 1997 sports events in Europe 1997 in Portuguese women's sport