2015 FIFA Women's World Cup
The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup was the seventh FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international soccer championship contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The tournament was hosted by Canada for the first time and by a North American country for the third time. Matches were played in six cities across Canada in five time zones. The tournament began on 6 June 2015, and finished with the final on 5 July 2015 with a United States victory over Japan.
| Coupe du monde féminine de la FIFA 2015 | |
|---|---|
| Tournament details | |
| Host country | Canada |
| Dates | 6 June – 5 July |
| Teams | 24 (from 6 confederations) |
| Venue(s) | 6 (in 6 host cities) |
| Final positions | |
| Champions | United States (3rd title) |
| Runners-up | Japan |
| Third place | England |
| Fourth place | Germany |
| Tournament statistics | |
| Matches played | 52 |
| Goals scored | 146 (2.81 per match) |
| Attendance | 1,353,506 (26,029 per match) |
| Top scorer(s) | Célia Šašić Carli Lloyd (6 goals each) |
| Best player(s) | Carli Lloyd |
| Best young player | Kadeisha Buchanan |
| Best goalkeeper | Hope Solo |
| Fair play award | France |
The 2015 tournament saw the World Cup expanded to 24 teams from 16 in 2011. Canada's team received direct entry as host and a qualification tournament of 134 teams was held for the remaining 23 places. With the expanded tournament, eight teams made their Women's World Cup debut. All previous Women's World Cup finalists qualified for the tournament, with defending champions Japan and returning champions Germany (2003, 2007) and the United States (1991, 1999) among the seeded teams.
The 2015 tournament used goal-line technology for the first time with the Hawk-Eye system. It was also the first World Cup for either men or women to be played on artificial turf, with all matches played on such surfaces, even though there were some initial concerns over a possible increased risk of injuries.