Women's World Cup 2023: Things you probably didn't know about history of tournament

The archetypal Women's World Cup was held successful China successful 1991, with the opening ceremonial successful Guangzhou

From overnight sleeper trains, shared nutrient feasts and antithetic celebrations, the Women's World Cup has enjoyed its just stock of unsocial moments during its 32-year history, peculiarly successful its formative days.

Shortened matches and timeouts

The archetypal tourney successful 1991 was fixed the lengthy rubric of the '1st Fifa World Championship for Women's Football for the M&Ms Cup' - though it was retrospectively rebranded arsenic the World Cup. It besides progressive matches that lasted conscionable 80 minutes.

The women were fixed the afloat 90 by the clip the 1995 variation came astir successful Sweden, but different energy-saving experimentation reared its head: two-minute timeouts.

Two were allowed per lucifer and debutants Australia utilized the most, with manager Tom Sermanni taking the maximum allowed successful each of their 3 matches.

Reigning European champions Germany, connected the different hand, avoided the experimentation wholly by utilizing nary connected their mode to the final.

Pass the pasta

Rivals connected the pitch, the players supported 1 different disconnected it astatine the inaugural tourney successful China successful 1991 - by sharing their favourite foods.

The teams stayed successful the aforesaid hotels backmost past and determination were times erstwhile the paper was not to everyone's taste. But immoderate nations had travel prepared - Germany brought snacks of salami and achromatic bread.

Gero Bisanz, Germany's manager astatine the time, allowed his players a tin of beer, telling them it would assistance them sleep. When Denmark's players recovered out, they joined the German squad for an evening of merriment.

Sweden and the United States were rivals connected the transportation but became adjacent disconnected it

They were not alone. USA caput manager Anson Dorrance had seen his players beryllium connected "candy" successful erstwhile tours of China, truthful helium brought successful his member Pete to assistance navigator the team's favourite pasta dishes.

And aft realising radical signifier opponents Sweden were struggling to accommodate to the food, Dorrance shared the American rations.

"I had nary contented inviting the Swedes to articulation us," helium says. "There was this fantastic narration backmost successful the pioneer tone days of the information that 'let's marque this women's crippled thing special'.

"What's amusive astir being a pioneer is you're each successful this unneurotic - you don't truly thrive if you win and everyone other fails. We each thrive together."

Swedish surprise

Sweden celebrated finishing 3rd - and past joined successful with the USA's title-winning celebrations

The USA were the archetypal to assistance the trophy aft a 2-1 triumph implicit Norway successful beforehand of 63,000 spectators successful Guangzhou.

And erstwhile they returned to their hotel, bronze-winning Sweden had a astonishment successful store. Outside the assistance door, the Swedes - who had really mislaid 3-2 successful the radical signifier to the USA - had laid retired their aureate yellowish socks to spell retired "USA gold".

Former USA defender Carla Overbeck says the representation of it inactive gives her goosebumps.

"We were precise adjacent with the Swedish team," she says. "For them to recognise what we'd conscionable accomplished - and we were their contention - was truly peculiar and kind."

Sweden added to the celebratory temper with a made-up song, according to past skipper Pia Sundhage.

"Of people I sang," she says. "It was precise spontaneous. I deliberation it was [just being] truthful arrogant that we were really competing and trying to fig retired connected the highest level who is the champion - and hands down, they won!"

The spider mystery

The trophy that the USA held aloft successful 1991 became known arsenic "the spider". It bore the words 'World Championship for Women's Football' connected its achromatic base; its six leg-like strands reached up to clasp a shiny aureate football.

Norway raised the aforesaid trophy to the rainy skies aft their 1995 rubric triumph - but they did not support it for agelong due to the fact that it disappeared successful 1997 during renovations astatine the Norwegian Football Association.

Norway manager Even Pellerud and Hege Riise assistance the trophy successful 1995

Little is known astir the theft, but luckily for posterity, it is thought that the mislaid 1 was a winners' replica alternatively than the existent trophy, which lies astatine the Fifa Museum successful Switzerland.

"This would beryllium successful enactment with the men's World Cup wherever determination is the Fifa World Cup trophy itself, which is presented aft the final, but is past swapped aft the crippled with what is known arsenic the Fifa World Cup Winner's Trophy - a replica that the winning squad takes location and is theirs to keep," explains Fifa historiographer Guy Oliver.

Journeys end

Gillian Coultard (centre), pictured playing successful 1997, scored England's first-ever World Cup goal

England went connected rather the travel astatine their archetypal Women's World Cup successful 1995 and not conscionable with an awesome tally to the quarter-finals.

"We landed successful Denmark and got the vessel implicit to Sweden," recalls Doncaster Belles fable Gill Coultard, scorer of England's archetypal extremity successful the competition.

Then, aft a Coultard treble helped unafraid triumph successful a nail-biting 3-2 triumph against Canada successful Helsingborg, it was each aboard… an overnight bid to Karlstad to look Norway 2 days aboriginal - much than 300 miles and 7 and a fractional hours away.

"To get a bid and a sleeper overnight was a small spot weird to accidental the least," says Coultard. "Those were the barriers you faced and we conscionable had to get connected with it. It was conscionable a lawsuit of drawback your worldly and let's get connected committee the train.

"It was OK, thing we had to do. We were truly pleased to spell to our archetypal Women's World Cup and beryllium a portion of it and that was an accomplishment successful itself."

Germany, who travelled by plane, would enactment the brakes connected England's run, however, with a 3-0 4th last victory.

It's official

From left: Linda Black of New Zealand, Brazil's Claudia de Vasconcelos and Zuo Xiudi of China earlier the third-placed play-off successful 1991

The pistillate officials who ran the enactment successful the 1991 Women's World Cup were dubbed "lineswomen" but dissimilar their antheral counterparts, they had nary Fifa tourney badges to picture their status.

But the women who trod that way successful the 2nd variation of the contention 4 years aboriginal did - the shield sewn into their shirts bearing the words "Lineswoman Fifa 95".

Those bluish badges soon became Fifa Museum pieces, though, due to the fact that the pursuing twelvemonth saw the power to the all-encompassing "assistant referees".

The 1999 Women's World Cup would go the archetypal to diagnostic lone pistillate officials - the foundations had been laid astatine the 1991 tourney by Brazil's Claudia Vasconcelos, the archetypal pistillate to referee a lucifer successful a Fifa competition, and successful 1995, by Swede Ingrid Jonsson, the archetypal pistillate to instrumentality complaint of a Fifa final.

Sudden-death heartbreakers

The Women's World Cup was the past elder Fifa tourney to diagnostic a aureate extremity decider. Just 2 matches successful the past of the contention were settled successful that astir heartbreaking of ways.

The first, astatine USA 1999, saw Brazil guardant Sissi crush Nigeria's spirited three-goal comeback with a 104th-minute quarter-final victor successful beforehand of astir 55,000 fans successful Washington DC.

Sweden were the lone different squad to endure aureate extremity despair. Level astatine 1-1 with Germany aft 90 minutes successful the 2003 final, their dreams of glory abruptly ended by substitute Nia Kunzer's headed victor successful the 98th minute.