When the «F» in football stands also for «Female» or what we know about the Women’s World Cup

It’s worth mentioning  that the FIFA Women’s World Cup is one of the biggest international football competitions on the planet, where compete the senior women’s national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) -  the sport’s international governing body. The competition is held every four years. The first women football world cup started with the  so- called «FIFA Women’s World Championship», which  was in China  in 1991. The year of the first FIFA Women’s World Cup and women’s football in general finally received recognition on an international level.

Twelve national teams participated in the competition – four from UEFA (Union of European Football Associations), three from AFC (Asian Football Confederation), two from CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central America and Carribbean Association Football)  and one each from CONMEBOL (South American Football Confederation) , CAF (Confederation of African Football) and OFC (Oceania Football Confederation).There were 12 teams and 26 matches with thousands of factory workers as spectators, attending each game. At the final match where the U.S. Women’s team won 2-1 against Norway, there were some 65,000 spectators.

Sweden hosted the World Cup in 1995 where the world's women best teams gathered for a second time to not only play, but also to qualify for the first women's Olympic Football Tournament.

At the Women’s World Cup of 1999 in California , one of the most famous moments of the tournament was American defender Brandi Chastain's victory celebration after scoring the Cup-winning penalty kick against China. Brandi took off her jersey and waved it over her head (as men frequently do), showing her muscular torso and sports bra as she celebrated. 

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 disease (Severe acute respiratory syndrome).Germany hosted the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. 

During the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, both the players, Formiga from Brazil and Homare Sawa from Japan, made a record of appearing in six World Cups, a feat that had never been achieved before by either female or male players. Christie Rampone (the US) is the oldest player to ever play in a Women's World Cup match, at the age of 40 years. The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Final was the most watched soccer match in American history with nearly 23 million viewers, even more than the 2015 NBA Finals and Stanley Cup.  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 official trophyof the Women Football World Cup has the form of a spiral band, enclosing a football at the top, capturing  athleticism, dynamism and elegance of international women's football. 

The United States National Team won 3 times and now are the existing winners (1991,1991, 2015), Germany – 2 times (2003,2007), Norway – 1 time (1995), Japan – 1 time (2011).

In March 2015, France was awarded with the right to host the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup will be the eighth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, the time period between 7 June and 7 July 2019. Matches are planned in nine host cities across France.

The Women’s World Cup gained recognition which helped to highlight crucial issues in the sporting community and to push an agenda for equal rights on the pitch. In 2018 FIFA issued the FIFA Women’s Football Strategy where by 2026 planning to double the number of female players to 60 million and develop female football at local, regional, national and international levels to retain and grow female participation, while advocating for a global stand against gender discrimination through playing football.

By now the whole world is waiting for the coming football female event which is too big to miss – the Women’s World Cup 2019 France.

References:

 1. https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/videos/history-of-the-fifa-women-s-world-cup-2908406

 2. https://www.fifa.com/womens-football/news/fifa-launches-first-ever-global-strategy-for-women-s-football

 3. https://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/

 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FIFA_Women%27s_World_Cup