The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the inaugural

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 Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...

, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It took place in

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) ...

, China from 16 to 30 November 1991.

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 ...

, football's international

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ge ...

selected China as host nation as Guangdong had hosted a

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament. Matches were played in the provincial capital,

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 ...

, as well as in

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

Zhongshan Zhongshan (; ) is a prefecture-level city in the south of the Pearl River Delta in Guangdong province, China. As of the 2020 census, the whole city with 4,418,060 inhabitants is now part of the Guangzhou–Shenzhen conurbation with 65,565,622 i ...

. The competition was sponsored by

Mars, Incorporated Mars, Incorporated is an American multinational manufacturer of confectionery, pet food, and other food products and a provider of animal care services, with US$40 billion in annual sales in 2021. Mars was ranked as the fourth-largest priva ...

, maker of

M&M's M&M's (stylized as m&m's) are multi-colored button-shaped chocolates, each of which has the letter "m" printed in lower case in white on one side, consisting of a candy shell surrounding a filling which varies depending upon the variety of M&M ...

candy. With FIFA still reluctant to bestow their "World Cup" brand, the tournament was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup. It was won by the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, whose

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

April Heinrichs April Dawn Heinrichs (born February 27, 1964) is an American former soccer player and coach. She was among the first players on the United States women's national soccer team, and was captain of the United States team which won the first ever ...

formed a forward line dubbed the " Triple-Edged Sword" with

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 ...

and Michelle Akers-Stahl. Jennings was named player of the tournament while Akers-Stahl's ten goals won the Golden Shoe. The United States defeated

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 ...

2–1 in the final in front of a crowd of 63,000 people at Guangzhou's

Tianhe Stadium Tianhe Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, China. It is currently used for football matches. History Construction of the stadium began on 4 July 1984 at the former site of Guangzhou Tianhe Airport. ...

. Total attendance for the tournament was 510,000, an average per match of 19,615. In the opening match at the same stadium, Norway was defeated 4–0 by hosts

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Chinese defender Ma Li scored the first goal in Women's World Cup history, while goalkeeper

Zhong Honglian Zhong Honglian (, born October 27, 1967) is a female Chinese football (soccer) player who competed in the 1996 Summer Olympics. In 1996 she won the silver medal with the Chinese team. She was the backup goalkeeper behind Gao Hong Gao H ...

, also of China, posted the first official " clean sheet" in the tournament. The 12 qualified teams were divided into three groups of four (A to C). The top two teams and the two best third-place finishers from the three groups advanced to the knockout round of eight teams. For only the first edition of the Women's World Cup, all matches lasted only 80 minutes, instead of the typical 90, and two points were awarded for a win (both of which would change in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

Venues

Teams

Twelve teams qualified for the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup final tournament. Each of the six FIFA confederations had at least one representative.

Squads

For a list of the squads that contended for the final tournament, see '' 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup squads''.

Match officials

For the first time in FIFA competition, six female officials were included. All functioned as lineswomen, except for Cláudia Vasconcelos who took charge of the third place play-off; becoming the first woman to referee a match sanctioned by FIFA.

Tournament review

's technical report demonstrates that, after the tournament, players and officials were undecided whether to persist with 80-minute matches, or to change to 90 minutes in line with men's football. Opinion was also divided about the suitability of using a size five

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

. Some teams reported difficulty in sourcing good quality equipment in the correct size. The tournament was considered a major success in the quality of play and attendances at the games. FIFA president

João Havelange Jean-Marie Faustin Godefroid "João" de Havelange (, ; 8 May 1916 – 16 August 2016) was a Brazilian lawyer, businessman, athlete and centenarian who served as the seventh president of FIFA from 1974 to 1998. His tenure as president is the ...

wrote that: The perceived success of the tournament was a significant factor in the subsequent inclusion of women's football in the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

Sue Lopez Sue Lopez, (born 1 September 1945) is an English former international footballer. She spent her entire club career with Southampton, except for a season in Italy's Serie A with Roma in 1971. A leading advocate of the women's game in England, Lo ...

reported that although attendances were very high, many tickets were complimentary. The "novelty factor" of women from foreign lands playing football also encouraged local people to attend.

Draw

The draw for the group stage was held on 14 September 1991 at the

, China. The draw was part of a televised two-hour live show, featuring songs in both Chinese and English from the female singers Zhang Qiang (Beijing), Lin Ping (Guangzhou),

Jenny Tseng Jenny Tseng (, Yan Nei; born Yan Suk Si (); 20 February 1953) is a singer, actress, and producer from Macau. She is best known in Cantonese-speaking regions, and she has been based in Hong Kong for much of her career. Personal life In 1987, Tseng ...

(Hong Kong) and (Taiwan).

Group stage

Group A

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Group B

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Group C

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Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

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Semi-finals

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Third place play-off

Final

Awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:Awards 1991
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Statistics

Goalscorers

Assists

Tournament ranking

References

;General references * *

External links

FIFA.com
FIFA Technical Report (Part 1)
an
(Part 2)
* {{DEFAULTSORT:1991 Fifa Women's World Cup FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments International women's association football competitions hosted by China

1991 in Chinese football November 1991 sports events in Asia 1991 in Chinese women's sport Sports competitions in Guangdong

Venues

Teams

Squads

Match officials

Tournament review

Draw

Group stage

Group A

Group B

Group C

Ranking of third-placed teams

Knockout stage

Bracket

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Third place play-off

Final

Awards

Statistics

Goalscorers

Assists

Tournament ranking

See also

References

External links