Which country won the first Women’s World Cup? When and where was it played?

Remember the very first FIFA Men’s World Cup? Considering that it took place in 1930, there’s probably a good chance that you don’t. The Women’s World Cup, on the other hand, is another story altogether. If you’re looking for an indication of just how ‘young’ the women’s game is, then the fact that the first edition of the planet’s elite international tournament was held as recently as 1991 is perhaps the biggest one.

The competition has come a long way since then, when it wasn’t even called the Women’s World Cup. After ‘unofficial’ tournaments had taken place in the 1970s and the Mundialito invitation events in the 1980s, the inaugural ‘official’ edition backed by FIFA was officially named the Women’s World Championship for the M&M’s Cup, with the World Cup name not used until the following tournament four years later.

How many teams played in the 1991 Women’s World Cup?

In stark contrast to the upcoming 2023 Women’s World Cup, which will have 32 participants for the first time, only 12 nations competed in the first event, which was held at four cities in China (Guangzhou, Foshan, Jiangmen and Zhongshan) from 16-30 November 1991.

Due to Europe having by far the greatest number of teams taking part in qualification, UEFA provided five of the 12 competing countries (Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway and Sweden). Three Asian nations took part (China, Chinese Taipei and Japan), along with one team from each of the remaining confederations, including the USWNT.

USWNT win first of four Women’s World Cups

And it was, of course, the Stars and Stripes who would go on to win the inaugural event, the first of their four World Cup victories to date.

While the US, coached by Anson Dorrance, won all six of their games in the tournament and posted big wins over Brazil (5-0), Chinese Taipei (7-0) and Germany (5-2), they were run close by Sweden in the group stage and only just edged out Norway 2-1 in a closely-fought final; the Norwegians would get their revenge by defeating the USWNT in the semi-finals on the way to winning the 1995 World Cup.

Women’s World Cup attendances

Michelle Akers-Stahl scored twice in the final in Guangzhou and won the Golden Shoe with 10 goals, while the tournament’s average attendance of 18,344 per match is the second lowest of any edition but is only around 3,000 less than the 2019 World Cup held in France.

The record for any tournament is 37,944 fans per game in the United States in 1999. Will that be broken in Australia and New Zealand?