2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

FIFA Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft der Frauen Deutschland 2011
Official logo
Tournament details
Host country	Germany
Dates	26 June – 17 July
Teams	16 (from 6 confederations)

The FIFA Women's World Cup 2011 will be the sixth instance of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial international women's football world championship tournament. It has been scheduled to take place between 26 June and 17 July 2011,^[1] and it will be held in Germanywhich won the right to host the event in October 2007.^[2]

Sixteen teams will compete at the World Cup finals.^[3] Two-time defending world champions Germany will be automatically qualified as the host nation. Other national teams will start qualification in their continental confederations in 2009 and 2010 respectively.

Host selection

Six original candidates

Six nations, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Peruand Switzerland, initially declared their interest in hosting the 2011 Women's World Cup. The German Football Association announced its hopes to host the tournament on 26 January 2006, following a pledge from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to fully support a potential bid.^[4] All six nations officially announced their interest by a 1 March 2007 deadline and acknowledged their intention of bidding by 3 May 2007 to FIFA.

The final bidding dossiers had to be handed over before 1 August 2007. Switzerland withdrew on 29 May 2007, citing that Europe is heavily focused on France and Germany, and a third European bid appeared futile. On 27 August 2007, France also withdrew, reportedly in exchange for Germany's support for their bid to host the men's UEFA Euro 2016.^[5] Later Australia (12 October 2007) and Peru (17 October 2007) voluntarily dropped out of the race as well, leaving only Canada and Germany as the remaining candidates. On 30 October 2007, the FIFA executive committee in Zurich voted to assign the tournament to Germany.^[2]

Venues

After the German Football Association (DFB) expressed its intention to bid for the Women's World Cup, 23 German cities applied to host World Cup games. Twelve cities were chosen for the official bidding dossier handed over to FIFA in August 2007.^[6] On 30 September 2008, the DFB executive committee decided to use nine stadiums for the tournament; the original candidates Essen, Magdeburg andBielefeld were not chosen as World Cup venues.^[7]

The opening game will be held at the Olympic Stadium in Berlin, the venue of the 2006 men's World Cup Final; it will be the only match played in Berlin. The final of the tournament will take place at theCommerzbank-Arena in Frankfurt, the venue of the 2005 men's Confederations Cup final. The Borussia-Park in Mönchengladbach and Frankfurt's Commerzbank-Arena are scheduled to host the semi-finals. The third place play-off will take place at the Rhein-Neckar-Arena in Sinsheim.^[7]

Since 2007, five of the stadiums were either newly built (Augsburg, Dresden and Sinsheim) or remodeled (Bochum and Leverkusen). Seven stadiums are the home grounds for German Bundesliga clubs. Compared to the 2006 men's World Cup, several smaller venues where chosen; six stadiums have a capacity of 20,000 to 30,000 seats. According to DFB general secretary Wolfgang Niersbach, the Women's World Cup should open at the stadium where the men's World Cup ended in 2006.^[8] All cities will stage a total of four matches, with the exceptions of Berlin and Mönchengladbach; the latter will host three games.^[9] The total capacity of the nine venues is roughly 330,000. Overall, approximately one million tickets will be available.^[8]

Several of the stadiums might be known by different names during the tournament, as FIFA prohibits sponsorship of stadiums unless the stadium sponsors are also official FIFA sponsors. No decision on stadium names has been announced yet. Capacity data according to the DFB:^[10]

Impuls Arena Location: Augsburg Capacity: 25.579 Club: FC Augsburg	Olympic Stadium Location: Berlin Capacity: 74.244 Club: Hertha BSC	Ruhrstadion Location: Bochum Capacity: 23.000 Clubs: VfL Bochum
Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion Location: Dresden Capacity: 32.066 Club: SG Dynamo Dresden	Commerzbank-Arena Location: Frankfurt Capacity: 49.240 Club: Eintracht Frankfurt	BayArena Location: Leverkusen Capacity: 30,000 Club: Bayer Leverkusen
Borussia-Park Location: Mönchengladbach Capacity: 46.297 Club: Borussia Mönchengladbach	Rhein-Neckar-Arena Location: Sinsheim Capacity: 25.641 Club: TSG 1899 Hoffenheim	Volkswagen-Arena Location: Wolfsburg Capacity: 25.361 Club: VfL Wolfsburg

Augsburg

Berlin

Bochum

Dresden

Frankfurt

Leverkusen

Mönchengladbach

Sinsheim

Wolfsburg

Location of the host cities within the borders of Germany

Teams

Main article: 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification

FIFA had considered the prospect of increasing the number of teams from 16 to 24, to reflect the growing global popularity of women's football and the Women's World Cup. However, on 14 March 2008, the FIFA executive committee decided to keep the number of participants at 16, concerned more teams would dilute the quality of play.^[3] The idea of having 20 teams taking part, which had been discussed briefly, was ruled impossible to implement in terms of fixture planning and logistics.^[11] During the 2007 Women's World Cup, FIFA president Sepp Blatter had campaigned for the idea to increase the number of teams, although this proposal was not unquestioned. In particular the 11–0 victory of Germany overArgentina in the opening game of the 2007 tournament had created a debate whether there were 24 national teams on a comparable level.^[12]

Qualification for the tournament began in July 2009. As the host nation, Germany is granted automatic qualification, while the remaining national teams have to qualify through their continental confederations. The other 41 European entrants have been drawn into groups, from which the best teams will qualify for play-offs and then the finals. All other confederations, except CONCACAF, have indicated that they will use their continental championship tournaments (AFC Women's Asian Cup, CAF Women's Championship, OFC Women's Championship, Sudamericano Femenino) to determine the participants.^[13] The CONCACAF Women's Gold Cup may also be used as a qualifier, but this is not yet confirmed.

Organisation

The preparations for the tournament are supervised by the Women's World Cup 2011 Organising Committee Germany.^[14] President of the organising committee is former German international Steffi Jones; she started her work on 1 January 2008. German president Horst Köhler will be the patron of the tournament.^[15]

The official World Cup emblem, called Arena Deutschland, was presented by Steffi Jones and Franz Beckenbauer during the break between the women's and the men's game of the German Cup final on 19 April 2008. It shows a stylized stadium with stripes in the national colours of Germany, black, red and gold, and a pictogram of the Women's World Cup trophy in the upper right corner. It was designed by theStuttgart advertising agency WVP.^[16]

The German Football Association is estimating total revenue of 50 million euros. These earnings are expected in equal parts from ticket sales and from sponsors, primarily from six National Supporters.^[17]Deutsche Telekom was announced as the first national supporter in May 2008.^[18]

Matches

The match schedule for the tournament was released on 20 March 2009. The hosts were placed in position A1 for the final draw, which will be held in December 2010 following the completion of the qualification phase. For the first time in Women's World Cup history, there will be no double-headers (back-to-back matches on a single matchday).^[9]

Group stage

Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
A4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

26 June 2011
Germany	v	A2	Olympic Stadium, Berlin
A3	v	A4	Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
30 June 2011
Germany	v	A3	Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt
A2	v	A4	Ruhrstadion, Bochum
5 July 2011
A4	v	Germany	Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach
A2	v	A3	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, Dresden

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
B1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
B4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

27 June 2011
B1	v	B2	Ruhrstadion, Bochum
B3	v	B4	Volkswagen-Arena, Wolfsburg
1 July 2011
B1	v	B3	BayArena, Leverkusen
B2	v	B4	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, Dresden
5 July 2011
B4	v	B1	Impuls Arena, Augsburg
B2	v	B3	Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
C1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
C2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
C3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
C4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

28 June 2011
C1	v	C2	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion, Dresden
C3	v	C4	BayArena, Leverkusen
2 July 2011
C1	v	C3	Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
C2	v	C4	Impuls Arena, Augsburg
6 July 2011
C4	v	C1	Volkswagen-Arena, Wolfsburg
C2	v	C3	Ruhrstadion, Bochum

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
D1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
D4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

29 June 2011
D1	v	D2	Borussia-Park, Mönchengladbach
D3	v	D4	Impuls Arena, Augsburg
3 July 2011
D1	v	D3	Volkswagen-Arena, Wolfsburg
D2	v	D4	Ruhrstadion, Bochum
6 July 2011
D4	v	D1	Commerzbank-Arena, Frankfurt
D2	v	D3	BayArena, Leverkusen

Knockout stage

	Quarter finals				Semi finals				Final
	9 July — Wolfsburg
	Winners Group A
					13 July — Frankfurt
	Runners-up Group B
					Winners Match 25
	10 July — Leverkusen
					Winners Match 27
	Winners Group C
									17 July — Frankfurt
	Runners-up Group D
									Winners Match 29
	9 July — Augsburg
									Winners Match 30
	Winners Group B
					13 July — Mönchengladbach
	Runners-up Group A
					Winners Match 26				Third place
	10 July — Dresden
					Winners Match 28
	Winners Group D								Losers Match 29
	Runners-up Group C								Losers Match 30
									16 July — Sinsheim

Quarter-finals

9 July 2011	Winners of Group A	Match 25	Runners-up of Group B	Volkswagen-Arena,Wolfsburg

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9 July 2011	Winners of Group B	Match 26	Runners-up of Group A	BayArena, Leverkusen

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10 July 2011	Winners of Group C	Match 27	Runners-up of Group D	Impuls Arena, Augsburg

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10 July 2011	Winners of Group D	Match 28	Runners-up of Group C	Rudolf-Harbig-Stadion,Dresden

Semi-finals

13 July 2011	Winners of Match 25	Match 29	Winners of Match 27	Commerzbank-Arena,Frankfurt

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13 July 2011	Winners of Match 26	Match 30	Winners of Match 28	Borussia-Park,Mönchengladbach

Third place play-off

16 July 2011	Losers of Match 29	Match 31	Losers of Match 30	Rhein-Neckar-Arena,Sinsheim

Final

17 July 2011	Winners of Match 29	Match 32	Winners of Match 30	Commerzbank-Arena,Frankfurt