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	{{country data United States \| flaglink/core \| variant = \| size = \| name = \| altlink = women's national football team \| altvar = football \| mw = women's }} (3rd title)
Runner-up	{{country data Japan \| flaglink/core \| variant = \| size = \| name = \| altlink = women's national football team \| altvar = football \| mw = women's }}
Third place	{{country data England \| country flaglink \| variant = \| size = \| name = \| altlink = national football team \| altvar = football }}
Fourth place	{{country data Germany \| flaglink/core \| variant = \| size = \| name = \| altlink = women's national football team \| altvar = football \| mw = women's }}
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	Carli Lloyd
Best young player	Kadeisha Buchanan
Best goalkeeper	Hope Solo
Fair play award	France
	← 2011 2019 →

	Cup stub This article about 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup is a stub, an article too short to provide more than rudimentary information about a subject. You can help The Football Wiki by expanding it.

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 with a United States victory over Japan.

The 2015 tournament saw the World Cup expanded to 24 teams from 16 in 2011.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. 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.

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.

Host selection[]

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:

Country
Canada
Zimbabwe (withdrawn)

Zimbabwe withdrew its bid on 1 March 2011. 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.

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.

Qualification[]

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

For 2015, the number of qualifying teams grew from 16 to 24 and scheduled matches increased from 32 to 52. 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:

...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.

Qualified teams[]

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

AFC (5)

Australia (10)
China (16)
Japan (4)
South Korea (18)
Thailand (29)

CAF (3)

Cameroon (53)
Ivory Coast (67)
Nigeria (33)

CONCACAF (4)

Canada (8) (hosts)
Costa Rica (37)
Mexico (25)
United States (2)

CONMEBOL (3)

Brazil (7)
Colombia (28)
Ecuador (48)

OFC (1)

New Zealand (17)

UEFA (8)

England (6)
France (3)
Germany (1)
Netherlands (12)
Norway (11)
Spain (14)
Sweden (5)
Switzerland (19)

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.

Venues[]

The cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton were selected to host tournament matches. Halifax was also considered, but removed itself from contention in March 2012. Toronto decided not to bid, due to potential conflicts with the 2015 Pan American Games. 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 and Lansdowne Stadium 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)
Capacity: 56,302	Capacity: 56,040	Capacity: 54,320	Capacity: 33,422
File:Commonwealth.jpg	File:Olympic Stadium Soccer.JPG		File:Investors Group CANnwt vs USnwt.png
Ottawa	Moncton
TD Place Stadium (Lansdowne Stadium)	Moncton Stadium
Capacity: 24,000	Capacity: 13,000
File:TDPlace.jpg	File:New moncton stadium.JPG

Innovations[]

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. 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. 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.

Squads[]

Main article: 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup squads

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.

The squads were officially announced by FIFA on 28 May 2015. 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.

Match officials[]

A total of 29 referees/support referees and 44 assistant referees were selected for the tournament.

Referees
Confederation	Referee
AFC	Rita Gani (Malaysia)
	Qin Liang (China PR)
	Ri Hyang-ok (North Korea)
	Sachiko Yamagishi (Japan)
CAF	Gladys Lengwe (Zambia)
CAF	Thérèse Neguel (Cameroon)
CONCACAF	Quetzalli Alvarado (Mexico)
	Melissa Borjas (Honduras)
	Carol Anne Chenard (Canada)
	Margaret Domka (United States)
	Lucila Venegas (Mexico)
CONMEBOL	Salomé di Iorio (Argentina)
	Yeimy Martínez (Colombia)
	Claudia Umpiérrez (Uruguay)
OFC	Anna-Marie Keighley (New Zealand)
UEFA	Teodora Albon (Romania)
	Stéphanie Frappart (France)
	Katalin Kulcsár (Hungary)
	Pernilla Larsson (Sweden)
	Efthalia Mitsi (Greece)
	Kateryna Monzul (Ukraine)
	Esther Staubli (Switzerland)
	Bibiana Steinhaus (Germany)
	Carina Vitulano (Italy)

Fourth officials
Confederation	Referee
AFC	Abirami Naidu (Singapore)
CAF	Lidya Tafesse (Ethiopia)
CONCACAF	Michelle Pye (Canada)
CONMEBOL	Olga Miranda (Paraguay)
OFC	Tupou Patia (Cook Islands)

Assistant referees
Confederation	Assistant referee
AFC	Cui Yongmei (China PR)
	Fang Yan (China PR)
	Allyson Flynn (Australia)
	Sarah Ho (Australia)
	Hong Kum-nyo (North Korea)
	Kim Kyoung-min (South Korea)
	Widiya Habibah Shamsuri (Malaysia)
	Naomi Teshirogi (Japan)
CAF	Ayawa Dzodope (Togo)
	Bernadettar Kwimbira (Malawi)
	Souad Oulhaj (Morocco)
	Lidwine Rakotozafinoro (Madagascar)
CONCACAF	Elizabeth Aguilar (El Salvador)
	Princess Brown (Jamaica)
	Enedina Caudillo (Mexico)
	Marie-Josée Charbonneau (Canada)
	Mayte Chávez (Mexico)
	Kimberly Moreira (Costa Rica)
	Suzanne Morisset (Canada)
	Shirley Perelló (Honduras)
CONMEBOL	Janette Arcanjo (Brazil)
	Liliana Bejarano (Bolivia)
	Mariana de Almeida (Argentina)
	Luciana Mascaraña (Uruguay)
	María Rocco (Argentina)
	Loreto Toloza (Chile)
OFC	Lata Kaumatule (Tonga)
OFC	Sarah Walker (New Zealand)
UEFA	Natalie Aspinall (England)
	Ella De Vries (Belgium)
	Petruța Iugulescu (Romania)
	Chrysoula Kourompylia (Greece)
	Angela Kyriakou (Cyprus)
	Manuela Nicolosi (France)
	Anna Nyström (Sweden)
	Michelle O'Neill (Republic of Ireland)
	Tonja Paavola (Finland)
	Yolanda Parga Rodríguez (Spain)
	Nataliya Rachynska (Ukraine)
	Katrin Rafalski (Germany)
	Lucie Ratajová (Czech Republic)
	Sanja Rođak-Karšić (Croatia)
	Mária Súkeníková (Slovakia)
	Marina Wozniak (Germany)

Draw[]

The draw was held on 6 December 2014 at 12:00 Eastern Standard Time at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. 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. Despite having a lower FIFA ranking than Sweden and England, Brazil was seeded ahead of both for "geographical reasons". 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. Not drawing the groups for the seeded teams has drawn some criticism. A FIFA spokesperson later confirmed that teams were allocated to certain groups for promotional reasons.

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).

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 (title holders) United States	Cameroon Ivory Coast Nigeria Costa Rica Mexico New Zealand	Australia China South Korea Thailand Colombia Ecuador	England Netherlands Norway Spain Sweden Switzerland

Group stage[]

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, 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.

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.

Tie-breaking criteria for group play
The ranking of teams in the group stage was determined as follows: 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.