The ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup was co-hosted this summer by Australia and New Zealand. The competition is held every four years beginning in 1991.

   The structure of the World Cup has national teams compete for 31 spaces in the extended qualification phase, while the host countries’ team is automatically entered into the thirty-second space. Only four countries have ever won the tournament. They are the United States of America (USA), Germany, Japan, and Norway. 

   The USA has won four out of the past eight tournaments. They were the defending champions this year after their win in 2019. They started off this year’s competition in Group E and competed in three matches in this stage. 

   They won their match against Vietnam (3-1), tied the Netherlands (1-1) and tied Portugal (0-0). The USA ended up ranking second in their group and moving on to the Round of 16.

   The USA’s final match of this year’s tournament was against Sweden in the Round of 16. The match remained tied until the final minute and ended with a penalty shoot-out. Sweden took the win 5-4. 

   Less than two weeks following their loss, the team’s coach, Vlatko Andonovski, resigned. Twila Kigore has taken his place as interim coach after serving on the team’s staff for 18 months.