The FIFA Women's World Cup is the most important competition in international football (soccer) for women. Organised by FIFA, the sport's governing body, the World Cup tournament was first held in 1991.

The tournament reunites 16 female national football teams each four years, to compete for that sport's women's world championship. The FIFA Women's World Cup came as an idea of a FIFA official during the 1986 Men's World Cup in Mexico. One of the most famous moments in the tournament, and perhaps in the history of sports overall, is when Brandi Chastain took off her jersey and slid to her knees, showing her sports bra as she celebrated scoring the Cup-winning penalty against China in 1999.

The 1999 and 2003 Women's World Cup were both celebrated in the United States; in 2003 China was supposed to host it but it was moved because of SARS. As compensation, China retained its automatic qualification to the 2003 tournament as host nation, and received the 2007 tournament.

The next host country to be decided by vote will be that of the 2011 Women's World Cup .

See also: Women's football (soccer)

Tournaments

FIFA Women's World Cup Tournaments

Year	Host		Final				Third Place Match
			Champions	Score	Second Place		Third Place	Score	Fourth Place
1991 Details	China		United States	2 - 1	Norway		Sweden	4 - 0	Germany
1995 Details	Sweden		Norway	2 - 0	Germany		United States	2 - 0	China
1999 Details	United States		United States	0 - 0 asdet	China		Brazil	0 - 0 asdet	Norway
			5 - 4 on penalty shootout				5 - 4 on penalty shootout
2003 Details	United States		Germany	2 - 1 asdet	Sweden		United States	3 - 1	Canada
			Match decided on golden goal
2007 Details	China

• Key:
  • aet - after extra time
  • asdet - after sudden death extra time

World Cup winners ranking

1. USA - 1991 , 1999 (2 titles)
2. Germany - 2003 (1 title)
3. Norway - 1995 (1 title)

External link

• http://www.fifa.com/en/womens/index.html