The United States women’s national soccer team will face off against Japan in the championship of the Women’s World Cup tomorrow. Go USA! Take a moment to check out some fun facts about the Women’s World Cup.
* The FIFA Women’s World Cup is a pretty new event. It was first held in 1991, which is 61 years after the men’s first FIFA World Cup was held in 1930.
* The Women’s World Cup has been held 7 times counting the current tournament: two times in China, two times in the United States and once in Sweden, Germany, and Canada where the current tournament is taking place.
* Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden and the United States are the seven teams that have appeared in all seven World Cups.
* This year, teams from Cameroon, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Ecuador, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland and Thailand all played in the Women’s World Cup for the very first time.
* 24 teams are playing in this Women’s World Cup, the largest number of teams ever. When it first started, there were only 12 teams. That number increased to 16 teams for the third edition of the competition at USA 1999 and jumped up again this year.
* United States captain Kristine Lilly appeared in a large number of World Cups. In 2007, Lilly competed in her fifth and final tournament, making her the first woman, and one of just three players in history, to appear in five World Cups.
* Germany and the United States have each won the Women’s World Cup twice. 12 German players to have won the Women’s World Cup twice, while seven Americans have also achieved the same feat. Birgit Prinz of Germany is the only player to have taken part in three Finals, appearing both times Germany won and also in Germany’s loss to Norway in 1995.
* The 2015 Women’s World Cup will be the first to be played on artificial turf.
* U.S. star Alex Morgan had a breakout performance in the 2011 Women’s World Cup. Morgan came off the bench in five of six matches and scored in both the semifinal and final matches. You can learn more about Alex here.
Sources: FIFA Makers.com,
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