1991 FIFA Women's World Cup



The 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup was the inaugural FIFA Women's World Cup, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It took place in Guangdong, China from 16 November to 30 November 1991. FIFA, football's international governing body selected China as host nation as Guangdong had hosted a prototype world championship three years earlier, the 1988 FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament. Matches were played in the state capital, Guangzhou, as well as in Foshan, Jiangmen and Zhongshan. The competition was sponsored by Mars, Incorporated. With FIFA still reluctant to bestow their "World Cup" brand, the tournament was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup.

It was won by the United States, whose captain April Heinrichs formed a forward line dubbed the "triple–edged sword" with Carin Jennings and Michelle Akers-Stahl. Jennings was named player of the tournament while Akers-Stahl's ten goals won the Golden Shoe. The United States beat Norway 2–1 in the final in front of a crowd of 65,000 people at Guangzhou's Tianhe Stadium. Total attendance was 510,000, an average per match of 19,615. In the opening match at the same stadium, Norway had been defeated 4–0 by hosts China. Chinese defender Ma Li scored the first goal in Women's World Cup history, while goalkeeper Zhong Honglian, also of China, posted the first official "clean sheet" in the tournament.

The 12 qualified teams were divided into three groups of four (A to C). The top two teams and the two best third-place finishers from the three groups advanced to the knockout round of eight teams.

Teams


Twelve teams qualified for the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup final tournament. Each of the six FIFA confederations had at least one representative.

Squads
For a list of the squads that disputed the final tournament, see 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup squads.

Match officials
For the first time in FIFA competition, six female officials were included. All functioned as assistant referees, except for Cláudia Vasconcelos who took charge of the third place play–off; becoming the first woman to referee a match sanctioned by FIFA.


 * Africa
 * Omer Yengo
 * 🇹🇳 Fethi Boucetta


 * Asia
 * 🇨🇳 Dai Yuguang
 * 🇨🇳 Haiseng Li
 * 🇨🇳 Jun Lu
 * 🇨🇳 Xuezhi Wang
 * 🇨🇳 Yu Jingyin
 * 🇨🇳 Zuo Xiudi
 * Raja Shrestha Gyanu


 * North, Central America and Caribbean
 * 🇸🇻 Rafael Rodriguez Medina
 * 🇲🇽 Maria Herrera Garcia


 * South America
 * 🇧🇷 Cláudia Vasconcelos
 * Salvador Imperatore
 * 🇨🇴 John Toro Rendón


 * Europe
 * 🇩🇪 Gertrud Regus
 * Vassilios Nikakis
 * Jim McCluskey
 * 🇸🇪 Ingrid Jonsson
 * Vadim Zhuk


 * Oceania
 * 🇳🇿 Linda May Black
 * }

Tournament review
FIFA's technical report demonstrates that, after the tournament, players and officials were undecided whether to persist with 80 minute matches, or to change to 90 minutes in line with men's football. Opinion was also divided about the suitability of using a size five football. Some teams reported difficulty in sourcing good quality equipment in the correct size.

The tournament was considered a major success in the quality of play and attendances at the games. FIFA president João Havelange wrote that:

"As president of FIFA it was a special pleasure for me to watch these young ladies playing with such flair and such elegance, and according to the reports of the many media representatives present, making the game truly into a celebration ... women's football is now well and truly established."

The perceived success of the tournament was a significant factor in the subsequent inclusion of women's football in the 1996 Summer Olympics. Sue Lopez reported that although attendances were very high, many tickets were complimentary. The "novelty factor" of women from foreign lands playing football also encouraged local people to attend.

Awards
The following awards were given for the tournament:

Goal scorers
Michelle Akers-Stahl of the United States won the Golden Shoe award for scoring ten goals. In total, 99 goals were scored from 45 different players with two of them credited as own goals.
 * 10 goals
 * 🇺🇸 Michelle Akers-Stahl


 * 7 goals
 * 🇩🇪 Heidi Mohr


 * 6 goals
 * 🇳🇴 Linda Medalen
 * 🇺🇸 Carin Jennings


 * 5 goals
 * 🇸🇪 Lena Videkull


 * 4 goals
 * 🇨🇳 Liu Ailing
 * 🇸🇪 Pia Sundhage
 * 🇺🇸 April Heinrichs
 * 🇮🇹 Carolina Morace


 * 3 goals
 * 🇩🇪 Bettina Wiegmann
 * 🇳🇴 Tina Svensson
 * 🇸🇪 Anneli Andelen


 * 2 goals


 * Marianne Jensen
 * Susan MacKensie
 * 🇳🇴 Agnete Carlsen


 * 🇸🇪 Helen Nilsson
 * 🇺🇸 Mia Hamm


 * 1 goal


 * 🇧🇷 Elane Rego dos Santos
 * 🇨🇳 Ma Li
 * 🇨🇳 Sun Qingmei
 * 🇨🇳 Sun Wen
 * 🇨🇳 Wei Haiying
 * 🇨🇳 Wu Weiying
 * 🇨🇳 Zhou Yang
 * Former Chinese Taipei Football Flag.svg Lim Meei-chun
 * Former Chinese Taipei Football Flag.svg Chou Tai-ying
 * 🇩🇪 Gudrun Gottschlich


 * 🇩🇪 Silvia Neid
 * 🇩🇪 Britta Unsleber
 * 🇮🇹 Feriana Ferraguzzi
 * 🇮🇹 Rita Guarino
 * 🇮🇹 Adele Marsiletti
 * 🇮🇹 Raffaella Salmaso
 * 🇸🇪 Susanne Hedberg
 * 🇸🇪 Ingrid Johansson
 * 🇸🇪 Malin Lundgren


 * Lisbet Kolding
 * Hanne Nissen
 * Annette Thychosen
 * 🇳🇿 Kim Barbara Nye
 * 🇳🇴 Birthe Hegstad
 * 🇳🇴 Hege Riise
 * 🇺🇸 Joy Biefield
 * 🇺🇸 Julie Foudy
 * 🇺🇸 Wendy Gebauer


 * Own goals
 * 🇳🇿 Julia Campbell (for Norway)
 * 🇯🇵 Sayuri Yamaguchi (for Sweden)