Australian Women's National Football Team / World Championships

Commonwealth of Australia
Commonwealth of Australia

World Cup record scorer :	Lisa de Vanna (7)
World Cup record player:	Lisa de Vanna (15)
Rank :	11
Balance sheet
26 World Cup games 7 wins 6 draws 13 defeats 38:50 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Australia 0-5 Denmark Västerås ( SWE ); June 6, 1995
Biggest World Cup victories Australia 4: 1 Ghana Hangzhou ( CHN ); September 12, 2007 Australia 4-1 Jamaica Grenoble ( FRA ); 18th June 2019
Biggest World Cup defeat Australia 0-5 Denmark Västerås ( SWE ); June 6, 1995
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	7 ( first : 1995 )
Best results	Quarter-finals 2007 , 2011 , 2015
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 22, 2019 )

The article provides a detailed account of the Australian national football team at World Cups . The Australian team has qualified for the finals six times so far. The team was only missing from the first event. It occupies 11th place in the all-time table .

The national team at world championships

Overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1991	People's Republic of China	not qualified				In the OFC Nations Cup Women 1991 failed in New Zealand.
1995	Sweden	Preliminary round	Denmark China , USA	12.	Tom Sermanni	Eliminated as fourth in the group
1999	United States	Preliminary round	Ghana , Sweden , China	11.	Greg Brown	Retired as third party
2003	United States	Preliminary round	Russia , China , Ghana	13.	Adrian Santrac	Eliminated as fourth in the group
2007	People's Republic of China	Quarter finals	Brazil	6th	Tom Sermanni	First win in a World Cup game
2011	Germany	Quarter finals	Sweden	8th.	Tom Sermanni
2015	Canada	Quarter finals	Japan	7th	Alen Stajcic	In the group stage , the team met Nigeria , Sweden and the USA . Australia finished second in the group with one win, one draw and one defeat and won their first knockout match at the World Cup in the round of 16 against Brazil. Quarter-final against the defending champion
2019	France	Round of 16	Norway		Ante Milicic	The team qualified as vice-Asian champions. At the World Cup, the Australians met Brazil, Italy and Jamaica in the group matches and qualified for the knockout round as runners-up. Round of 16 defeat on penalties
2023	Australia and New Zealand					qualified as a co-host

statistics

(Information including qualification 2023: nine or eight world championships)

• not participated: never (0%)
• not qualified: once (12.5%)
• qualified: eight times (88.9%, including one as co-host)
  • Preliminary round: three times (37.5%; 1995, 1999 and 2003)
  • Round of 16: once (12.5%; 2019)
  • Quarter-finals: three times (37.5%; 2007, 2011 and 2015)

The tournaments

World Cup 1991 in the People's Republic of China

The Australians could not qualify for the first women's World Cup in the People's Republic of China . In the 1991 Oceania Women's Soccer Championship , which served as qualification, only second place was placed behind New Zealand and ahead of Papua New Guinea . New Zealand and Australia were tied, but New Zealand had scored more goals against Papua New Guinea. They both won 1-0 against each other once. New Zealand went to the World Cup as Oceania champions, Australia had to watch.

World Cup 1995 in Sweden

Four years later, Australia turned the tables. In the 1994 Women's Oceania Cup , they scored more goals against Papua New Guinea, while Australia and New Zealand played 1-0 and 1-2 against each other.

At the World Cup in Sweden, Australia was drawn to Denmark , China and the defending champions USA . On June 6, 1995, the Australians played their first World Cup game in Västerås and lost 5-0 to Denmark. Two days later a 2: 4 followed against China, in which Angela Iannotta scored the interim 1: 1 with the first World Cup goal for Australia in the 25th minute. After China was already leading 3: 1, things got exciting again in the final minutes. Sunni Hughes scored the first goal in the 89th minute, and when Australia pushed for the equalizer, the Chinese made the final decision in the third minute of the injury with the goal to make it 4-2. In order to reach the quarter-finals as one of the best third-placed players in the group, a win by eight goals against the USA was necessary in the last group game. Of course, this seemed hopeless and the result of 1: 4 confirmed this. Australia was eliminated without a point. Since the Australians were not among the eight best teams, they also missed the qualification for the first women's football tournament at the 1996 Olympic Games .

World Cup 1999 in the USA

Six oceanic teams had already applied for the third world championship, so that in the 1998 Oceania women's football championship , which served as qualification, two groups of three were played against each other. The Australians achieved the highest win in their international history with 21-0 in their first game against American Samoa . In the second game, Papua New Guinea was beaten 8-0 and reached the semi-finals. Here Fiji was outclassed 17-0, so that it came to the final against New Zealand. Australia won this 3-1 and qualified for the World Cup.

In the USA, they scored 1-1 in the opening game against newcomers to the World Cup, Ghana, and thus won their first point in a World Cup final. But they lost 3-1 to Sweden and China. As a third party, Australia was eliminated again.

2003 World Cup in the USA

The 2003 World Cup should actually take place again in the People's Republic of China . Because of the SARS epidemic, the tournament was moved to the USA at short notice. This was the second time that the World Cup took place in the USA. Since only five teams from Oceania had registered for the 2003 Oceania Women's Soccer Championship, the championship was played in a group in an everyone-versus-everyone mode. Australia won the first three games against Papua New Guinea (13-0), Samoa (19-0) and the Cook Islands (11-0) and met New Zealand in the last game, which had also won three times against the other three. Australia prevailed again with 2-0 and went back to the USA.

In the USA they met Russia in the first group game and lost 2-1. This was followed by a 1: 1 against China and a 1: 2 against Ghana. With that, the World Cup was over for Australia again as bottom group.

World Cup 2007 in the People's Republic of China

Four years later, the World Cup took place in the People's Republic of China for the second time , which meant that China did not have to qualify. Australia had switched to the Asian federation - especially to offer the men's national team better chances of qualifying for a World Cup. The Australians therefore had to qualify for the World Cup for the first time at the 2006 Asian Women's Soccer Cup, against potentially stronger opponents. However, the AFC teams were entitled to four starting places, one of which went to host China. However, Australia had the advantage that it was allowed to host this Asian Cup. In the group stage they also won three wins against South Korea (4-0), Myanmar (2-0) and Thailand (5-0), only against North Korea the points were shared in a goalless draw. This reached the semi-finals and since China was among the four semi-finalists, Australia had already qualified for the World Cup. In the semifinals was then Japan with 2: 0 defeated in the final of China could - after consecutive North Korea was better twice - for the eighth and to date last time to win the title and set a record for official Continental Championships, the first in 2013 by Germany set has been. However, China needed the penalty shoot-out because it was 2-2 after 120 minutes.

For the World Cup, Australia then competed again with the Scottish coach Tom Sermanni , who had already looked after the Australians at the World Cup in 1995. At the finals, Australia was drawn into a group with Ghana for the third time, followed by Norway and Canada . On September 12, 2007 in Hangzhou with a 4-1 win against Ghana, the first win in a World Cup game. Against ex-world champions Norway it was 1-1 and after a draw against Canada (2-2), Australia survived the preliminary round for the first time without a defeat. As runners-up in the group, they faced Brazil in the quarter-finals . After a 0: 2 deficit it was still possible to equalize to 2: 2, but 15 minutes before the end the 2: 3 had to be accepted. Brazil then reached the final for the first time with a 4-0 win against the USA, but lost to defending champions Germany 2-0.

World Cup 2011 in Germany

For the first time, Australia qualified as Asian champions for the World Cup in Germany . At the championship, which took place in the People's Republic of China, Australia were able to defeat Vietnam and South Korea 2-0 and 3-1 respectively in the group stage and then cope with a 0-1 draw against the hosts. As runners-up in the group, Japan was defeated 1-0 in the semi-finals and the World Cup ticket was booked. In the final against North Korea, the penalty shoot-out decided the winner and the Australians had the slightly better shooters. Since China lost the game for third place 2-0 to Japan, a women's World Cup took place for the first time without China. Instead, the Chinese had to watch from a distance as Japan became the first Asian team to become world champions.

At the finals in Germany, Australia met runners-up Brazil in their first game and lost 1-0. After a hard-fought 3-2 win against World Cup newcomers Equatorial Guinea , the last game against Norway saw the final for second place. Norway took the lead 1-0 in the 56th minute, but Australia immediately equalized through Kyah Simon . Since the Australians had the better goal difference, this draw was enough for them to move into the quarter-finals, so Norway pushed for the winning goal, but in the 87th minute Kyah Simon also made it 2-1, which Norway could no longer equalize. Norway was eliminated for the first time in the preliminary round. Australia met Sweden in the quarter-finals, but were eliminated 3-1, as did group winners Brazil (on penalties against the USA).

2015 World Cup in Canada

Scene from the quarter final match against Japan

In qualifying for the World Cup in Canada, for which the Asians were given five starting places after the increase in the number of participants, Australia came second in the 2014 Asian women's soccer championship . After a 2-2 win against world champions Japan, two victories against Jordan (3-1) and against Vietnam (2-0) followed, so that the group reached the semi-finals and the World Cup in Canada. The semi-finals were won 2-1 against South Korea, so that Australia was in the final of the Asian Cup for the third time in a row. But this was lost 0: 1 against Japan, which was the first time Asian champions. In the game for third place, China beat South Korea 2-1. In addition to the four semi-finalists, Thailand qualified fifth for the first time.

When the groups were drawn, Australia was not seeded and was drawn to group D with the USA, the Central and North American champions.

The team also met Sweden and, for the first time, African champions Nigeria .

Against the USA, the Australians started briskly, but fell behind due to a deflected shot in the 12th minute, but captain Lisa De Vanna was able to equalize 15 minutes later. In the second half, the US girls finally won the game. Against Nigeria, Australia was able to win a World Cup game without conceding a goal for the first time and a draw against Sweden was enough to move into the knockout round as second in the group. Here they won a game in a World Cup K .-. O.-round for the first time, which their male colleagues had not yet managed and knocked out Brazil , one of the World Cup favorites , with 1-0 . In the quarter-finals, as in the last two appearances, it was the end of the line, this time against defending champions Japan , whereby the decisive goal came in the final phase.

World Cup 2019 in France

In qualifying for the World Cup in France, for which the AFC teams were again granted five starting places, Australia qualified by reaching the semi-finals at the 2018 Asian Women's Soccer Cup . Australia was automatically qualified for this championship, which took place in Jordan in April 2018 . The first game against South Korea ended goalless, then against Vietnam an 8-0 was achieved. In the decisive third group match against Japan, which also scored 0-0 against South Korea but "only" won 4-0 against Vietnam, Australia were 0-1 behind after 63 minutes. Since South Korea led 3-0 against Vietnam at the same time and increased to 4-0 shortly afterwards, Australia would have fallen back to third place with this outcome. Four minutes before the end of the game, Samantha Kerr managed to equalize 1-1 and since it stayed that way and nothing changed in the parallel game, Australia had reached both the semi-finals of the Asian Cup and the World Cup finals. Like four years before, Australia reached the final of the Asian Cup, but lost 1-0 to Japan like four years earlier. National coach Stajcic was dismissed on January 19, 2019.

In France, the Australians met Brazil, Italy and for the first time Jamaica , which was able to qualify for the first time. In the first game against Italy, they took the lead in the 22nd minute through Sam Kerr , who initially missed the goalkeeper on the penalty kick, but was able to accommodate the blocked ball in the goal. After a defensive mistake, the Italians scored the equalizer in the second half and the winning goal in stoppage time. It was the other way around in the second game against Brazil, where the Australians initially fell 2-0 behind, but then turned the game around in the second half, benefiting from an own goal by a Brazilian to make it 3-2. In the third game against Jamaica, Kerr scored four goals and secured the Australians with a 4-1 victory thanks to the one more goal scored, second in the group behind Italy and ahead of Brazil. In the round of 16 they met ex-world champions Norway and were eliminated from the game after losing on penalties .

World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand

Australia and New Zealand had applied for the World Cup and were the only remaining applicants next to Colombia until the award decision was made. a. Brazil and Japan withdrew their applications due to the COVID-19 pandemic . On June 25, 2020, the World Cup was awarded to Australia and New Zealand, which is the first time that a World Cup in the senior sector will take place in Oceania. New Zealand hosted the U-17 World Cup in 1999 , the U-17 Women's World Cup in 2008 and the U-20 World Cup in 2015 , while Australia hosted the Junior World Cup in 1981 and 1993 . For the first time, the World Cup will be held with 32 women's teams.

Games

Lisa De Vanna , Australian record player and goal scorer

Australia has played 26 World Cup games so far. Seven of them were won, 13 lost and six ended in a draw. Australia never played in the opening game and never played against the hosts, but played once (2015 in the preliminary round) against the eventual world champions and twice against the defending champions (1995 and 2015). Australia played most often (4 times) against Brazil and 3 times each against China, Ghana and Norway. Only five games were the first so far against the respective opponents. The last game is the first game of the Australians that had to be extended to determine a winner and was lost on penalties .

So far Australia has played against teams from all other confederations and their champions except the European champions, most often (3 times each) against the Asian champions - twice before and once after Australia switched to the Asian confederation - and the South American champions and twice against the CONCACF champions. Since 2007, Australia has not been drawn into an Asian team in the draw and can therefore only meet an Asian team in the knockout round, which first happened in 2015. Australia is the only team in the first 13 places of the all-time ranking that has not yet played a World Cup game against Germany.

Most of the games played Lisa de Vanna (15), who replaced Cheryl Salisbury (12) as the record player with the last game at the 2015 World Cup and also scored the most goals (7).

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent	venue		occasion	Remarks
1	06/06/1995	0: 5	Denmark	Västerås ( SWE )	*	Preliminary round	First game against Denmark
2	06/08/1995	2: 4	People's Republic of China	Västerås ( SWE )	*	Preliminary round
3	06/10/1995	1: 4	USA (TV)	Helsingborg ( SWE )	*	Preliminary round
4th	06/20/1999	1: 1	Ghana	Foxborough ( USA )	*	Preliminary round	First game against Ghana
5	06/23/1999	1: 3	Sweden	Landover ( USA )	*	Preliminary round
6th	06/26/1999	1: 3	People's Republic of China	East Rutherford ( USA )	*	Preliminary round
7th	09/21/2003	1: 2	Russia	Carson ( USA )	*	Preliminary round
8th	09/25/2003	1: 1	People's Republic of China	Carson ( USA )	*	Preliminary round
9	09/28/2003	1: 2	Ghana	Portland ( USA )	*	Preliminary round
10	09/12/2007	4: 1	Ghana	Hangzhou ( CHN )	*	Preliminary round
11	09/15/2007	1: 1	Norway	Hangzhou ( CHN )	*	Preliminary round
12	09/20/2007	2: 2	Canada	Chengdu ( CHN )	*	Preliminary round
13	09/23/2007	2: 3	Brazil	Tianjin ( CHN )	*	Quarter finals
14th	06/29/2011	0: 1	Brazil	Mönchengladbach ( DEU )	*	World Cup preliminary round
15th	07/03/2011	3: 2	Equatorial Guinea	Bochum ( DEU )	*	Preliminary round	First game of an AFC member against Equatorial Guinea
16	07/06/2011	2: 1	Norway	Leverkusen ( DEU )	*	Preliminary round
17th	07/10/2011	1: 3	Sweden	Augsburg ( DEU )	*	Quarter finals
18th	06/08/2015	1: 3	United States	Winnipeg ( CAN )	*	Preliminary round	100th international match by Lisa de Vanna
19th	06/12/2015	2-0	Nigeria	Winnipeg ( CAN )	*	Preliminary round	First game against Nigeria, first World Cup game without conceding a goal
20th	06/16/2015	1: 1	Sweden	Edmonton ( CAN )	*	Preliminary round
21st	06/21/2015	1-0	Brazil	Moncton ( CAN )	*	Round of 16
22nd	06/27/2015	0: 1	Japan (TV)	Edmonton ( CAN )	*	Quarter finals
23	06/09/2019	1: 2	Italy	Valenciennes ( FRA )	*	Preliminary round
24	06/13/2019	3: 2	Brazil	Montpellier ( FRA )	*	Preliminary round
25th	06/18/2019	4: 1	Jamaica	Grenoble ( FRA )	*	Preliminary round	First game against Jamaica
26th	06/22/2019	1: 1 n.V .; 1: 4 i. E.	Norway	Nice ( FRA )	*	Round of 16

Note: Teams in bold were or are champions of their confederation at the time of the match.

Five wins for the Australian team were also their biggest wins against these countries:

•  Equatorial Guinea 3-2 (2011, preliminary round) - only game against Equatorial Guinea
•  Ghana 4-1 (2007, preliminary round) - only win against Ghana
•  Jamaica 4: 1 (2019, preliminary round) - only game against Jamaica
•  Nigeria 2-0 (2015, preliminary round) - only game against Nigeria
•  Norway 2: 1 (2011, preliminary round) - also a 4: 3 at the Algarve Cup 2018

The Australian team suffered their biggest defeats against the following countries at a World Cup tournament:

•  Denmark 0-5 (1995, preliminary round)
•  Ghana 1: 2 (2003, preliminary round) - only defeat against Ghana

Records

Trainer

• Until 2015, Australia was the only country that took part in three World Cup finals with a coach ( Tom Sermanni ). In 2015, Germany took part for the third time with Silvia Neid , Mexico for the third time with Leonardo Cuéllar and Norway for the third time with Even Pellerud .

Referees

• Tammy Ogston is the only non-European woman who whistled a World Cup final (2007).

Negative records

• Longest run to concede at least one goal: Australia with 18 games.
• The youngest participant to be sent off the field at a World Cup: Alicia Ferguson at 17 years and 238 days.
• The fastest expulsion: Alicia Ferguson in the game against China at the 1999 World Cup (final score 3: 1) after 2 minutes.

See also

• Australian National Football Team / World Championships

Web links

• FIFA Women's World Cup ^TM

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games, see Technical Report FIFA Women's World Cup Canada 2015 ™ , page 159
2. ↑ fifa.com: "Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta Women 1996"
3. ↑ Nigeria has won a total of nine African Championships, but two of them are unofficial.
4. ↑ framba.de: "Women's World Cup 2015: group draw degenerates into a farce" ( Memento of the original from December 9, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Australia throws Brazil out of the tournament"
6. ↑ fifa.com: Australia and Japan qualify for France 2019
7. ↑ fifa.com: Stajcic leaves Matildas
8. ↑ fifa.com: Award of the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023 ™ to Australia and New Zealand
9. ↑ In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named Boston as the venue.
10. ↑ In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named Washington, DC as the venue.
11. ↑ In some statistics, e.g. B. FIFA is named as the venue in New York City / New Jersey .
12. ↑ fifa.com: "Switzerland drops records, Japan reaches the next round" ( Memento of the original from June 15, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.