Algarve Cup

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football. Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events, alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football. There is also an Algarve Cup competition for male under-17 football players that is held every February.

Currently, 12 teams are invited, with the top eight competing for the championship. The teams are divided into three groups of four — A, B and C. Group C was added in 2002 to provide second-tier teams with high-level match experience every year. The current holder is Germany.

The teams first play round-robin within their pool. Then the placement round proceeds as follows:

• 11th place: Bottom teams in Group C play one game.
• 9th place: The Group C runner-up plays one game against the lower-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B.
• 7th place: The Group C winner plays one game against the higher-ranked of the fourth-place teams from Groups A and B.
• 5th place: The third-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.
• 3rd place: The second-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.
• 1st place: The first-place teams from Groups A and B play one game.

The most successful teams have been the United States, with eight titles, and Norway, with four. Norway's titles all came in the early years of the tournament, while the USA has won all its titles since 2000, including seven in nine years since 2003. Sweden has won three times, China two times and Germany has won twice. The USA, Norway and Germany are the only nations to have won both the FIFA World Cup and the Algarve Cup.

The Algarve Cup, as an annual event featuring most of the world's top women's football teams, has no parallel in the men's game, given that there are fewer professional women's leagues and thus fewer scheduling conflicts.