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 The Women's World Invitation Tournament ( zh, 世界女子足球邀請賽), also known as the Chunghua Cup ( zh, 中華盃), was a triennial global invitational tournament for national and club teams in women's association football. It was held fo ...

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

AFC AFC may stand for: Organizations * Action for Children, a UK children's charity * AFC Enterprises, the franchisor of Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits * Africa Finance Corporation, a pan-African multilateral development finance institution * A ...

, two from CONCACAF 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 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 clinched the bronze by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout.

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Canada, the Netherlands and the United States also reached the final stages.Results
in RSSSF.com

Venues

The tournament took place in 4 cities in the province of Guangdong: Guangzhou,

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 and Panyu.

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

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Third place play-off

Final

All-Star Team

The all star team was voted by the

Chinese press This is a list of newspapers in China. The number of newspapers in mainland China has increased from 42—virtually all Communist Party papers—in 1968 to 382 in 1980 and more than 2,200 today. In 2006, China was the largest market for daily new ...

. *

Elisabeth Leidinge Elisabeth Leidinge (born 6 March 1957) is a Swedish former association football goalkeeper who won 112 caps for the Sweden women's national football team. She is nicknamed Lappen. Leidinge can be seen in the Sveriges Television documentary televi ...

* Liv Strædet *

Marie Karlsson Marie Karlsson (born 4 December 1963) is a Swedish footballer who played as a midfielder for the Sweden women's national football team. She was part of the team at the 1987 European Competition for Women's Football, 1989 European Competition for ...

Heidi Støre Heidi Elin Støre (born 4 July 1963) is a Norwegian former footballer who played as a midfielder. As captain for the Norway national team, she won the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup. Career Støre was born in Sarpsborg. She played for the clubs S ...

Eva Zeikfalvy Eva Zeikfalvy (born 18 April 1967) is a Swedish former association football defender who won 69 caps for the Sweden women's national football team, scoring two goals. She represented Sweden at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1995. She is ...

Roseli Roseli de Belo (born 7 September 1969), commonly known as Roseli, is a Brazilian footballer who played as a forward for the Brazil women's national football team. She represented Brazil at the FIFA Women's World Cup in 1991 and 1995; as well a ...

* Linda Medalen * Carin Jennings * Sun Qingmei * Cebola *

Ellen Scheel Ellen Scheel Aalbu (born 26 November 1968) is a former Norwegian football player who played for the Norway women's national football team. She played for the club IL Jardar. She was capped 32 times, participated on the winning team at the 1 ...

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

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