Top 3 Memorable Encounters in Women World Cup History

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The Women’s World Cup is back on our screens this week with the showdown set to take place in New Zealand and Australia where 32 teams will look to win the title the USA has claimed twice in the past eight years.

Here, we take a look at the three most memorable games in Women’s World Cup history.

Colombia 2-0 France (2015)

As one of the favourites to win the World Cup, France was expected to ease to a win against Colombia with 25 places in the FIFA Women’s World Rankings keeping them apart. At the same time, Colombia entered this 2015 campaign after failing to win a single game in 2011.

France, ranked 3rd in the world, were not at the races that day and in the end, it was Lady Andrade and Catalina Usme who scored for Colombia. The first goal came within 19 minutes, as Usme netted in the final few seconds of the game to cause one of the biggest upsets in Women's World Cup history.

This was, however, just a group stage game, and Colombia still finished third in Group F with the French finishing top. Colombia were then defeated 2-0 in the round of 16 by the eventual winners of the tournament, USA.

North Korea 3-1 Denmark (1999)

In what remains one of the biggest upsets in women’s football and one of the most monumental wins from a societal standpoint saw North Korea stun Denmark in 1999.

Just before the turn of the century, Denmark had already established itself as a well-known and strong team in the women's game. In 1999, it was one of the favourites to win the World Cup and was expected to ease past North Korea.

This was the first time North Korea played at the Women’s World Cup and it was also just the second time either the men’s or women’s team played at the World Cup after the men’s national team made it to the 1966 finals. As a result, it was the first time that most people on earth saw part of North Korea on the global stage.

Jin Pyol-hui, Jo Song-ok and Kim Kum-sil all scored a goal each for North Korea that day in Oregon, although they still failed to qualify out of the group stages.

To put things in perspective, North Korea's women's national team has not played since 2019 and is not even ranked anymore.

Japan 1-0 Germany (2011)

As the favourites to win the title on home soil, Germany was expected to ease past Japan in the quarter-finals. Germany had also won the 2007 and 2003 World Cup and Japan’s 1-0 victory in Wolfsburg in 2011 subsequently goes down as arguably the biggest upset in Women’s World Cup history.

Karina Maruyama scored in extra time that day for Japan, and they went on to defeat Sweden in the last four before a final victory against the USA.