UEFA_Women's_Euro

UEFA Women's Championship

UEFA Women's Championship

European association football tournament for women's national teams


The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years and one year after the men’s UEFA European Championship first held in 1984, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent of the UEFA European Championship. The reigning champions are England, who won their home tournament in 2022. The most successful nation in the history of the tournament is Germany, with eight titles.

Quick Facts Organising body, Founded ...

History

[1] In 1957 in West Berlin, a European Championship was staged by the International Ladies Football Association.[2][3] Four teams, representing West Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and the eventual winners, England, played the tournament at the Poststadion,[2][3] at a time when women's football teams were officially forbidden by the German Football Association, a ban that was widely defied.[4]

The FICF, which eventually merged into the Italian Football Federation, organised a European tournament in Italy in 1969 for women's national teams, a tournament won by the home team, Italy, who beat Denmark 3–1 in the final.[5] The two nations were also the finalists of the 1970 Women's World Cup in Italy.

Italy hosted another European women's tournament a decade later, the 1979 European Competition for Women's Football – won by Denmark.[6]

UEFA displayed little enthusiasm for women's football and were particularly hostile to Italy's independent women's football federation. Sue Lopez, a member of England's squad, contended that a lack of female representation in UEFA was a contributory factor:[7]

In 1971, UEFA had set up a committee for women's football, composed exclusively of male representatives, and by the time this committee folded in 1978 they had failed to organise any international competitions.[7]

At a conference on 19 February 1980 UEFA resolved to launch its own competition for women's national teams.[8] The meeting minutes had registered the 1979 competition as a "cause for concern".[9] The first UEFA-run international tournament began only in 1982, when the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualification was launched. The 1984 Finals were won by Sweden. Norway won the 1987 Finals. Since then, the UEFA Women's Championship has been dominated by Germany, which has won eight out of ten events. Norway won in 1993 and the Netherlands in 2017. Germany's 2013 win had been their sixth in a row. In 2022, England won UEFA Women's Euro 2022, becoming the country's first senior association football team of either gender to win a major tournament since the men's team won the 1966 FIFA World Cup.

From 1984 to 1995, the tournament was initially played as a four-team event. The 1997 edition was the first that was played with eight teams, followed by the 2001 and 2005 editions. The third expansion happened between 2009 and 2013 when 12 teams participated. From 2017 onwards 16 teams compete for the championship.[10]

The first three tournaments of the UEFA competition in the 1980s had the name "European Competition for Representative Women's Teams". With UEFA's increasing acceptance of women's football, this competition was given European Championship status by UEFA around 1990.[11] Only the 1991 and 1995 editions have been used as European qualifiers for a FIFA Women's World Cup; starting in 1999, women's national teams adopted the separate World Cup qualifying competition and group system used in men's qualifiers.

Results

More information Editions, Years ...

Summary

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* hosts
1 named West Germany until 1990

Medal table

In the 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993 tournaments there was a third place playoff. Since 1995, both losing semi-finalists are counted as bronze. Only Norway and Germany have won multiple titles.

More information Rank, Team ...

Debut of teams

Players fighting for the ball during the match between Germany and Norway in UEFA Euro 2009 Women's European Championship in Tampere, Finland.
Reception of Germany women's national football team, after winning the 2009 UEFA Women's Championship, on the balcony of Frankfurt's city hall "Römer"
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Overall team records

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As 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. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of UEFA Women's Euro 2022, 31 July 2022
More information Rank, Team ...

Team results by tournament

Legend

  • 1st – Champions
  • 2nd – Runners-up
  • 3rd – Third place (not determined after 1993)
  • 4th – Fourth place (not determined after 1993)
  • SF – Semi-finals (since 1995)
  • QF – Quarter-finals (since 2009)
  • GS – Group stage
  • Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
  •    – Did not qualify
  •  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
  •    – Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

More information Team, 1984 (4) ...

Notes:

  • The  Soviet Union team was created only 1990 and did not participate in continental competitions.
  • The  East Germany team was created only 1990 and did not participate in continental competitions.
  • Most of the countries of the "Eastern Bloc" ("Socialist camp") did not field their women teams.

Hosts

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Results of defending finalists

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Tournament statistics

All-time top scorers

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Top scorers by tournament

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UEFA.com Golden Player by tournament

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1Official player of the tournament since 2013

Highest attendances

See also

Notes

  1. Includes participations as  West Germany from 1989–1990; see below.

References

  1. Skillen, Fiona; Byrne, Helena; Carrier, John; James, Gary (27 Jan 2022). "A comparative analysis of the 1921 English Football Association ban on women's football in Britain and Ireland". Sport in History. 42 (1): 49–75. doi:10.1080/17460263.2021.2025415. S2CID 246409158.
  2. "Coppa Europa per Nazioni (Women) 1969". Rsssf.com. 19 March 2001. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  3. "Inofficial European Women Championship 1979". Rsssf.com. 15 October 2000. Retrieved 12 September 2009.
  4. Lopez, Sue (1997). Women on the Ball: A Guide to Women's Football. London, England: Scarlet Press. p. 99. ISBN 1857270169.
  5. "2013 Uefa Women's Competitions" (PDF). UEFA. August 2013. p. 4. Archived (PDF) from the original on 17 December 2013. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  6. Williams, Jean (2007). A Beautiful Game: International Perspectives on Women's Football. Berg Publishers. p. 30. ISBN 978-1845206758.
  7. "Women's EURO and U17s expanded". UEFA. 8 December 2011. Retrieved 8 December 2011.
  8. Schlenker, Anika Leslie-Walker, Marisa (2020-07-08). "Four decades of UEFA Women's Championships "come home"". Football Makes History. Retrieved 2023-11-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)

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