The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international

association football 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 ...

competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of the

Fédération Internationale de Football Association The Fédération Internationale de Football Association (), more commonly known by its acronym FIFA ( ), is the international self-regulatory governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal. It was founded on 21 May 1904 to o ...

(FIFA), the sport's international governing body. The competition has been held every four years and one year after the men's

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...

since 1991, when the inaugural tournament, then called the FIFA Women's World Championship, was held in China. Under the tournament's current format, national teams vie for the remaining 31 slots in a three-year qualification phase. The host nation's team is automatically entered as the first slot. The tournament, called the ''World Cup Finals'', is contested at venues within the host nation(s) over about one month. The nine FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments have been won by five national teams. The

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 ...

have won four times. The other winners are

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 ...

, with two titles, and

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

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 ...

, and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

with one title each. Eight countries have hosted the Women's World Cup. China and the United States have each hosted the tournament twice, while Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, and Sweden have each hosted it once. The 2023 edition was hosted by Australia and New Zealand, making it the first edition to be held in the Southern Hemisphere, the first Women's World Cup to be hosted by two countries, as well as the first FIFA competition for either men or women to be held across two confederations. The 2027 edition will be hosted by Brazil, making it the first edition to be held in South America.

Format

Qualification

Qualifying tournaments are held within the six FIFA continental zones (Africa, Asia, North and Central America and Caribbean, South America, Oceania, Europe), and are organized by their respective confederations:

Confederation of African Football The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is the administrative and controlling body for association football, beach soccer, and futsal in Africa. It was established on 8 February 1957 at the ''Grand Hotel'' in Khartoum, Sudan. At the FIFA Co ...

(CAF),

Asian Football Confederation The Asian Football Confederation (AFC) is the governing body of association football, beach soccer, and futsal in most countries and territories in Asia. The AFC was formed in 1954. It has 47 members. The Asian Ladies Football Confederation ( ...

(AFC), Confederation of North, Central America, and Caribbean Association Football (

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 ...

), South American Football Confederation (

CONMEBOL CONMEBOL ( ) or CSF (; ; ), is the continental governing body of football in South America and it is one of FIFA's six continental confederations. The oldest continental confederation in the world, its headquarters are located in Luque, Parag ...

Oceania Football Confederation The Oceania Football Confederation (OFC) is one of the six continental confederations of international association football. The OFC has 13 members, 11 of which are full members and two which are associate members not affiliated with FIFA. It ...

(OFC), and Union of European Football Associations (

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

). For each tournament, FIFA decides beforehand the number of berths awarded to each of the continental zones, based on the relative strength of the confederations' teams. The hosts of the World Cup receive an automatic berth in the finals. Except for the UEFA, other confederations organize its qualification campaign throughout continental tournaments. Since the

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the f ...

, the number of finalists increased from 16 to 24 and now 32.

Final tournament

The final tournament has featured between 12 and 32 national teams competing over about one month in the host nation(s). There are two stages: the group stage followed by the knockout stage. In the group stage, teams are drawn into groups of four teams each. Each group plays a

round-robin tournament A round-robin tournament or all-play-all tournament is a competition format in which each contestant meets every other participant, usually in turn.''Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language, Unabridged'' (1971, G. & ...

, in which each team is scheduled for three matches against other teams in the same group. The last round of matches of each group is scheduled at the same time to preserve fairness among all four teams. In the 2015 24-team format, the two teams finishing first and second in each group and the four best teams among those ranked third qualified for the round of 16, also called the knockout stage. Points are used to rank the teams within a group. Since

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, Three points have been awarded for a win, one for a draw and none for a loss (before, winners received two points). The ranking of each team in each group is determined as follows: # Greatest number of points in group matches # Greatest goal difference in group matches # Greatest number of goals scored in group matches # If more than one team remains level after applying the above criteria, their ranking will be determined as follows: ## Greatest number of points in head-to-head matches among those teams ## Greatest goal difference in head-to-head matches among those teams ## Greatest number of goals scored in head-to-head matches among those teams The knockout stage is a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

in which teams play each other in one-off matches, with

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 ...

and penalty shootouts used to decide the winners if necessary. It begins with the round of 16. This is followed by the quarter-finals, semi-finals, the third-place match (contested by the losing semi-finalists), and the final.

History

The first instance of a Women's World Cup dates back to 1970 in Italy, with the first tournament of that name taking place in July 1970, which Denmark won. This was followed by another non-FIFA World Cup tournament in Mexico in 1971, in which

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

won the title after defeating

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, 3–0, in the final at the Azteca Stadium. In the 1980s, the Mundialito was held in Italy across four editions with both

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

winning two titles. Several countries lifted bans on women's football in the 1970s, leading to new teams being established in many countries. After official continental women's tournaments were held in Asia in 1975 and Europe in 1984, Ellen Wille declared that she wanted better effort from the

FIFA Congress The FIFA Congress is the supreme legislative body of the International Association Football Federation (French: Fédération Internationale de Football Association), commonly known by the acronym FIFA . FIFA is the international governing body of ...

in promoting the women's game. This came in the form of the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament in China as a test to see if a global women's World Cup was feasible. Twelve national teams took part in the competition – four from

, three from AFC, two from

, one each from

, CAF and OFC. After the opening match of the tournament between

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 ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

was attended by 45,000 people, the tournament was deemed a success, with crowds averaging 20,000.

, who was the European champions, defeated

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

, 1–0, in the final, while

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 ...

clinched third place by beating the hosts in a penalty shootout. The competition was deemed a success and on 30 June FIFA approved the establishment of an official World Cup, which was to take place in

1991 It was the final year of the Cold War, which had begun in 1947. During the year, the Soviet Union Dissolution of the Soviet Union, collapsed, leaving Post-soviet states, fifteen sovereign republics and the Commonwealth of Independent State ...

again in China. Again, twelve teams competed, this time culminating in the

defeating Norway in the final, 2–1, with

Michelle Akers Michelle Anne Akers (formerly Akers-Stahl; born February 1, 1966) is an American former Association football, soccer player who starred in the FIFA Women's World Cup 1991, 1991 and FIFA Women's World Cup 1999, 1999 Women's World Cup and Footbal ...

scoring two goals. The 1995 edition in Sweden saw the experiment of a timeout concept throughout the tournament which was later tightened mid-tournament to only occur after a break in play. The timeout only appeared in the one tournament which saw it scrapped. The final of the 1995 edition saw Norway, who scored 17 goals in the group stage, defeat Germany, 2–0, to capture their only title. In the 1999 edition, one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastain's victory celebration after scored the Cup-winning penalty kick against

. She took off her jersey and waved it over her head (as men frequently do) as she celebrated. The 1999 final in 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 ...

, had an attendance of 90,185. The 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cups were both held in the United States; in 2003 China was supposed to host it, but the tournament was moved because of

SARS Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is a viral respiratory disease of zoonotic origin caused by the virus SARS-CoV-1, the first identified strain of the SARS-related coronavirus. The first known cases occurred in November 2002, and the ...

. As compensation, China retained their automatic qualification to the 2003 tournament as host nation, and was automatically chosen to host the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

hosted the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for List of women's national association football teams, women's national association football, football teams. It was held from 26 June to ...

, as decided by vote in October 2007. In March 2011, FIFA awarded

the right to host the

. The 2015 competition saw the field expand from 16 to 24 teams. During the

, both Formiga of

and Homare Sawa of

appeared in their record sixth World Cup, a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Pearce became the oldest player to ever play in a Women's World Cup match, at the age of 40 years. In March 2015, FIFA awarded

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

the right to host the

2019 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup was the eighth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international Women's association football, football championship contested by 24 List of women's national association football teams, women's ...

over

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

. In the 2019 edition, which was held in France, the United States won the tournament for the fourth time. In 2023, Australia and New Zealand hosted the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time as joint hosts, and the number of participants was expanded from 24 to 32. It was also the first tournament to be held in the Southern Hemisphere. With

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

respectively being members of the

and

, this was the first FIFA senior competition to be hosted across two confederations. Spain won their first-ever title, defeating England 1-0 in the final. This made Spain the 2nd nation to win both the Men's and Women's World Cup, after Germany. In 2027, Brazil will host the FIFA Women's World Cup, bringing the tournament to

South America South America is a continent entirely in the Western Hemisphere and mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a considerably smaller portion in the Northern Hemisphere. It can also be described as the southern Subregion#Americas, subregion o ...

and

Latin America Latin America is the cultural region of the Americas where Romance languages are predominantly spoken, primarily Spanish language, Spanish and Portuguese language, Portuguese. Latin America is defined according to cultural identity, not geogr ...

for the first time. In 2031, Mexico and the United States will host the second joint hosted tournament, and the number of participants will be expanded from 32 to 48. In 2035, the home nations of the United Kingdom (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales) will host.

Trophy

The current trophy was designed in 1998 by William Sawaya for the 1999 tournament and takes the form of a spiral band, enclosing a football at the top. It was sculpted by Sawaya & Moroni in

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

and stands tall, weighs and is made of sterling silver clad in 23-karat yellow and white gold. In the 2010s, it was fitted with a cone-shaped base. Underneath the base, the name of each of the tournament's previous winners is engraved. The trophy had an estimated value in 2015 of approximately $30,000; by contrast, the men's World Cup trophy is fabricated in 18-karat gold and has a precious metal value of $150,000. However, a new Winner's Trophy is constructed for each women's champion to take home, while there is only one original women's trophy which is retained by FIFA with each women's champion taking home a replica trophy. Since 2007, the winners are also awarded the FIFA Champions Badge, which is worn on the jerseys of the winning team until the winners of the next tournament have been decided.

Hosts

Selection results

Attendance

Notes: * The 2003 Women's World Cup was initially planned to hosted by China, with FIFA awarding the hosting rights in October 2000. Following a SARS outbreak, it was re-awarded to the United States in May 2003. * The

2023 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup was the ninth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's association football, football championship contested by List of women's national association football teams, women's nat ...

set a new attendance record for all FIFA competitions besides the men's FIFA World Cup.

Results

;Notes In total, 44 nations have played in at least one Women's World Cup. Of those, five nations have won the World Cup. With four titles, the United States is the most successful Women's World Cup team; it is one of only seven nations to play in every World Cup. They have also had the most top-four finishes (8), medals (8), as well as final appearances (5), including the longest streak of three consecutive finals in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, and

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

Teams reaching the top four

* ''host nation''

Best performance by confederations

, four of the six FIFA confederations have made it to a Women's World Cup final, the only exceptions being CAF (Africa) and the OFC (Oceania).

is the only confederation to have made a World Cup final without winning, following

's defeat in the 2007 final. The farthest advancing African team was

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

, who were eliminated in the quarter-finals in 1999. Oceania has sent two teams,

and

, to the World Cup, but Australia did not advance from the group stage until after the country's football association moved to the

, and New Zealand (which remains in the OFC) has never advanced to the knockout rounds. The United States and Norway are the only teams to have won a tournament hosted by their own confederations, with the U.S. winning in 1999 (at home) and 2015 (in Canada), and Norway in 1995 (in Sweden).

Broadcasting and revenue

, the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final was the most watched soccer match in American history with nearly 23 million viewers, more than the 2015 NBA Finals and

Stanley Cup The Stanley Cup () is the championship trophy awarded annually to the National Hockey League (NHL) playoff champion. It is the oldest existing trophy to be awarded to a professional sports franchise in North America, and the International Ic ...

. It was also the most watched Spanish-language broadcast in tournament history. More than 750 million viewers were reported to have watched the tournament worldwide. The 2015 Women's World Cup generated almost $73 million. By comparison, that equates to 1% of the revenue generated by the 2018 men's tournament of $6.1 billion. In 2023, FIFA separated broadcast rights for the Women's World Cup from the men's tournament for the first time, and president

Gianni Infantino Giovanni Vincenzo Infantino (); (born 23 March 1970) is a Swiss-Italian Association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and the president of the FIFA, Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) since 26 Febr ...

suggested in May 2023 that the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup might not be broadcast in the "Big 5" European countries due to disappointing offers. , FIFA had yet to reach broadcast agreements in Spain, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, or the United Kingdom, with German broadcasters ZDF and ARD bidding 3% as much for the Women's World Cup as the 2022 men's World Cup, French and Spanish broadcasters less than 5%, and Italian broadcasters less than 1%.

Records and statistics

Boldface indicates a player still playing.

Top goalscorers

;Individual ;Country

Awards

At the end of each World Cup, awards are presented to select players and teams for accomplishments other than their final team positions in the tournament. *There are currently five post-tournament awards from the FIFA Technical Study Group: **The Golden Ball (currently commercially termed "

adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

Golden Ball") for the best overall player of the tournament (first awarded in

); **The Golden Boot (currently commercially termed "Adidas Golden Boot", formerly known as the ''Golden Shoe'') for the top goalscorer of the tournament (first awarded in

); **The Golden Glove (currently commercially termed "Adidas Golden Glove", formerly known as the ''Best Goalkeeper'') for the best goalkeeper of the tournament (first awarded in

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

); **The FIFA Young Player Award for the best player of the tournament under 21 years of age at the start of the calendar year (first awarded in

); **The FIFA Fair Play Trophy for the team with the best record of fair play during the tournament (first awarded in

). *There is currently one award voted on by fans during the tournament: **The Player of the Match (currently commercially termed " VISA Player of the Match") for outstanding performance by a player during each match of the tournament (first awarded in

). *There is currently one award voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament: **The Goal of the Tournament (currently commercially termed " Hyundai Goal of the Tournament") for the fans' best goal scored during the tournament (first awarded in

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

). *The following five awards are no longer given: **The All-Star Squad for the best squad of players of the tournament (chosen by the technical study group, awarded from

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

); **The Most Entertaining Team for the team that entertained the fans the most during the tournament (voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament, awarded in

and

); **The FANtasy All-Star Team for the fans' best eleven-player line-up of the tournament (voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament, awarded in

); **The Dream Team for the fans' best manager and eleven-player line-up of the tournament (voted on by fans after the conclusion of the tournament, awarded in

); **The Players Who Dared to Shine for ten key players of the tournament who "dared to shine" (chosen by the technical study group, awarded in

References

External links

*
UEFA's page on the FIFA Women's World Cup
UEFA.com

at the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (''RSSSF'') is an international organisation dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fifa Women's World Cup Women's World Cup Recurring sporting events established in 1991 Women's world championships Women's Quadrennial sporting events