The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in

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 ...

hosted by the

Portuguese Football Federation The Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) ( pt, Federação Portuguesa de Futebol; ) is the governing body of football in Portugal. The federation was formed in 1914 as Portuguese Football Union (UPF) by the three existing regional associations ...

(FPF). Held annually in the

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

region of

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 ...

since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running women's international football events and has been nicknamed the ''"Mini FIFA Women's World Cup"''. The most successful teams have been 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 ...

, with ten titles, followed by

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 ...

and

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 ...

with five, and

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

with four. The USA has won all its titles since 2000, including nine in thirteen years since 2003.

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 ...

has won twice. The USA, Norway and Germany are the only nations to have won both the

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 ...

and the Algarve Cup. The Algarve Cup, as an annual event featuring most of the world's top women's football teams, has no parallel in the men's game, given that there are fewer professional women's leagues and thus fewer scheduling conflicts. It is played in late February or early March, at the same time as the

Cyprus Cup The Cyprus Women's Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. It has been held annually in Cyprus since 2008. Although the competition takes place in Cyprus, the hosts have yet to take part in t ...

, the

Turkish Women's Cup The Turkish Women's Cup (Turkish: Türkiye Kadınlar Kupası) is the annual cup competition of women's football teams in Turkey. The tournament is also known as ''Alanya Gold City Cup'', as the tournament is held at the Gold City in Alanya, Turke ...

, the

SheBelieves Cup The SheBelieves Cup is an invitational women's soccer tournament held in different cities in the United States in late February or early March. In its first three years (2016, 2017 and 2018), it was contested by the same four teams: the United ...

, the

Arnold Clark Cup The Arnold Clark Cup is an invitational women's association football tournament hosted by The Football Association, starting in 2022. It is named after car retailer Arnold Clark, who signed a multi-year sponsorship deal. ITV acts as the competiti ...

, the

Pinatar Cup The Pinatar Cup, by full name Pinatar Cup by IAST SPORTS, is an invitational women's association football tournament held in March in San Pedro del Pinatar, Region of Murcia, Spain. In the first edition (in 2020), it was contested by Iceland, No ...

, and the

Tournoi de France The ''Tournoi de France'' ( French, 'Tournament of France') was a friendly international football tournament organised by the French Football Federation (FFF) that was held in France. There have been two tournaments: the first in February 1988 a ...

Format

From 2002 to 2014, 12 teams were invited, with the top eight competing for the championship. The teams were divided into three groups of four — A, B and C. Group C was added in 2002 to provide second-tier teams with high-level match experience every year. The teams first played round-robin within their pool. Then the placement round proceeded as follows: *11th place: The two bottom teams in Group C played one game. *9th place: The Group C runner-up played one game against the lower-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B. *7th place: The Group C winner played one game against the higher-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B. *5th place: The third-place teams from Groups A and B played one game. *3rd place: The second-place teams from Groups A and B played one game. *1st place: The first-place teams from Groups A and B played one game. In 2015, Group C teams became eligible for the final, which is now played between the two best group winners. If teams are tied on points, finishing positions will be determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order: # number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question # goal difference in all the group matches # number of goals scored in all the group matches # fair-play ranking in all the group matches # FIFA ranking The placement round is now as follows: *11th place match: 3rd best 4th placed team vs. 2nd best 4th placed team *9th place match: best 4th placed team vs. 3rd best 3rd placed team *7th place match: 2nd best 3rd placed team vs. best 3rd placed team *5th place match: 3rd best 2nd placed team vs. 2nd best 2nd placed team *3rd place match: 3rd best group winner vs. best 2nd placed team *Final: Best group winner vs. 2nd best group winner

Results

Teams reaching the top four

Participating nations

Statistics

Teams

* Source:

Individuals

References

External links

Official website
FPF.pt (only in Portuguese)
Algarve Cup on WomensSoccerUnited.com

Full results and history

FPF – Algarve Cup match results 1994–2015
{{International women's football Sport in Albufeira International association football competitions in Europe International association football competitions hosted by Portugal Sport in Algarve Recurring sporting events established in 1994 International women's association football invitational tournaments 1994 establishments in Portugal February sporting events March sporting events