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
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 ...
'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
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. ...
in
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 ...
, 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
----
Third place play-off
Final
Awards
The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament:
Awards 1991
/ref>
Statistics
Goalscorers
Assists
Tournament ranking
See also
* ''''
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
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 ...
1991 in Chinese football
November 1991 sports events in Asia
1991 in Chinese women's sport
Sports competitions in Guangdong