It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the event in October 2007.
The United States beat Japan 3–0 in pool play in 1991, and won 4–0 in a 1995 quarterfinal match. Remarkedly, Japan possessed more ball control than the U.S. despite being mostly in defense. In Canada, CBC Television and Sportsnet broadcast the tournament; the event was the first in a sub-licensing partnership for FIFA tournaments between the two networks. Heike Ulrich is responsible for the tournament organisation, former German international Doris Fitschen heads the marketing department, Winfried Naß leads the department "Cities and Stadiums", and Jens Grittner, who served as the press officer for the 2006 Organising Committee, heads the communications department. [24], The Americans began strongly as being the favorite to win the trophy, and pressured the Japanese from early 20 minutes. [20], Japan reached the knockout stage by finishing second in Group B behind England, which was the only team to defeat Japan in group play. Alex Morgan wasted a golden chance in 49', Heather O'Reilly drove a low cross towards the near post which Morgan took a shot, beating Japanese keeper Ayumi Kaihori but denied by the post. [31], Approximately one million tickets were available in total, with 900,000 on general sale. Replacement of seriously injured players was permitted until 24 hours before the team in question's first World Cup game. Brazil, Germany, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Sweden and the United States maintained their streak of qualifying for all six tournaments so far, while China PR failed to qualify for the first time ever. They advanced through the quarterfinals on a penalty shootout with Brazil, in which the United States footballer Abby Wambach scored an equalizer in the 122nd minute of the game – in stoppage time, the latest goal ever scored in Women's World Cup play,[19] – to tie the game 2–2 and bring the game into a penalty shootout. Once at the finals, the United States reached the knockout stage by finishing second in Group C behind Sweden, the only team they lost to in group play. As the host nation, Germany were granted automatic qualification, while the remaining national teams qualified through their continental confederations. [26], Intended to advertise the tournament primarily in Germany, the Organising Committee named four national Women's World Cup ambassadors: former German internationals Britta Carlson, Renate Lingor, and Sandra Minnert, as well as shooting Paralympics gold medallist Manuela Schmermund. Qualification for the tournament took place between April 2009 and November 2010. It didn't last long, in 117', Japan got a corner kick and Miyama this time sent the ball to Sawa, who ran towards the near post, met the corner before any USA defender and poked the ball over Solo at the expense of American defenders to level it again. Colombia and Equatorial Guinea made their debuts in the FIFA Women's World Cup. In the second sales period from 17 February to 31 August 2010, so-called 20Eleven tickets were sold to groups of at least 11 people, offered at a 20 percent discount and directed primarily at schools and clubs. [25], The second half also began with American domination. [46], On 25 June 2011 the A sample of Yineth Varón, goalkeeper of Colombia, tested positive to an as yet unknown substance. [51], The group draw was staged in Frankfurt, Germany, on 29 November 2010 at the Congress Centrum. Per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Kerstin Garefrekes
[35] The German Football Association plans to cover these costs in almost equal parts from ticket sales and from sponsors, primarily from six so-called National Supporters. For each game in the knockout stage, any draw at 90 minutes is followed by thirty minutes of extra time; if scores are still level, there is a penalty shootout to determine who progresses to the next round.[46]. Aya Miyama In addition 32 assistant referees and three fourth officials were selected. It was played between Japan and the United States. In the United States, ESPN and ESPN2 served as the official English-language broadcaster,[39] while Univision carried coverage in Spanish.
[20], For European teams, the 2011 Women's World Cup was also used as a qualification tournament for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The Japanese victory meant that it has officially broken Saudi Arabia's FIFA monopoly that acquired back in 1989 FIFA U-16 World Championship, becoming the second AFC member to win a World Cup trophy in every levels and genders. [8], The official opening game was held between Germany and Canada at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the venue of the 2006 men's World Cup Final; it was the only match played in Berlin. Homare Sawa of Japan won the Golden Boot award for scoring five goals. [15], Several of the stadiums were officially referred to simply as "FIFA Women's World Cup Stadium" because FIFA prohibited sponsorship of stadiums unless the stadium sponsors were also official tournament sponsors. This is Mexico's first appearance since 1999 and France's first appearance since 2003. Across Europe, all games were available on Eurosport in 34 countries and territories. In the first round of the tournament finals, the teams competed in round-robin groups of four teams for points, with the top two teams in each group proceeding. Ayumi Kaihori (Japan), Assistant referees: [48], The Organising Committee approved the procedure for the final draw on 28 November 2010. Érika Aside from Deutsche Bahn, the sponsors are identical with those of the 2010 U-20 Women's World Cup. Lauren Cheney. [25], For the United States, having taken the lead twice only to be levelled both times drastically demoralized the Americans, Shannon Boxx, Lloyd and Tobin Heath missed three straight kicks for the U.S., while only Yūki Nagasato missed the opportunity for Japan in the first three. [44][45], As with the 2007 tournament, each team's squad for the 2011 Women's World Cup consisted of 21 players, two less than men's World Cup squads. Jenny Palmqvist (Sweden)[27], The outcome of the game was so unbelievable that it caused widespread celebration in Japan as the country as Japan had just suffered the devastating earlier March earthquake that demoralized the country. [36] In order for the tournament to break even, the DFB has said about 80% of the tickets need to be sold, which would translate to an average attendance of 25,000.
[10][29][13] Miho Kajioka, a football fan from Tokyo summed it up "We haven’t had a single piece of good news for the past four months. Marina Wozniak (Germany)[27] [4] It was played between Japan and the United States. **Fans were treated to a memorable FIFA Women's World Cup at Germany 2011 which produced incredible moments and wonderful goals. [14] Prior to the World Cup, the United States was the top-ranked team in the FIFA Women's World Rankings, while Japan was ranked fourth. The oldest referee is 42-year-old Swede Jenny Palmquist, while the youngest referee is 29-year-old Finau Vulvuli of Fiji. [49] On 16 July, FIFA announced that three additional players (Hong Myong-Hui, Ho Un-Byol and Ri Un-Hyang) from North Korea tested positive following target testing of the whole team. Kozue Ando and Ohno made the American defenders few minutes to startle from 54' to 56' where Aya Sameshima's corner kick was cleared. No two teams from the same confederation were to be drawn in the same group, with the exception of Group A, which would include two European teams. [7] On 30 September 2008, the DFB executive committee decided to use nine stadiums for the tournament; the original candidates Essen, Magdeburg and Bielefeld were not chosen as World Cup venues. The mascot was developed by the Frankfurt agency GMR Marketing. [18] During the 2007 Women's World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter had campaigned for the idea to increase the number of teams, although this proposal was not unquestioned. The German Football Association announced its hopes to host the tournament on 26 January 2006, following a pledge from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to fully support a potential bid. Alex Scott
Sweden followed as UEFA's second team with its win against Australia.[21][22]. Sonia Bompastor The North/Central American and Caribbean confederation (CONCACAF) retained their 2.5 qualifiers, Africa and South America 2 each, and Oceania 1. Six nations, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Peru and Switzerland, initially declared their interest in hosting the 2011 Women's World Cup.