2007 FIFA Women's World Cup

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup
2007年女子世界杯足球赛
2007 Nián nǚzǐ shìjièbēi zúqiú sài
Tournament details
Host countryChina
Dates10–30 September
Teams16 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions Germany (2nd title)
Runners-up Brazil
Third place United States
Fourth place Norway
Tournament statistics
Matches played32
Goals scored111 (3.47 per match)
Attendance1,190,971 (37,218 per match)
Top scorer(s)Brazil Marta (7 goals)
Best player(s)Brazil Marta
Best goalkeeperGermany Nadine Angerer
Fair play award Norway
← 2003
2011 →

The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007.[1] Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but the outbreak of SARS in that country forced that event to be moved to the United States. FIFA immediately granted the 2007 event to China, which meant that no new host nation was chosen competitively until the voting was held for the 2011 Women's World Cup.[2]

The tournament opened with a record-breaking match in Shanghai, as Germany beat Argentina 11–0 to register the biggest win and the highest scoring match in Women's World Cup history, records which stood until 2019. The tournament ended with Germany defeating Brazil 2–0 in the final, having never conceded a goal in the entire tournament. The Germans became the first national team in FIFA Women's World Cup history to retain their title.

The golden goal rule for extra time in knockout matches was eliminated by FIFA, although no matches went to extra time (and therefore, none required a penalty shoot-out).

Teams

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

The qualified teams, listed by region, with numbers in parentheses indicating final positions in the FIFA Women's World Ranking before the tournament were:[3]

Africa (CAF)
Asia (AFC)
North America, Central America & Caribbean (CONCACAF)
Europe (UEFA)
Oceania (OFC)
South America (CONMEBOL)

Venues

[edit]

The venues selected to host the competition were:[4]

Tianjin
2007 FIFA Women's World Cup (China)
Tianjin Olympic Centre Stadium
Capacity: 60,000
Wuhan
Wuhan Stadium
Capacity: 60,000
Hangzhou Chengdu Shanghai
Yellow Dragon Sports Center Chengdu Sports Centre Hongkou Stadium
Capacity: 51,000 Capacity: 40,000 Capacity: 33,000

Squads

[edit]
For a list of all players that participated in the final tournament, see 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup squads.

Match officials

[edit]

FIFA's Refereeing Department selected 14 referees and 22 assistant referees from around the world to officiate the 32 games that made up the final tournament.[5] Candidate referees for the tournament were placed under scrutiny from 2005 onwards and attended a series of training camps. Candidates refereeing standards were regularly monitored at various tournaments around the globe before a final list was prepared.[6] This was followed by a training camp in the Canary Islands in January 2007 and a final period of preparation and training at the home of FIFA in Zürich in May.[7][8] No referees were chosen from the Oceania Football Confederation at the finals. The original selection group was made up of 42 entrants,[9] 6 of which failed fitness tests resulting in the final group of 36 being confirmed for China.[10] The United States was the only country represented by two referees.[8]

Unlike the men's tournaments, the quartets of match officials do not necessarily come from the same country or confederation. This selection system was explained by Sonia Denoncourt, the head of women's refereeing at FIFA's Refereeing Department, "We don't have as many referees among the women and we certainly don't want to sacrifice quality. What we are looking for above all is compatibility on the field of play and the closest possible language links in the team selected for each game. The most important thing for us is that the referees have a good performance in the match."[6] A fourth official was chosen from those referees not officiating a game at that time.

The referees stayed together throughout the competition at their hotel base in Shanghai.[6] From there they travelled to the various venues for their designated games, before returning to base camp to continue with their specialised training programmes.[6] As well as fitness training, they attended regular theory sessions and reviewed previous matches to try to identify possible errors and improve their performance levels. A psychologist was also assigned to the group to help with their mental preparations ahead of games.

Draw

[edit]

The group draw took place on 22 April 2007 at the Guanggu Science and Technology Exhibition Centre in Wuhan after the completion of the qualifying rounds.[11]

FIFA automatically seeded the host and defending champions, slotting China and Germany into Group D and Group A, respectively.[12] The FIFA Women's World Ranking for March 2007 was used to determine the teams to occupy the other seeded positions, B1 and C1.[13] United States were ranked first, Germany second and Norway third,[14] so the United States and Norway were also seeded.

Also, no two teams from the same confederation could draw each other, except for those from UEFA, where a maximum of two teams from UEFA could be drawn into the same group. Group B quickly became dubbed the group of death[15] since three of the top five teams in the world were drawn in this group – the USA (1st), Sweden (3rd) and North Korea (5th), according to the June 2007 FIFA Women's World Rankings, the last to be released before the tournament. The same four teams were drawn together in Group A in the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup,[15] on that occasion the US and Sweden progressed to the knockout stages.

Pot 1 Pot 2 Pot 3 Pot 4 Pot X
 China (D1)
 Germany (A1)
 Norway
 United States 		 Australia
 Japan
 North Korea 		 Denmark
 England
 Sweden 		 Argentina
 Ghana
 New Zealand
 Nigeria 		 Brazil
 Canada

Group stage

[edit]
Participating countries and their results

All times are local (UTC+8).

Group A

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Group A
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Germany 3 2 1 0 13 0 +13 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  England 3 1 2 0 8 3 +5 5
3  Japan 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
4  Argentina 3 0 0 3 1 18 −17 0
Source: FIFA
Germany 11–0 Argentina
 Report
Attendance: 28,098[17]
Japan 2–2 England
 Report
Attendance: 27,146[17]
Argentina 0–1 Japan
Report
Attendance: 27,730[17]
England 0–0 Germany
Report
Attendance: 27,730[17]
Germany 2–0 Japan
 Report
Attendance: 39,817[17]
England 6–1 Argentina
 Report
Attendance: 30,730[17]

Group B

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Group B
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  United States 3 2 1 0 5 2 +3 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  North Korea 3 1 1 1 5 4 +1 4
3  Sweden 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
4  Nigeria 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
Source: FIFA

The four teams were also paired in the same group in 2003.

United States 2–2 North Korea
 Report
Attendance: 35,100[17]
Nigeria 1–1 Sweden
 Report
Attendance: 35,100[17]
Referee: Niu Huijun (China PR)
Sweden 0–2 United States
Report
Attendance: 35,600[17]
North Korea 2–0 Nigeria
 Report
Attendance: 35,600[17]
Nigeria 0–1 United States
Report
Attendance: 6,100[17]
Referee: Mayumi Oiwa (Japan)
North Korea 1–2 Sweden
 Report
Attendance: 33,196[17]

Group C

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Group C
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Norway 3 2 1 0 10 4 +6 7 Advance to knockout stage
2  Australia 3 1 2 0 7 4 +3 5
3  Canada 3 1 1 1 7 4 +3 4
4  Ghana 3 0 0 3 3 15 −12 0
Source: FIFA
Ghana 1–4 Australia
 Report
Attendance: 30,752[17]
Norway 2–1 Canada
 Report
Attendance: 30,752[17]
Canada 4–0 Ghana
 Report
Attendance: 33,835[17]
Australia 1–1 Norway
 Report
Attendance: 33,835[17]
Referee: Niu Huijun (China PR)
Norway 7–2 Ghana
 Report
Attendance: 43,817[17]
Australia 2–2 Canada
 Report
Attendance: 29,300[17]

Group D

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup Group D
Pos Team
 Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1  Brazil 3 3 0 0 10 0 +10 9 Advance to knockout stage
2  China (H) 3 2 0 1 5 6 −1 6
3  Denmark 3 1 0 2 4 4 0 3
4  New Zealand 3 0 0 3 0 9 −9 0
Source: FIFA
(H) Hosts
New Zealand 0–5 Brazil
Report
Attendance: 50,800[17]
China 3–2 Denmark
 Report
Attendance: 50,800[17]
Denmark 2–0 New Zealand
 Report
Attendance: 54,000[17]
Referee: Mayumi Oiwa (Japan)
Brazil 4–0 China
 Report
Attendance: 54,000[17]
China 2–0 New Zealand
 Report
Attendance: 55,832[17]
Brazil 1–0 Denmark
 Report
Attendance: 43,817[17]

Knockout stage

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup knockout stage

Bracket

[edit]
 
Quarter-finalsSemi-finalsFinal
 
          
 
22 September – Wuhan
 
 
 Germany3
 
26 September – Tianjin
 
 North Korea0
 
 Germany3
 
23 September – Wuhan
 
 Norway0
 
 Norway1
 
30 September – Shanghai
 
 China0
 
 Germany2
 
22 September – Tianjin
 
 Brazil0
 
 United States3
 
27 September – Hangzhou
 
 England0
 
 United States0
 
23 September – Tianjin
 
 Brazil4 Third place play-off
 
 Brazil3
 
30 September – Shanghai
 
 Australia2
 
 Norway1
 
 
 United States4
 

Quarter-finals

[edit]
Germany 3–0 North Korea
 Report
Attendance: 37,200[17]
United States 3–0 England
 Report
Attendance: 29,586[17]
Norway 1–0 China
 Report
Attendance: 52,000[17]
Brazil 3–2 Australia
 Report
Attendance: 35,061[17]

Semi-finals

[edit]
Germany 3–0 Norway
 Report
Attendance: 53,819[17]
United States 0–4 Brazil
Report
Attendance: 47,818[17]

Third place play-off

[edit]
Norway 1–4 United States
 Report
Attendance: 31,000[17]

Final

[edit]
Main article: 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup final
Germany 2–0 Brazil
 Report
Attendance: 31,000[17]

Awards

[edit]
See also: FIFA Women's World Cup awards

The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.[22][23][24] FIFA.com shortlisted ten goals for users to vote on as the Goal of the Tournament.[25] The Most Entertaining Team award was also decided by a poll on FIFA.com.[26][27][28]

Golden Ball Silver Ball Bronze Ball
Brazil Marta Germany Birgit Prinz Brazil Cristiane
Golden Shoe Silver Shoe Bronze Shoe
Brazil Marta United States Abby Wambach Norway Ragnhild Gulbrandsen
7 goals, 5 assists 6 goals, 1 assist 6 goals, 0 assists
Best Goalkeeper
Germany Nadine Angerer
Goal of the Tournament
Brazil Marta
79' for 4–0 in Semi-finals vs United States (27 September)
FIFA Fair Play Award
 Norway
Most Entertaining Team
 Brazil

All-Star Team

[edit]
Goalkeepers Defenders Midfielders Forwards

Germany Nadine Angerer
Norway Bente Nordby

Germany Ariane Hingst
China Li Jie
Norway Ane Stangeland Horpestad
Germany Kerstin Stegemann

Brazil Daniela
Brazil Formiga
England Kelly Smith
Germany Renate Lingor
Norway Ingvild Stensland
United States Kristine Lilly

Australia Lisa De Vanna
Brazil Marta
Brazil Cristiane
Germany Birgit Prinz

Statistics

[edit]

Goalscorers

[edit]

There were 111 goals scored in 32 matches, for an average of 3.47 goals per match. Marta of Brazil won the Golden Shoe award for scoring seven goals.

7 goals

6 goals

5 goals

4 goals

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

1 own goal

Assists

[edit]

3 assists

2 assists

1 assist

Source: FIFA Technical Report

Tournament ranking

[edit]

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Pos Grp Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Final result
1 A  Germany 6 5 1 0 21 0 +21 16 Champions
2 D  Brazil 6 5 0 1 17 4 +13 15 Runners-up
3 B  United States 6 4 1 1 12 7 +5 13 Third place
4 C  Norway 6 3 1 2 12 11 +1 10 Fourth place
5 D  China (H) 4 2 0 2 5 7 −2 6 Eliminated in
quarter-finals
6 C  Australia 4 1 2 1 9 7 +2 5
7 A  England 4 1 2 1 8 6 +2 5
8 B  North Korea 4 1 1 2 5 7 −2 4
9 C  Canada 3 1 1 1 7 4 +3 4 Eliminated in
group stage
10 A  Japan 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
10 B  Sweden 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
12 D  Denmark 3 1 0 2 4 4 0 3
13 B  Nigeria 3 0 1 2 1 4 −3 1
14 D  New Zealand 3 0 0 3 0 9 −9 0
15 C  Ghana 3 0 0 3 3 15 −12 0
16 A  Argentina 3 0 0 3 1 18 −17 0
Source: FIFA Technical Report[29]
(H) Hosts

Marketing

[edit]

Sponsorships

[edit]

Source:[30]

FIFA partners National Supporters

Coverage

[edit]

Numerous TV stations around the world provided coverage of the tournament. One notable example is the Chinese-language channel CCTV-5, which also broadcast over the internet via TVUnetworks.

Monetary rewards

[edit]

For the first time in FIFA Women's World Cup history, all teams received monetary bonuses according to the round they reached (all in USD):[31]

  • Champions: $1,000,000
  • Runners-up: $800,000
  • Third place: $650,000
  • Fourth place: $550,000
  • Quarter-finalists: $300,000
  • First round exit: $200,000

Other rewards

[edit]

UEFA used the FIFA Women's World Cup as its qualifying tournament for the 2008 Olympic women's tournament. The best three performing UEFA teams would qualify for the Olympics. Originally it was thought that, should England make the top three European teams, they would compete under the United Kingdom banner. However, on 6 September 2007, FIFA issued a press release indicating that England were ineligible to participate in the 2008 Olympics as England does not have its own Olympic Committee.[32] For the determination of the ranking only first through fourth place, quarterfinal elimination or group phase elimination counted. If there was a need to make a distinction between teams eliminated in the quarterfinal or between teams eliminated in the group phase these teams would meet in a play-off match. In no case would the points or goal difference count for teams eliminated before the semi-final.

Germany and Norway qualified for the Olympics at the World Cup, whereas Denmark and Sweden had to enter a play-off for the third Olympics spot. Sweden won both legs of the playoffs with a total of 7–3 on aggregate to qualify for the Olympics.

Controversies

[edit]

Kenneth Heiner-Møller and Danish players accused the Chinese hosts of harassment and covert surveillance prior to China's first round match against Denmark. China's Swedish coach Marika Domanski-Lyfors and her assistant Pia Sundhage were unaware of the incidents and Heiner-Møller absolved them of any blame, although he refused to shake hands after the match.[33]

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b The two matches that were originally scheduled on 18 September[18] were moved to a day earlier due to commemorations for the Mukden Incident.[19]
  2. ^ a b c The Norway v Ghana match, originally scheduled on 19 September at Hongkou Football Stadium, Shanghai, was postponed by FIFA to the following day and moved to Yellow Dragon Stadium, Hangzhou, due to Typhoon Wipha.[20] FIFA also delayed the Australia v Canada match, originally scheduled on 19 September to the following day. This was to allow for simultaneous kick-off times on the final matchday of the group, after it was confirmed that weather conditions would not affect the rescheduling.[21]
  3. ^ a b The Brazil v Denmark match, originally scheduled on 19 September was postponed to the following day due to Typhoon Wipha.[20] FIFA also delayed the China PR v New Zealand match, originally scheduled on 19 September. This was to allow for simultaneous kick-off times on the final matchday of the group, after it was confirmed that weather conditions would not affect the rescheduling.[21]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Emblem for World Cup 2007 Launched, from china.org.cn, retrieved 7 July 2006
  2. ^ Greene, Nick (12 September 2021). "When the Women's World Cup Swapped Host Countries Because of SARS". Mental Floss. Retrieved 16 September 2024.
  3. ^ "FIFA Women's Ranking - 15 June 2007". FIFA. Retrieved 18 June 2023.
  4. ^ Soccer: China Set up LOC for Women's World Cup Archived 21 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine, from Xinhua News Agency, retrieved 25 September 2006
  5. ^ "Referees". FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007. FIFA. 2007. Archived from the original on 27 August 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  6. ^ a b c d "Women referees at the ready". FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007. FIFA. 7 September 2007. Archived from the original on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
  7. ^ Sheila Norman-Culp (9 May 2007). "Women refs put through their paces ahead of 2008 World Cup". Soccer. USA Today. Retrieved 30 September 2007.
  8. ^ a b "Bennett and Seitz Named to Represent U.S. Soccer as Referees at 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup". Referees. US Soccer. 28 July 2007. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  9. ^ "Women's World Cup Referees List". Soccer. CBS Sports. 21 June 2007. Archived from the original on 4 January 2013. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  10. ^ "Chinese referees for Falcons' opener Women World Cup". The Tide Online. 10 September 2007. Archived from the original on 17 July 2011. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  11. ^ "Wuhan promises Final Draw drama". FIFA.com. 17 January 2003. Archived from the original on 2 July 2015.
  12. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 on target". 2 February 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2007.
  13. ^ FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 on target. Retrieved on 16 September 2007.
  14. ^ FIFA Women's World Ranking March 2007 Retrieved on 16 September 2007.
  15. ^ a b Hays, Graham (23 April 2007). "U.S. women face Group of Death scenario again". ESPNsoccernet. Archived from the original on 25 May 2011. Retrieved 17 December 2009.
  16. ^ "Regulations FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2019. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
  17. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac ad ae af "FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 – Report and Statistics" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2007. pp. 67–73. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  18. ^ "Match Schedule FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2007. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 July 2013. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  19. ^ "Match schedule amended". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 1 August 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  20. ^ a b "Match schedule amended due to Typhoon Wipha". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 18 September 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  21. ^ a b "Australia–Canada and China–New Zealand moved to 20 Sept". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 19 September 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
  22. ^ Awards 2007
  23. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 – Technical Report: Official FIFA Awards" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. pp. 74–75. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 16 July 2019.
  24. ^ "Germany set the record straight". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 2 October 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  25. ^ "Goal of the Tournament". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 18 October 2011. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  26. ^ "Most entertaining team". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  27. ^ "Marta sweeps the board". FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. 30 September 2007. Archived from the original on 8 June 2019. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  28. ^ "Official FIFA Awards: Marta wins Golden Ball and Golden Shoe" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 July 2015. Retrieved 17 July 2019.
  29. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup 2007 – Technical Report: Rankings" (PDF). FIFA.com. Fédération Internationale de Football Association. p. 65 (66 of PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 April 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  30. ^ "FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007". FIFA.com. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2024.
  31. ^ FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007 on target. Retrieved on 18 October 2006.
  32. ^ "Three European teams will book their spot to Beijing 2008". FIFA Women's World Cup China 2007. FIFA. 6 September 2007. Archived from the original on 1 October 2007. Retrieved 3 October 2007.
  33. ^ Grant Wahl (1 August 2008). "Danish coach accuses Chinese of spying at 2007 Women's World Cup". Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 5 August 2008. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
[edit]