The Rise of the Women's World Cup, 1991 to 2023

The Rise of the Women's World Cup, 1991 to 2023

November 17, 1991. Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, China. The first Women's World Cup final, United States vs. Norway. Final score: 2-1. The U.S. lifted the trophy. At the time, women's football barely registered on the global radar: 12 teams, 26 matches, 99 goals across the tournament, a competition still rough around the edges. But it was the first official Women's World Cup in history, and that mattered enormously.

Thirty-two years later, in 2023, Australia and New Zealand jointly hosted the ninth Women's World Cup: 32 teams, 64 matches, 164 goals, 2 billion TV viewers worldwide and 1.97 million in-stadium attendees, numbers essentially on par with the men's World Cup. Spain claimed the title, the most beautiful sign yet of how far women's football had come in 32 years. The road there was full of resistance, neglect, struggle and breakthrough. Let's revisit the story.

Why Was Women's Football So Late

The men's World Cup began in 1930 in Uruguay, 95 years ago. The women's edition began in 1991, 34 years ago. A gap of 61 years. Why? First, social prejudice against women playing football: in early-20th-century Britain, France and Germany, women were barred from professional football, and the English FA's 1921 ban wasn't lifted until 1971, a full 50 years.

Second, resources and opportunity: nearly all of the world's pitches, training facilities, coaches and clubs went to the men's game, and there were almost no professional women's leagues, so players couldn't make a living from football. Third, FIFA's attitude: founded in 1904, FIFA went 90 years barely engaging with women's football, finally running a women's invitational in 1988 and the first World Cup in 1991.

The Inaugural 1991 Women's World Cup

In 1991, FIFA decided to hold the first Women's World Cup in Guangzhou, China, with 12 teams: the United States, Norway, Germany, Sweden, Italy, Denmark, New Zealand, Japan, China, Nigeria, Brazil and Chinese Taipei. Matches lasted 80 minutes, not 90, because FIFA at the time doubted that women could play a full 90 minutes, a typical prejudice of the era.

The inaugural champion was the United States, built around Michelle Akers, who scored 10 goals to win the Golden Boot and became the first true superstar of women's football. The U.S. beat Norway 2-1 in the final and began an era of dominance over the women's game; in the next eight World Cups, they would win four titles and remain the world's top women's team.

The 1999 Final That Changed Everything

The 1999 Women's World Cup in the United States was the most important turning point in the history of the women's game. FIFA chose to stage the tournament in America's best stadiums, including the Rose Bowl and Giants Stadium, an unprecedented level of treatment.

The final, on July 10, 1999, at the Rose Bowl in Los Angeles, between the United States and China, drew 90,185 fans, the largest single-match crowd in women's football history, more than many men's World Cup finals. After 0-0 went to penalties, Brandi Chastain converted the fifth and decisive kick, peeling off her shirt in celebration to reveal her sports bra. That image became one of the most iconic in women's football and a symbol of female empowerment.

After that final, global attention to women's football exploded. Millions of American girls were inspired to play, sponsors started taking the women's game seriously, professional leagues began to emerge, and women's football entered a genuinely commercial era.

The U.S. Dominance

From 1991 to 2023, across nine Women's World Cups, the United States won four titles (1991, 1999, 2015, 2019), four silvers and three bronzes, reaching the semifinals almost every time, a level of dominance no men's team has matched.

Why is the U.S. so strong? First, Title IX, passed in 1972, required schools to provide equal sports resources to men and women, giving women's football full school-level support. Second, men's football is relatively weak in the U.S., so the women's game received more attention and resources. Third, the NWSL is the best women's professional league in the world, offering U.S. players a professional pathway that German, English and Spanish players have lacked.

The U.S. produced a core of stars every generation, Akers, Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, Abby Wambach, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, who were not just players but social activists for women's rights and LGBTQ rights, becoming part of American culture.

The Fight for Equal Pay

In 2016, five U.S. women's national team players, Morgan, Rapinoe, Solo, Sauerbrunn and Rodriguez, sued the U.S. Soccer Federation, arguing that women earned only 38% of what the men did for the same work, a clear case of gender discrimination. The lawsuit ran six years until, on May 18, 2022, U.S. Soccer and the women's team reached a deal: equal pay for men and women, including a split of World Cup bonuses, the first time in world football history that real pay equity had been achieved.

This was not just a victory for U.S. women but for women's football worldwide. England, Canada, Australia, Norway and others have since moved toward equal or near-equal pay, and the status of women's football is rising around the world.

The 2023 Breakthrough

The 2023 Women's World Cup featured 32 teams, 64 matches, 2 billion TV viewers and 1.97 million in-stadium fans, putting it on the same scale as the men's tournament. Crucially, the quality of play had reached a high level, with many matches as gripping as men's matches, drawing genuine global interest.

The champion was Spain, beating England 1-0 in a final as compelling as a men's World Cup final. Spain became a new women's superpower alongside the U.S., Germany and England, making the competition more unpredictable than ever.

The tournament also brought new stories. Morocco reached the round of 16 for the first time, with some Moroccan players wearing the hijab on the pitch, a first in Women's World Cup history and a role model for women across the Islamic world. Jamaica also reached the round of 16 for the first time, opening up the Caribbean. Women's football is genuinely globalizing.

The Rise and Fall of Chinese Women's Football

China hosted the first Women's World Cup in 1991, won silver at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics and finished as runners-up at the 1999 Women's World Cup. That generation, Sun Wen, Liu Ailing, Wen Lirong and others, was world-class and on par with the United States, earning the nickname "Steel Roses."

After 2000, Chinese women's football declined: quarterfinals in 2003, quarterfinals in 2007, missed 2011, quarterfinals in 2015, round of 16 in 2019, group-stage exit in 2023. Why? First, the number of girls playing in China plunged from hundreds of thousands in the 1990s to a few thousand in the 2010s, a severe talent gap. Second, the professional league is weak and can't keep top talent, with many players surviving on national subsidies. Third, the overall level of Chinese football fell; as men's football declined, women's followed.

In 2024, new women's head coach Shui Qingxia led the team to the Asian Cup title, reigniting hope for Chinese women's football, but the overall level is still far below its peak. When the Steel Roses will return to the top is anyone's guess, though fans hope on.

Stories of Women's Football Stars

Mia Hamm, the heart of the U.S. women's team in the 1990s, won two World Cups and two Olympic gold medals. She became the first globally famous women's footballer, with Nike running ads built around her, turning her into an idol for American girls.

Megan Rapinoe, the heart of the 2010s U.S. side, won the 2019 World Cup and the Ballon d'Or that year. As an activist, she fought for LGBTQ rights and equal pay and publicly clashed with President Trump multiple times, becoming an icon of the American liberal movement. Marta, Brazil's greatest women's player, has won six FIFA Player of the Year awards, scored 17 World Cup goals, holding the record for either gender, and still plays at 38, essentially the women's game's Pele and Maradona rolled into one.

The Future of Women's Football

From 1991 to 2023, women's football has come a long way in 32 years, but there is still a long road ahead. Only five or six countries have truly professional women's leagues; in most countries the game is still essentially amateur, and women's pay still lags men's by orders of magnitude.

The trend, however, is upward. The number of girls playing football is exploding, especially in Asia, Africa and South America, regions with enormous potential. FIFA is also stepping up: the budget for the 2027 Women's World Cup will double from 2023, with prize money doubled too, support that will keep the women's game growing.

Thirty-two years ago, almost no one watched the first Women's World Cup. Today, 2 billion people tune in. That shift reflects the world's recognition of women's status and is proof that football is finally becoming a sport for all of humanity. The story of the women's game has only just begun, and the next chapters will be even better.