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Women's association football
Association football when played by women / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer,[lower-alpha 1] is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries, and 187 national teams participate internationally.[3] The same rules, known as the Laws of the Game, are used for both women's and men's 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 |
---|---|
First played | 1880s, Great Britain[1][2] |
Characteristics | |
Team members | 11 per side (including goalkeeper) |
Mixed-sex | No, separate competitions |
Type | Team sport, ball sport |
Equipment | Football (or soccer ball), shin pads, football boots, kits, and gloves (for goalkeepers) |
Venue | Football pitch (football ground, soccer field, soccer ground or "pitch") |
Glossary | Glossary of association football |
Presence | |
Country or region | Worldwide |
Olympic | Since 1996 |
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,[4] 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.[5] In many other nations, female footballers faced similarly hostile treatment and bans by male-dominated organisations.[6]
In the 1970s, international women's football tournaments were extremely popular,[7][8] 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).[9] The FIFA Women's World Cup was first held in China in 1991 and has since become a major television event in many countries.[10][11]