The 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament, or International Women's Football Tournament, was organised by

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 ...

in China from 1 to 12 June 1988. The competition was a test to study if a global women's World Cup was feasible following the experience of non-FIFA invitational competitions such as the Mundialito (1981–88) and the Women's World Invitational Tournament (1978–87). The competition was a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup for

1991 File:1991 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Boris Yeltsin, elected as Russia's first president, waves the new flag of Russia after the 1991 Soviet coup d'état attempt, orchestrated by Soviet hardliners; Mount Pinatubo erupts in the Phil ...

, which would also be held in China.FIFA pone K.O. a México
''

El Mundo Deportivo ''Mundo Deportivo'' (; meaning ''Sports World'' in English) is a Spanish nationwide daily sports newspaper published in Barcelona. History and profile ''Mundo Deportivo'' was first published on 1 February 1906, as a weekly newspaper, and since 1 ...

'', 01/07/88 Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

, three from AFC, two from

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...

and one from

CONMEBOL The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL, , or CSF; es, Confederación Sudamericana de Fútbol; pt, Confederação Sul-Americana de Futebol) is the continental governing body of football in South America (apart from Guyana, Suri ...

, CAF and OFC. European champion

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 ...

defeated

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

1–0 in the final to win the tournament, while

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

clinched the bronze by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout.

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Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, 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 ...

and the

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also reached the final stages.Results
in

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.com

Venues

The tournament took place in 4 cities in the province of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

Foshan Foshan (, ), alternately romanized as Fatshan, is a prefecture-level city in central Guangdong Province, China. The entire prefecture covers and had a population of 9,498,863 as of the 2020 census. The city is part of the western side of the ...

Jiangmen Jiangmen (), alternately romanized in Cantonese as Kongmoon, is a prefecture-level city in Guangdong Province in southern China. As of the 2020 census, its three urban districts, plus Heshan City being conurbated, with 2,657,662 inhabitants ar ...

and

Panyu Panyu, alternately romanized as Punyu, is one of 11 urban districts of the prefecture-level city of Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, China. It was a separate county-level city before its incorporation into modern Guangzhou in 200 ...

Teams

12 national teams participated in the tournament, all invited by FIFA.

Group stage

Group A

: The matches of China were held in Guangzhou. The rest of the matches of this group were held in Foshan.

Group B

All matches held in Jiangmen.

Group C

All matches held in Panyu.

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

---- ---- ----

Semi-finals

----

Third place play-off

Final

All-Star Team

The all star team was voted by the Chinese press. * Elisabeth Leidinge *

Liv Strædet Liv Strædet (born 21 October 1964 in Fredrikstad) is a former Norwegian football player who played for Norway women's national football team. She played on the Norwegian team that won silver medals at the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup ...

* Marie Karlsson * Heidi Støre * Eva Zeikfalvy * Roseli *

Linda Medalen Linda Medalen (born 17 June 1965) is a former Norwegian footballer. She is one of Norway's most celebrated former footballers, finishing her international career with 152 caps, scoring 64 goals. She was on the Norway team that won the 1995 FIFA ...

Carin Jennings Carin Leslie Jennings-Gabarra (; born January 9, 1965) is an American retired soccer forward. She earned 117 caps with the United States women's national soccer team from 1987 to 1996 and was awarded the Golden Ball Award as the best player a ...

Sun Qingmei Sun Qingmei (; born June 19, 1966) is a Chinese former footballer who played for the China national team at the 1991 and 1995 editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup and won a silver medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Club career During her ...

* Cebola * Ellen Scheel

References

{{International women's football FIFA Women's World Cup

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

Women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or Adolescence, adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female hum ...

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 ...

1988 in Chinese women's sport June 1988 sports events in Asia