2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

Coupe du monde féminine de la FIFA 2015
Tournament details
Host country	Canada
Dates	6 June – 5 July
Teams	24 (from 6 confederations)
Venue(s)	6 (in 6 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	United States (3rd title)
Runners-up	Japan
Third place	England
Fourth place	Germany
Tournament statistics
Matches played	52
Goals scored	146 (2.81 per match)
Attendance	1,353,506 (26,029 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Célia Šašić Carli Lloyd (6 goals each)
Best player(s)	Carli Lloyd
Best young player	Kadeisha Buchanan
Best goalkeeper	Hope Solo
Fair play award	France
← 2011 2019 →

The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the first time and by a North American country for the third time. Matches were played in six cities across Canada in five time zones. The tournament began on 6 June 2015, and finished with the final on 5 July 2015^[1] with a United States victory over Japan.

The 2015 tournament saw the World Cup expanded to 24 teams from 16 in 2011.^[2] Canada's team received direct entry as host and a qualification tournament of 134 teams was held for the remaining 23 places. With the expanded tournament, eight teams made their Women's World Cup debut.^[2] All previous Women's World Cup finalists qualified for the tournament, with defending champions Japan and returning champions Germany (2003, 2007) and the United States (1991, 1999) among the seeded teams.^[3]

The 2015 tournament used goal-line technology for the first time with the Hawk-Eye system. It was also the first World Cup for either men or women to be played on artificial turf, with all matches played on such surfaces, even though there were some initial concerns over a possible increased risk of injuries.

The bidding for each FIFA Women's World Cup typically includes hosting rights for the previous year's FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup (similar to the men's version, in which the host nation stages the Confederations Cup the year before). Bids for the tournament were required to be submitted by December 2010. Only two bids were submitted:^[4]

Country
Canada[5]
Zimbabwe (withdrawn)

Zimbabwe withdrew its bid on 1 March 2011.^[6] The country was seen as a long shot as its women's team was ranked 103rd in the world at the time of the bid and has never qualified for a Women's World Cup. There was also ongoing political and economic instability in the country.^[7]

The selected host, Canada, had previously hosted FIFA tournaments including the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship, 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship, the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, which set an attendance record for that tournament, and most recently the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup.

For 2015, the number of qualifying teams grew from 16 to 24 and scheduled matches increased from 32 to 52.^[8] On 11 June 2012, FIFA announced a change to the allocation of the qualifying berths for its continental confederations. The FIFA Executive Committee approved the following slot allocation and the distribution of eight new slots:^[9]

...allocation of slots for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup

Confederation/hosts	Continent/country	Slots	Change from 2011
AFC	Asia	5	+2
CAF	Africa	3	+1
CONCACAF	North, Central America and Caribbean	3.5	+1
CONMEBOL	South America	2.5	+0.5
OFC	Oceania	1	±0
UEFA	Europe	8	+3.5
Hosts	Canada	1	–
Total		24	+8

After North Korea had several players test positive for performance-enhancing drugs during the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup, FIFA banned the North Korean team from participating in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada. This was the first time a team had been banned from a Women's World Cup, and it was the first time since 1995 that North Korea did not participate in a Women's World Cup.^[10]

The latest published FIFA Rankings prior to the tournament (March 2015) are shown in parentheses.^[11]

A then-record eight nations made their Women's World Cup debut, as listed above: Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand. As of 2023, this is the last time Ecuador, Ivory Coast, and Mexico have qualified.

The cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton were selected to host tournament matches.^[12] Halifax was also considered, but removed itself from contention in March 2012.^[13] Toronto decided not to bid, due to potential conflicts with the 2015 Pan American Games.^[14] Due to FIFA's policy against commercial sponsorship of stadium names, Investors Group Field in Winnipeg and TD Place Stadium in Ottawa were respectively known as Winnipeg Stadium^[15] and Lansdowne Stadium^[16] during the tournament. Seating capacities shown in table below are as configured for these FIFA games.

Edmonton	Montreal	Vancouver	Winnipeg
Commonwealth Stadium	Olympic Stadium	BC Place	Investors Group Field (Winnipeg Stadium)
53°33′35″N 113°28′34″W / 53.55972°N 113.47611°W / 53.55972; -113.47611 (Commonwealth Stadium)	45°33′28″N 73°33′7″W / 45.55778°N 73.55194°W / 45.55778; -73.55194 (Olympic Stadium)	49°16′36″N 123°6′43″W / 49.27667°N 123.11194°W / 49.27667; -123.11194 (BC Place)	49°48′28″N 97°8′45″W / 49.80778°N 97.14583°W / 49.80778; -97.14583 (Investors Group Field)
Capacity: 56,302	Capacity: 56,040	Capacity: 54,320	Capacity: 33,422
Surface: FieldTurf Duraspine	Surface: Xtreme Turf	Surface: Polytan LigaTurf	Surface: FieldTurf Revolution
Time zone: MDT (UTC−6)	Time zone: EDT (UTC−4)	Time zone: PDT (UTC−7)	Time zone: CDT (UTC−5)
Edmonton Moncton Montreal Ottawa Vancouver Winnipeg		Ottawa	Moncton
		TD Place Stadium (Lansdowne Stadium)	Moncton Stadium
		45°23′53.44″N 75°41′1.14″W / 45.3981778°N 75.6836500°W / 45.3981778; -75.6836500 (Frank Clair Stadium)	46°6′30″N 64°47′0″W / 46.10833°N 64.78333°W / 46.10833; -64.78333 (Moncton Stadium)
		Capacity: 24,000	Capacity: 13,000
		Surface: FieldTurf	Surface: FieldTurf
		Time zone: EDT (UTC−4)	Time zone: ADT (UTC−3)

The tournament introduced goal-line technology with the Hawk-Eye system by which it is possible to show on the stadium screen if the ball was in or not.^[17][18] It was also the first World Cup for either men or women to be played on artificial turf,^{[clarification needed]} with all matches played on such surfaces. There were some initial concerns (please see below) over a possible increased risk of injuries from playing on artificial turf, but a legal challenge suggesting matches should be played on grass as in similar men's tournaments was dropped in January 2015.^[19]

Each team's squad for the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup consisted of 23 players (three of whom must be goalkeepers), two more than the 2011 tournament, and the same number as men's World Cup squads. Each participating national association was required to confirm its final 23-player squad no later than 10 working days before the start of the tournament. Replacement of seriously injured players was permitted until 24 hours before the team in question's first World Cup game.^[20]

The squads were officially announced by FIFA on 28 May 2015.^[21][22] Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan were included in World Cup squads for the sixth time, a record for any men or women players.^[23]

A total of 29 referees/support referees and 44 assistant referees were selected for the tournament.^[24][25]

The draw was held on 6 December 2014 at 12:00 Eastern Standard Time at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.^[26] The seeding pots were announced the day before. Because UEFA qualified eight teams into the final tournament, which had only six groups, two groups by necessity had to contain two European teams. Otherwise, no group could have more than one team from any confederation.^[27] Despite having a lower FIFA ranking than Sweden and England, Brazil was seeded ahead of both for "geographical reasons".^[28][29][30] Before the draw, the Organizing Committee placed the seeded teams in the following groups: Germany in Group B, Japan in Group C, United States in Group D, Brazil in Group E, and France in Group F; Canada were already in Group A as the tournament host.^[31] Not drawing the groups for the seeded teams has drawn some criticism.^[32][33][34] A FIFA spokesperson later confirmed that teams were allocated to certain groups for promotional reasons.^[35]

The group of death for this FIFA World Cup was Group D with three top 10-ranked teams, USA (2), Sweden (5) and Australia (10).^[36]

The four draw pots of the tournament
Pot 1 (Seeds)	Pot 2 (CAF, CONCACAF, OFC)	Pot 3 (AFC, CONMEBOL)	Pot 4 (UEFA)
Canada (hosts)  Brazil  France  Germany  Japan  United States	Cameroon  Ivory Coast  Nigeria  Costa Rica  Mexico  New Zealand	Australia  China  South Korea  Thailand  Colombia  Ecuador	England  Netherlands  Norway  Spain  Sweden  Switzerland

The 24 teams of the tournament were arranged into 6 groups labelled A to F. The provisional match schedule for the tournament was released on 21 March 2013,^[37] with the hosts, Canada, placed in position A1. The final schedule with match times was released on the same day right after the draw was made.^[38]

The first round, or group stage, saw the twenty four teams divided into six groups of four teams. Each group was played in a round-robin-format of six games, where each team played one match against each of the other teams in the same group. Teams were awarded three points for a win, one point for a draw and none for a defeat. The winners and runners-up from each group, as well as the best four third-placed teams, qualified for the first round of the knockout stage.^[20]

Tie-breaking criteria for group play

The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows:[20] Points obtained in all group matches (three points for a win, one for a draw, none for a defeat); Goal difference in all group matches; Number of goals scored in all group matches; Points obtained in the matches played between the teams in question; Goal difference in the matches played between the teams in question; Number of goals scored in the matches played between the teams in question; Drawing of lots.

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Canada (H)	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5	Advance to knockout stage
2	China	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
3	Netherlands	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
4	New Zealand	3	0	2	1	2	3	−1	2

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Germany	3	2	1	0	15	1	+14	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Norway	3	2	1	0	8	2	+6	7
3	Thailand	3	1	0	2	3	10	−7	3
4	Ivory Coast	3	0	0	3	3	16	−13	0

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Japan	3	3	0	0	4	1	+3	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	Cameroon	3	2	0	1	9	3	+6	6
3	Switzerland	3	1	0	2	11	4	+7	3
4	Ecuador	3	0	0	3	1	17	−16	0

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	United States	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Advance to knockout stage
2	Australia	3	1	1	1	4	4	0	4
3	Sweden	3	0	3	0	4	4	0	3
4	Nigeria	3	0	1	2	3	6	−3	1

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Brazil	3	3	0	0	4	0	+4	9	Advance to knockout stage
2	South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
3	Costa Rica	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2
4	Spain	3	0	1	2	2	4	−2	1

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Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	France	3	2	0	1	6	2	+4	6	Advance to knockout stage
2	England	3	2	0	1	4	3	+1	6
3	Colombia	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
4	Mexico	3	0	1	2	2	8	−6	1

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The four best third-placed teams from the six groups advanced to the knockout stage along with the six group winners and six runners-up.^[20]

Pos	Grp	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	F	Colombia	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4	Advance to knockout stage
2	A	Netherlands	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
3	C	Switzerland	3	1	0	2	11	4	+7	3
4	D	Sweden	3	0	3	0	4	4	0	3
5	B	Thailand	3	1	0	2	3	10	−7	3
6	E	Costa Rica	3	0	2	1	3	4	−1	2

The knockout stage comprised the 16 teams that advanced from the group stage of the tournament. There were four rounds of matches, with each round eliminating half of the teams entering that round. The successive rounds were the round of 16, quarter-finals, semi-finals, and the final. There was also a match to decide third and fourth place. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes was followed by 30 minutes of extra time; if scores were still level, there was a penalty shootout to determine who progressed to the next round.^[20] Single yellow cards accrued were cancelled after the quarter-finals, therefore ensuring that no players miss the Final because of receiving a caution in the semi-finals.^[75]

Three spots in the 2016 Summer Olympics women's football tournament were filled by the UEFA teams that progressed the furthest in the tournament, other than England.^{[76][77][n 1]} Two spots went to France and Germany which both reached the quarter-finals.^[81] The third spot was a tie between four teams eliminated in the round of 16: Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. A play-off tournament in March 2016 determined UEFA's third Olympic qualifier to be Sweden.^[82][83]

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Semi-finals

Final

20 June – Edmonton

China

1

26 June – Ottawa

Cameroon

0

China

0

22 June – Edmonton

United States

1

United States

2

30 June – Montreal

Colombia

0

United States

2

20 June – Ottawa

Germany

0

Germany

4

26 June – Montreal

Sweden

1

Germany (p)

1 (5)

21 June – Montreal

France

1 (4)

France

3

5 July – Vancouver

South Korea

0

United States

5

21 June – Moncton

Japan

2

Brazil

0

27 June – Edmonton

Australia

1

Australia

0

23 June – Vancouver

Japan

1

Japan

2

1 July – Edmonton

Netherlands

1

Japan

2

22 June – Ottawa

England

1

Third place play-off

Norway

1

27 June – Vancouver

4 July – Edmonton

England

2

England

2

Germany

0

21 June – Vancouver

Canada

1

England (a.e.t.)

1

Canada

1

Switzerland

0

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The following awards were given at the conclusion of the tournament.^[100] The Golden Ball (best overall player), Golden Boot (top scorer) and Golden Glove (best goalkeeper) awards were sponsored by Adidas, while the Best Young Player and Goal of the Tournament awards were sponsored by Hyundai Motor Company.^[101] FIFA.com shortlisted twelve goals for users to vote on as the tournaments' best,^[102] with the poll closing on 13 July 2015.^[103]

Golden Ball	Silver Ball	Bronze Ball
Carli Lloyd	Amandine Henry	Aya Miyama
Golden Boot	Silver Boot	Bronze Boot
Célia Šašić	Carli Lloyd	Anja Mittag
6 goals, 1 assist 553 minutes played	6 goals, 1 assist 630 minutes played	5 goals, 2 assists 474 minutes played
Golden Glove
Hope Solo
Best Young Player
Kadeisha Buchanan
Goal of the Tournament
Carli Lloyd
16' for 4–0 in Final vs Japan (5 July)
FIFA Fair Play Award
France

On 2 July 2015, following the semi-finals, FIFA announced the shortlists for three of the tournament awards.^[104][105] The following candidates were ultimately not selected:

• Golden Ball: Saori Ariyoshi (Japan), Lucy Bronze (England), Julie Johnston (United States), Megan Rapinoe (United States), Célia Šašić (Germany)
• Golden Glove: Nadine Angerer (Germany), Ayumi Kaihori (Japan)
• Best Young Player: Ada Hegerberg (Norway), Tang Jiali (China PR)

The All-Star Squad elected by FIFA's Technical Study Group consists of the following players:^[