20 years after the 2003 FIFA Women’s World Cup

20 years ago today, the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003™ kicked off in Philadelphia, USA – a relatively last-minute change, as up until April of that year China had been down to hold the tournament’s fourth edition. Join us as we look back at some of the moments that etched themselves into the football history books. Unfortunately, due to a SARS outbreak, it was deemed necessary to delay China’s hosting responsibilities until the following tournament. Fortunately, the United States, having hosted the 1999 competition, had the expertise and infrastructure already in place. This made them the first and (so far) only country to host back-to-back FIFA World Cup tournaments, and they did so as defending champions. 1991 winner April Heinrichs received the trophy in a handover ceremony ahead of the tournament in which, as USA’s Head Coach, she was set to become the first person in history to have both played and coached a FIFA Women’s World Cup match. While most of the competing countries had already travelled stateside for the 1999 tournament, there with some fresh faces amongst the veterans – with Argentina, France and Republic of Korea making their Women’s World Cup debut. Luckily all of the newbies managed to avoid Group A, which had been unanimously dubbed as that years’ “Group of Death”. It featured the current title holders (USA), the African champions (Nigeria), the Asian Champions (Korea DPR) and the European runners-up and soon to be 2003 finalists (Sweden).

Future record holders make their debut However, only one of the three debutants, France, managed to pick up points. They, along with Republic of Korea, had been placed in Group B, alongside former champions Norway and a Brazil team that was introducing a 17-year-old Marta to the World Cup stage. While it was Kátia who would be Brazil’s top scorer of the tournament, Marta wasted no time in establishing herself as a force to be reckoned with – netting a penalty in Brazil’s opening match against Republic of Korea. This debut World Cup goal would be followed by 16 more, more than any other player in either the men or women’s game. She also holds the record for scoring in the most World Cup tournaments, having netted at five different editions, however – this particular record is one that she shares with another 2003 newbie – Canada’s Christine Sinclair. While Marta is the leading World Cup scorer, Sinclair has netted more international goals than any other player in the history of the game, with a current tally of 190. Despite her mere 20 years, a young Christine was already making a name for herself, having scored 40 goals in 51 games ahead of the 2003 Women’s World Cup, adding three more over the course of the tournament as she helped her country to their first and only finish in the final four.

Original hosts China expertly navigate the group stage Over in Group D, original hosts China had lost the home advantage that they had been counting on in 2003, but expertly navigated their three matches to finish at the top of their group. They proved that winning isn’t all about racking up the score sheet, netting just one goal a game to secure their place in the quarter-finals. The first of these was a clinical header from captain and joint-Player of the Century, Sun Wen, against Ghana in the 29th minute. Sun had very nearly led China to glory as Golden Boot and Golden Ball winner in 1999, but the Steel Roses eventually fell to the USWNT in the iconic penalty shoot-out at the Rose Bowl. Victory eluded both of the previous tournament’s finalists with China undone by a single goal from Canada in the quarter-finals, and the USA suffering only their second Women’s World Cup defeat to Germany. The Germans scored two goals in injury time and eventually ended the semi-final, which would go down in history as one of the best women's football matches, with a 3-0 victory. Sweden gets their hopes dashed in the 98th minute - again Sweden and Germany lined-up against each other in Carson, Los Angeles for the deciding game of the tournament, in a rematch of the 2001 Women’s European Championship Final – in which Germany had emerged victorious with a single golden goal in the 98th minute. While history was, unfortunately for the Swedes, set to repeat itself in this regard – Hannah Ljungberg ensured that they didn’t go down without a fight, scoring after 41 minutes to take the lead. After a quick regrouping at half-time, Germany were quick to even the score, with Maren Meinart scoring a rebound in the first minute of the second half.

With neither team able to break the deadlock, the match went to extra-time, but not before Nia Künzer was pulled off the bench and into the action. The 23-year-old defender proved to be the breath of fresh air that Germany needed, heading Renate Lingor’s free-kick into the back of the net, to end the game with the last-ever golden goal in FIFA competition. Again, Sweden had their hopes dashed in the 98th minute, while Germany became the first country in history to have won both the men’s and women’s FIFA World Cups. Manager Tina Theune became the first woman to coach a team to victory in a FIFA World Cup, an achievement that would be echoed by her successor Silvia Neid, as Germany successfully defended their title in 2007. The legendary Birgit Prinz was recognised on an individual level with both the Golden Ball and Golden Boot, but Germany’s victory was very much a team effort – with ten different players netting an incredible 25 goals across six games.