Portal:Women's association football
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Introduction
Women's association football, usually known as women's football or women's soccer, is the most prominent team sport played by women around the globe. It is played at the professional level in numerous countries throughout the world and 176 national teams participate internationally.
The history of women's football has seen major competitions being launched at both the national and international levels. Women's football has faced many struggles throughout its history. Although its first golden age occurred in the United Kingdom in the early 1920s, with matches attracting large crowds (one match achieved over 50,000 spectators), The Football Association initiated a ban in 1921 that disallowed women's football games from taking place on the grounds used by its member clubs. This ban remained in effect until July 1971.
Selected article
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. Goalkeeper Zhong Honglian, of China, posted the first official "clean sheet" in the tournament.
Selected biography
Carli Lloyd (born July 16, 1982) is an American professional soccer midfielder who currently plays for Western New York Flash in the National Women's Soccer League and the United States women's national soccer team. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist and scored the gold medal-winning goals in the finals of both the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2012 Summer Olympics. She has represented the United States at two FIFA Women's World Cup tournaments: first at the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in which she helped the U.S. win bronze and at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup in which the U.S. won silver. She has played in over 160 matches for the U.S. national team and scored over 45 goals.
Llloyd played professionally for the Chicago Red Stars, Sky Blue FC, and Atlanta Beat in Women's Professional Soccer (WPS). She was allocated to the Western New York Flash for the inaugural season of the National Women's Soccer League in 2013 helping the team win the regular season championship.
Selected league
The Frauen-Bundesliga (English: Women Federal League) is the main league competition for women's football (soccer) in Germany. In 1990 the German Football Association (DFB) created the German Women's Bundesliga, based on the model of the men's Bundesliga. It was first played with north and south divisions, but in 1997 the groups were merged to form a uniform league. The league currently consists of twelve teams and the seasons usually last from late summer to the end of spring with a break in the winter.
In the UEFA Women's Champions League, the Frauen-Bundesliga is the most successful league with a total of seven titles from four clubs, with 1. FFC Frankfurt winning the most titles of any club.
Selected image
Members of the Kuwait women's national football team line up prior to their friendly match against Qatar, 2012.
Did you know?
- ... that the female footballer Bilgin Defterli decided to go to Germany because she saw no chance to play football in Turkey due to the dissolution of women's football leagues in 2003? (19 December 2013)
- ... that Leyla Güngör scored a goal against Spain in her first game as a member of the Turkey women's national football team? (December 23, 2013)
- ... that Arzu Karabulut currently plays for both German and Turkish football teams? (January 7, 2014)
- ... that women's football forward Seyhan Gündüz was capped 32 times internationally, scoring 12 goals, a rate of 0.375 a match? (January 28, 2014)
- ... that Sydney Leroux (pictured) represented Canada before deciding to play for the United States women's national soccer team? (February 16, 2014)
- ... that two-time Olympic gold medalist Carli Lloyd is the only player to score the game-winning goal in two consecutive Olympic gold medal soccer matches? (March 4, 2014)
- ... that Megan Rapinoe (pictured) is the first soccer player, male or female, to score a rare Goal Olimpico at the Olympic Games?
Selected national team
The Germany women's national football team (German: Deutsche Fußballnationalmannschaft der Frauen) represents Germany in international women's association football and is directed by the German Football Association (DFB). Initially called "West Germany" in informal English, the team played its first international match in 1982. After German reunification in 1990, the DFB squad remained the national team of the Federal Republic of Germany.
The German national team is one of the most successful in women's football. They are two-time world champions, having won the 2003 and 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup. Germany is the only nation to have won both the men's and the women's World Cup. The team has won eight of the eleven UEFA European Championships, claiming the last six titles in a row. Germany has won three bronze medals at the Women's Olympic Football Tournament, finishing third in 2000, 2004 and 2008. Birgit Prinz holds the record for most appearances and is the team's all-time leading goalscorer. Prinz has also set international records; she has received the FIFA World Player of the Year award three times and is the joint overall top goalscorer at the Women's World Cup.
Women's football was long met with skepticism in Germany, and official matches were banned by the DFB until 1970. But the women's national team has grown in popularity since winning the World Cup in 2003, when it was also chosen as Germany's Sports Team of the Year. Silvia Neid has been the team's head coach since 2005, succeeding Tina Theune after nine years as her assistant. As of September 2013, Germany is ranked No. 2 in the FIFA Women's World Rankings.
In the news
- December 17: Wikinews interviews former Matilda's player Sarah Walsh about Australian women's soccer
- December 7: Wikinews interviews academic Steve Redhead about Australian women's soccer
- January 7: Abby Wambach wins FIFA World Player of the Year
- November 19: Canberra United lose first game since January 2011
- July 27: London Olympics organizers apologize after North Korea flag gaffe
Subcategories
Topics
Ways to contribute
- Join: Add your name to the members list of the Women's football taskforce
- Contribute: Check the Taskforce's Open task list and see if there's a task you would like to contribute to.
- Assess existing articles: (see WP:WPFA for assistance) or nominate some of our existing B-class articles for Good Article (GA) or Featured Article (FA) status
- Improve existing articles: Work on expanding articles in Category:Women's association football biography stubs with relevant content and citations
- Project Tagging: Tag the talk pages for any articles that are within the scope of this project with {{Football|Women = yes}} and {{WikiProject Women's sport}}.
- Translate: the page of clubs/players from corresponding articles in other language Wikipedia articles to English Wikipedia, if we have them as red links.
- Recruit: editors who have contributed to articles related to women's football and Portal:Women's sport
