Women's association football
Alex Morgan and Stefanie van der Gragt battle for the ball during the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup Final in Lyon, France | |
| Highest governing body | FIFA |
|---|---|
| Nicknames | The Women's Game, WoSo |
| First played | 1880s, Great Britain |
| Characteristics | |
| Contact | Yes |
| Team members | 11 per side (including goalkeeper) |
| Mixed-sex | No, separate competitions |
| Type | Team sport, ball game |
| Equipment | Football (or soccer ball), football boots, shin guards, kits, and gloves (for goalkeepers) |
| Venue | Football pitch (football field, football ground, soccer field, soccer ground or "pitch") |
| Glossary | Glossary of association football |
| Presence | |
| Country or region | Worldwide |
| Olympic | Since 1996 |
| Paralympic | No |
Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and about 200 national teams participate internationally. The same rules, known as the Laws of the Game, are used for both women's and men's football.
After the "first golden age" of women's football occurred in the United Kingdom in the 1920s, with one match attracting over 50,000 spectators, the Football Association instituted a ban from 1921 to 1970 in England that disallowed women's football on the grounds used by its member clubs. In many other nations, female footballers faced similarly hostile treatment and bans by male-dominated organisations.
In the 1970s, international women's football tournaments were extremely popular, and the oldest surviving continental championship was founded, the AFC Women's Asian Cup. However, a woman did not speak at the FIFA Congress until 1986 (Ellen Wille). The FIFA Women's World Cup was first held in China in 1991 and has since become a major television event in many countries.