The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup final was an

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

match that took place on July 10, 1999, to determine the winner of the

1999 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup was the third edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, soccer teams. It was hosted as well as ...

. The host

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

played to a scoreless draw following double

golden goal The golden goal is a sports rule used in association football, Australian rules football, bandy, field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, and rugby league to decide the winner of a match (typically a knock-out match) in which scores are equal at the ...

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

. After that, the United States won the title 5–4 with a penalties victory. The match represented one of the most important events in the history of American sports. It was played before over 90,000 fans. The well-known image of

Brandi Chastain Brandi Denise Chastain (born July 21, 1968) is an American retired soccer player, two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion, two-time Olympic gold-medalist, coach, and sports broadcaster. She played for the United States national team from 1988 ...

celebrating the winning spot kick that was featured on the cover of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with a circulation of over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellen ...

'' became one of the defining images of women's sports in the United States.

Finalists

The match featured two powerhouses of women's soccer. The United States had won the first Women's World Cup in China and the gold medal at the

1996 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, ...

. China had won the silver at the 1996 Olympics and had defeated the United States in the final of the 1999

Algarve Cup The Algarve Cup is an invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and ...

. The teams featured two of the superstars of women's soccer, strikers

Mia Hamm Mariel Margaret "Mia" Hamm (born March 17, 1972) is an American former professional Association football, soccer player, two-time Women's Football at the Summer Olympics, Olympic gold medalist and two-time FIFA Women's World Cup champion. Haile ...

of the United States and Sun Wen of China. The United States was bidding to become the first team to win a world championship on home soil, something China had failed to do in 1991, as well as the first team to win multiple championships. China, meanwhile, was attempting to join the United States and

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

as World Cup champions. China were the first Asian national team to reach the FIFA Women's World Cup Final. This was also the first Women's World Cup final not involving a European team.

Route to the final

The United States had qualified automatically as host nation. Accordingly, they elected to skip the

1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship The 1998 CONCACAF Women's Championship was the fourth staging of the CONCACAF Women's Championship, the international women's association football tournament for North America, Central America and Caribbean nations organized by CONCACAF. The fina ...

, which served as the

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

qualifier. They would not fail to win a CONCACAF championship again until 2010. China had qualified by winning their sixth straight AFC Women's Championship in

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

. Once at the finals, the United States reached the knockout stage by easily winning Group A. After trailing 2–1 at halftime, they advanced through the quarterfinals by defeating

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

3–2. The United States then defeated

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

2–0 to reach the final. China reached the knockout stage by winning Group D. They shut out

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in the quarterfinals, then easily defeated defending champion

5–0 to reach the final.

Venue

The final was played at the Rose Bowl in

Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...

, which sold out of its 90,000 seats. Tickets for the final and third-place match doubleheader were sold from $45 to $110. Prior to the match, tickets were sold outside the stadium for as much as $4,000 and 35 people were arrested by local police for

ticket scalping Ticket resale (also known as ticket scalping or ticket touting when done for profit) is the act of reselling tickets for admission to events. Tickets are bought from licensed sellers and then sold for a price determined by the individual or compan ...

. Among the attendees were U.S. president

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

, California governor

Gray Davis Joseph Graham "Gray" Davis Jr. (born December 26, 1942) is an American attorney and former politician who served as the 37th governor of California from 1999 until he was recalled and removed from office in 2003. He is the second state governor ...

, and various celebrities.

Match

Summary

The match was played on July 10, 1999, shortly after the third-place match at the same venue. The United States and China played to a scoreless draw during regulation and golden goal extra time. The United States won the title 5–4 on a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

. The win gave the United States its second world cup title. The game was a tepid affair with neither side getting many chances. Perhaps the best chance for either team to score came in

, when China's Fan Yunjie hit a header toward the post that was defended by Kristine Lilly. After both teams failed to score, the teams squared off for a shootout to decide the winners of the cup. China shot first, and Xie Huilin scored, only to be matched by the United States' Carla Overbeck. In the second round, Qiu Haiyan's goal was matched by

Joy Fawcett Joy Lynn Fawcett (; born February 8, 1968) is an American soccer coach and former professional player. She earned 241 caps with the United States women's national soccer team and retired in 2004 as the highest scoring defender in team history. ...

. Liu Ying was China's third-round shooter, but her shot was saved by United States

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

Briana Scurry. Despite Scurry coming well off her line (a violation that should have resulted in a re-kick for Liu), the save stood. Kristine Lilly then got a shot past Chinese goalkeeper Gao Hong to give the United States the advantage. Zhang Ouying,

, and Sun Wen each converted their penalty opportunities, leaving the United States'

with a shot to win the tournament. She put the ball past Gao, leading to an ecstatic celebration by the Americans, who had clinched the title on home soil.

Details

Post-match

The United States became the first team to win two Women's World Cup titles. Brandi Chastain's celebration, which ended with her removing her jersey and revealing her

sports bra A sports bra is a bra that provides support to the breasts during physical exercise. Sturdier than typical bras, they minimize breast movement and alleviate discomfort. Many women wear sports bras to reduce pain and physical discomfort ca ...

underneath, appeared on the covers of ''

'', ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'', and various newspapers the following day. The celebration was criticized for being disrespectful, unfeminine, or inappropriate, but has endured as one of the most iconic moments in women's sports history. Chinese media protested Scurry's save on Liu Ying, accusing her of cheating for stepping ahead of the line before Liu kicked the ball; Scurry confirmed that she did intentionally step over the line, but stated that "everybody does it". The final and tournament as a whole created greater interest in women's soccer, particularly the United States team, and broke attendance and television records for women's sports. Its reported attendance of 90,185 set a new international record for a women's sporting event, although the unofficial 1971 Women's World Cup final at the

Estadio Azteca Estadio Azteca () (officially known as Estadio Banorte for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium located in Coyoacán, Mexico City. It is the official home of football team Club América, as well as the Mexico national team. The stadium ...

in Mexico City was seen by an estimated 110,000 people. This record was broken in 2022 when the second leg of the UEFA Women's Champions League quarterfinal between archrivals

FC Barcelona Futbol Club Barcelona (), commonly known as FC Barcelona and colloquially as Barça (), is a professional Football club (association football), football club based in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, that competes in La Liga, the top flight of ...

and

Real Madrid Real Madrid Club de Fútbol (), commonly referred to as Real Madrid, is a Spanish professional Football club (association football), football club based in Madrid. The club competes in La Liga, th ...

drew 91,553 to

Camp Nou Camp Nou (), meaning ''New Field'' and often referred to in English as the Nou Camp, is a stadium in Barcelona and the home of La Liga club FC Barcelona since its opening in 1957. It is currently undergoing renovation, and with a planned increa ...

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

. The final averaged 17.9 million viewers and peaked at 40 million on U.S. broadcast television, which remained unsurpassed until the 2014 men's World Cup and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final.

References

External links

#WorldCupAtHome , USA v China PR (USA 1999) Full match on Youtube
{{DEFAULTSORT:1999 Fifa Womens World Cup Final

Final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

FIFA Women's World Cup finals United States women's national soccer team matches China women's national football team matches Sports competitions in Pasadena, California Soccer competitions in Los Angeles County, California

1999 in sports in California 20th century in Pasadena, California July 1999 sports events in the United States Soccer matches in the United States