English Women's National Football Team / World Championships

England
England

World Cup record scorer :	Ellen White (7)
World Cup record player:	Jill Scott (21)
Rank :	7th
Balance sheet
26 World Cup games 15 wins 4 draws 7 defeats 43:30 goals
statistics
First World Cup game England 3-2 Canada Helsingborg ( SWE ); June 6, 1995
Biggest World Cup victory England 6: 1 Argentina Chengdu ( CHN ); September 17, 2007
Biggest World Cup defeats England 0-3 Germany Västerås ( SWE ); June 13, 1995 England 0-3 USA Tianjin ( CHN ); September 22, 2007
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	6 ( first : 1995 )
Best results	Third in 2015
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of July 6, 2019 )

The article contains a detailed account of the English national soccer team for women at World Cups . England qualified for four women's World Cup finals, but made it through the quarter-finals for the first time in 2015 and then finished third. England is in the all-time table as the best team with four participations in eighth place. England is the only team that could win the tournament against a future world champion.

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				Failed in qualification to Germany .
1995	Sweden	Quarter finals	Germany	7th	Ted Copeland	Loss against the eventual vice world champion
1999	United States	not qualified				In the qualification of Germany and Norway failed.
2003	United States	not qualified				In the qualification in the play-offs to France failed.
2007	People's Republic of China	Quarter finals	United States	7th	Hope Powell	Defeat against the record world champion
2011	Germany	Quarter finals	France	7th	Hope Powell	Defeat on penalties
2015	Canada	3rd place match	Germany	Third	Mark Sampson	In the group stage , the team met France , Mexico and Colombia and finished second with two wins and one loss. In the round of 16 against Norway, a knockout game was won for the first time at the World Cup, in the game for third place for the first time against Germany.
2019	France	3rd place match	Sweden	Fourth	Phil Neville	Semi-final defeat against successful defending champions USA

statistics

(Figures including 2019: eight world championships; percentages are partially rounded)

• not participated: never (0%)
• not qualified: three times (37.5%; 1991, 1999 and 2003)
• qualified: five times (62.5%)
  • Quarter-finals: three times (37.5%; 1995, 2007 and 2011)
  • Fourth: once (12.5%; 2019)
  • Third: once (12.5%; 2015)

The tournaments

World Cup 1991 in the People's Republic of China

England could not qualify for the first women's World Cup . In the EM qualification , which was considered the first stage of the World Cup qualification, the team failed to Germany. In the group stage, they only finished second behind the Norwegians. Other opponents were Finland and Belgium . England lost only one game to Norway, but only drew goalless in three games. In the quarter-finals against Germany, they lost their home game 1: 4 and then the second leg with 0: 2. Germany was already qualified for the World Cup, England had to watch.

World Cup 1995 in Sweden

The English women qualified as semi-finalists in the 1995 European Championships for the World Cup in Sweden . In qualifying , England prevailed with four wins against Belgium and Slovenia as well as two goalless draws against Spain . In the quarter-finals, England prevailed with two 2-1 victories against Iceland and were thus qualified for the World Cup. In the semifinals they lost again with 1: 4 in the first leg and 1: 2 in the second leg against Germany.

At the World Cup in Sweden, they met Canada in their first World Cup game and won 3-2. Gillian Coultard scored the first World Cup goal for England in the 51st minute with a converted penalty. After increasing to 3-0 they still had to tremble in the final minutes, then the Canadians first managed to make it 1: 3 in the 87th minute and then to make it 2: 3 in stoppage time. Against Norway a 2-0 win followed and a 3-2 win against Nigeria, which brought England to the quarter-finals as group winners. Again it was the end of the line against Germany. The English women said goodbye to the World Cup for 12 years with 0: 3. By reaching the quarter-finals, England had already qualified for the first women's football tournament at the 1996 Olympic Games in which only the eight best teams from the World Cup could take part. However, because England is not allowed to compete in the Olympic Games, Brazil was able to participate as the ninth-best team.

World Cup 1999 in the USA

For the third World Cup, UEFA then set separate qualifying matches for the first time and to date the only continental association. In the qualification , England met the two finalists from 1995 Norway and Germany as well as the Netherlands . England only won the home game against the Dutch 1-0 and lost all other games. England was eliminated from the bottom of the group. Norway took first place one point ahead of Germany and qualified directly for the World Cup. Germany, which had lost to the Dutch as well as Norway, also qualified for the World Cup finals through the playoffs of the group runners-up against Ukraine .

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. In the qualification England met Germany and the Netherlands as well as Portugal . With two wins and two draws, England qualified second behind Germany, which was directly qualified for the World Cup, for the relegation games of the group runners-up. Here they first met Iceland and after a 2-2 win in Iceland, a 1-0 home win was enough for the relegation finals against the French. Since both games were lost 0-1, England could not qualify for the World Cup.

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 . In qualifying , England met France, the Netherlands, Austria and Hungary . With six wins - including a 13-0 win against Hungary, the English women’s highest victory - and two draws, the English women won the championship for the second time.

In the first game of the finals they met Japan and after 0-1 deficit and 2-1 lead in the 5th minute of stoppage time they had to accept the 2-2, which Japan was able to win a World Cup point against a European team for the first time . In the second game against Germany, both parted goalless. In the last game against Argentina , the English women achieved the highest victory in one of their World Cup games with a 6-1 victory and made it to the quarter-finals, as Japan lost to Germany in a parallel game. They then met the USA in the quarter-finals , kept the 0-0 for 50 minutes, but then lost 3-0. England were eliminated in the quarter-finals as in 1995, but were the only team to neither lose nor concede a goal against eventual world champions Germany. By reaching the quarter-finals, England had actually secured qualification for the women's football tournament at the 2008 Olympic Games , in which only the three best European teams from the World Cup could take part. But since England can still not start at the Olympic Games, Sweden and Denmark , both eliminated in the preliminary round, played for this place, which the Swedes then secured.

World Cup 2011 in Germany

Scene from the game against Japan

For the World Cup in Germany , the English women qualified for the group winners' playoffs with seven wins and one draw against Spain, Austria, Turkey and Malta . The decisive factor was a 2: 2 at direct competitor Spain as the home game had been won before and both won against all other teams. In the playoffs, Switzerland was defeated 2-0 and 3-2 and the ticket to the World Cup was booked. Kelly Smith managed her 40th international goal in the playoffs, making her England's record scorer.

In Germany, England was drawn into a group with Japan, Oceania champions New Zealand and Mexico . In the first game against the Central Americans, the English struggled and did not get beyond a 1-1. A 2-1 win against New Zealand followed after a 1-0 deficit and a 2-0 win against Japan, the first group win at a World Cup. In the quarterfinals, France was the opponent. After a goalless first half, England took the lead in the 59th minute, but had to accept an equalizer two minutes before the end of regular time. In the overtime that followed, neither team managed to score, so it came to penalties , in which England are not among the best in men and women. The first French shooter failed and the first three English women were successful, but while otherwise all French women scored, the last two English women Claire Rafferty and Captain Faye White failed . England was eliminated undefeated, but was the only team to have defeated the eventual world champions Japan.

2015 World Cup in Canada

The English women celebrate third place

In the qualification the English women prevail again as winners. The opponents in the group were Ukraine , Wales , Turkey, Belarus and Montenegro, which was participating for the first time . After nine wins, England were the second European team to qualify for the World Cup with a 4-0 win in the penultimate game against Wales. The last game was also won. The second placed Ukraine could not qualify for the World Cup via the playoffs.

When the groups were drawn, England was not seeded and was drawn to Group F with France , which it met in the first group game in Moncton , which was founded by French settlers . Other opponents were Colombia and, like four years earlier, Mexico.

In a close game, they lost 1-0 to France but were then able to follow up with four 2-1 wins. First against Mexico, then against Colombia, which qualified them as second in the group for the knockout round, and then in the first knockout round against Norway and thus for the first time in a knockout game at the World Cup. In the quarter-finals, which the English never survived before, they faced hosts Canada and also prevailed 2-1. For the first time they were in the semi-finals where they meet the defending champion, whom they were the only team to defeat at the last World Cup. The final was missed by an own goal in stoppage time, but was won against Germany for the first time in the subsequent game for third place.

World Cup 2019 in France

In qualifying for the third World Cup in Europe, the English met Wales , Russia , Bosnia & Herzegovina and, for the first time, Kazakhstan . The English only gave up a point in the goalless draw in the home game against the neighboring Welsh women. Decisive for the qualification was a 3-0 win in front of a record crowd of 5,053 spectators at the penultimate matchday of the Welsh women, who had so far remained clean in seven qualifying games.

The English women had started the qualification under Mark Sampson , who had led them to third place in 2015 and to the semi-finals at the 2017 European Championship. In September 2017, however, he was released after the first game on various allegations. Temporarily, Mo Marley initially looked after the team until the former England international Phil Neville took over as coach in January 2018 .

At the World Cup, the first game came to a British duel against the Scottish women who had qualified for the first time . England won 2-1. In addition, as in 2007, Argentina and Japan were the opponents in the group stage. With 1-0 against the South Americans and 2-0 against the Asian champions, England were group winners in 2011, ahead of Japan. In a turbulent round of 16 with many interruptions by the video assistant, the English won 3-0 against Cameroon. With this result, they also won against Norway in the quarter-finals, with Ellen White becoming the English women’s only record scorer with her sixth World Cup goal. In the semifinals against the USA, White was able to score another goal, but not prevent the 1: 2 defeat against defending champions USA. With the same result the game for 3rd place against Sweden was lost.

Games

Jill Scott , player with most World Cup games for England

England have played 26 World Cup games so far. Of these, 15 were won, seven lost and four ended in a draw. Two games went into overtime as a winner had to be determined. One of them was won by a goal and one lost on penalties . England never took part in the opening game, played against the hosts for the first time in 2015, played three times against the defending champions (2007, 2015 and 2019) and three times against the eventual world champions (2007 and 2011 in the preliminary round, and in 2019 in the semi-finals). England played most often against Japan (4 times) as well as Germany and Norway (3 times each). Five games were the first so far against the respective opponents.

So far England played against teams from all six confederations and against the champions of all confederations (9 times), most often (3 times) against the European champions (so far always Germany).

Most of the games were played by Jill Scott (21 games), Ellen White (7) and Fara Williams (5, four of which from penalties) scored the most goals.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent	venue	occasion	Remarks
1	06/06/1995	3: 2	Canada	Helsingborg ( SWE )	Group game	First game against Canada
2	06/08/1995	0: 2	Norway	Karlstad ( SWE )	Group game
3	06/10/1995	3: 2	Nigeria	Karlstad ( SWE )	Group game	First game against Nigeria. First game against a reigning African champion
4th	06/13/1995	0: 3	Germany	Västerås ( SWE )	Quarter finals
5	09/11/2007	2: 2	Japan	Shanghai ( CHN )	Group game	First game against Japan
6th	09/14/2007	0-0	Germany (TV)	Shanghai ( CHN )	Group game
7th	09/17/2007	6: 1	Argentina	Chengdu ( CHN )	World Cup group game	First official game against Argentina First game against a reigning South American champion
8th	09/22/2007	0: 3	United States	Tianjin ( CHN )	Quarter finals
9	06/27/2011	1: 1	Mexico	Wolfsburg ( DEU )	Group game
10	07/01/2011	2: 1	New Zealand	Dresden ( DEU )	Group game
11	07/05/2011	2-0	Japan	Augsburg ( DEU )	Group game
12	07/09/2011	1: 1 a.d., 3: 4 i. E.	France	Leverkusen ( DEU )	Quarter finals
13	06/09/2015	0: 1	France	Moncton ( CAN )	Group game
14th	06/13/2015	2: 1	Mexico	Moncton ( CAN )	Group game
15th	06/17/2015	2: 1	Colombia	Montreal ( CAN )	Group game	First game against Colombia
16	06/22/2015	2: 1	Norway	Ottawa ( CAN )	Round of 16	First win in a knockout game
17th	06/27/2015	2: 1	Canada	Vancouver ( CAN )	Quarter finals
18th	07/01/2015	1: 2	Japan (TV)	Edmonton ( CAN )	Semifinals	First loss to Japan
19th	04/07/2015	1: 0 a.d.	Germany	Edmonton ( CAN )	3rd place match	First victory against Germany
20th	06/09/2019	2: 1	Scotland	Nice ( FRA )	Group game
21st	06/14/2019	1-0	Argentina	Le Havre ( FRA )	Group game
22nd	06/19/2019	2-0	Japan	Nice ( FRA )	Group game
23	June 23, 2019	3-0	Cameroon	Valenciennes ( FRA )	Round of 16	First game against Cameroon
24	06/27/2019	3-0	Norway	Le Havre ( FRA )	Quarter finals
25th	07/02/2019	1: 2	United States	Lyon ( FRA )	Semifinals
26th	07/06/2019	1: 2	Sweden	Nice ( FRA )	3rd place match

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

The English team achieved their highest victories against the following countries in World Cup tournaments:

•  Argentina 6-1 (2007, preliminary round) - only game against Argentina
•  Germany 1: 0 a.d. (2015, game for 3rd place) - only win against Germany
•  Norway 3-0 (2019, quarter-finals) - also a 3-0 in a friendly game in 2009
•  Cameroon 3-0 (2019, round of 16) - first game against Cameroon
•  Colombia 2-1 (2015, preliminary round) - first game against Colombia
•  Nigeria 3-2 (1995, preliminary round) - only win against Nigeria

Only one game, the semi-final against Japan in 2015, was the biggest loss against this country.

Records

team

• The only team that was able to defeat the eventual world champions in the course of the tournament: 2011 in the preliminary round 2-0 against Japan

Players

• Jill Scott scored the 600th World Cup goal on July 9, 2011 with a 1-0 (final score 1: 1 a.s. 3: 4 in penalties) against France.
• Most missions as captain: Steph Houghton (14 ×, 2015 and 2019)

opponent

• Cecilia Santiago (Mexico) is the youngest goalkeeper ever to appear at a World Cup at 16 years and 251 days. At the 2011 World Cup she was used in the first game against England.

Negative records

• Latest own goal: Laura Bassett in the 90 + 2. Minute of the 2015 semifinals against Japan to 1: 2.

See also

• English national football team / world championships

Web links

• FIFA Women's World Cup ^TM

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Of which 1 game lost on penalties
2. ↑ 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
3. ↑ England - Canada 3: 2 (0: 0)
4. ↑ fifa.com: "Olympic Football Tournament Atlanta Women 1996"
5. ↑ fifa.com: "Kelly Smith: Six highlights of her career"
6. ↑ spiegel.de: Throwing out England's women's national coach - Big FAil
7. ↑ fifa.com: Phil Neville new coach of the England women's national team
8. ↑ fifa.com: "Statistical Overview: Records & Milestones"