2003 FIFA Women's World Cup

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup

The FIFA Women's World Cup 2003 was held in the United States and won by Germany. The tournament was originally scheduled for China. On 3 May 2003 the tournament was abruptly moved to the United States, as a result of the 2003 SARS outbreak in China. Because the United States had hosted the 1999 World Cup, it was thought the United States could best organize the tournament in the little time remaining before the October scheduled start. In addition, women's soccer boosters in the United States hoped that interest generated by the tournament would save the U.S. women's professional league, the Women's United Soccer Association, from folding.

In compensation for losing the tournament, China retained its automatic qualification as host, and was named as host for the 2007 event.

Mostly due to the rescheduling of the tournament on short notice, FIFA and the United States Soccer Federation were forced to creatively schedule matches. Nine doubleheaders were scheduled in group play (similar to the 1999 format). They also had to abandon the modern practice of scheduling the final matches of the group stage to kick off simultaneously. In Groups A and D, the final matches were scheduled as the two ends of a doubleheader. The final matches in Groups B and C were also scheduled as doubleheaders, but split between two cities, with a Group B match in each city followed by a Group C match. The four quarterfinals were also scheduled as two doubleheaders, and both semifinals were also a doubleheader.