This is one of the youngest international football competitions in the world. The inaugural Women’s World Cup took place in 1991 in China.
The latest was played in 2011 in Germany and Japan won its first title in a penalty shootout against the United States.The tournament’s current format involves sixteen teams and it will be held next in Canada in 2015.
Here are ten records from the Women’s World Cup so far:
Most wins
The United States of America and Germany have won the tournament two times each which is more than any other side. The other two teams to have won the Women’s World Cup are Norway in 1995 and Japan, the current World Champions, after beating the USA in 2011.
Best defensive record
Germany retained their Women’s World Cup in 2007 and set the best defensive record for any side appearing at the tournament. They women played six games and covered 540 minutes without conceding a single goal.
Nadine Angerer holds a record of 517 minutes without conceding a goal as the German goalkeeper.
Highest attendance
The best attendance figures for the Women’s World Cup came during the 1999 tournament which was hosted in the United States. A combined total of 3,687,069 fans saw matches during the tournament with 90,185 at the final between the USA and China, the current world record for a women’s match.
Most appearances by team
Only eight teams have appeared in every single Women’s World Cup to date; the USA, Germany, Brazil, Norway, Japan, China, Nigeria and Sweden.
The United States and Germany hold the joint record for the most appearances in a final with three each, Norway have appeared in the final twice.
Most appearances by player
Kristine Lilly of America has played 30 matches at the Women’s World Cup which is the record for most games. Birgit Prinz of Germany has appeared in 25 matches at the tournament and Julie Foudy of the United States has appeared in 24 matches. Three players have 23 appearances each.
Longest winning streak
Despite the dominance of the USA and Germany at the tournament, Norway hold the record for the longest win streak with ten games. They defeated Nigeria 8-0 on June 6, 1995 and remained unbeaten at the tournament until June 30, 1999 when they were beaten 3-1 by Sweden in the last eight of the tournament.
Scoring in most consecutive matches
Norway also hold the record for the most number of consecutive matches where a side has scored, which is 15. They scored in every match they played between November 19, 1991 when they started the run with a 4-0 victory against New Zealand and June 30, 1999 with the defeat against Sweden.
All-time top scorers
Birgit Prinz of Germany and Marta of Brazil hold the joint record of 14 goals, which is more goals scored than any other player.
Abby Wambach has scored 13 goals and Michelle Akers has scored 12 goals, both women represented the United States at the tournament.
Most goals in a tournament
Michelle Akers of the United States has scored more goals than anyone in a single tournament with ten goals in 1991. She is way ahead of Ann-Kristin Aarones of Norway who is second on the list with six goals all scored at the 1995 tournament hosted in Sweden.
Quickest goal
The fastest ever goal at the Women’s World Cup was scored by Lena Videkull of Sweden. She scored after 30 seconds in the 8-0 win over Japan in November 1991.
The second fastest goal was scored after 37 seconds by Canada’s Melissa Tancredi in the 2-2 draw against Australia in 2007.
Add Sportslens to your Google News Feed!
