The 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup final was an association football match which determined the winner of the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup. It was the eighth final of the FIFA Women's World Cup, a quadrennial tournament contested by the women's national teams of the member associations of FIFA. The match was played on 7 July 2019 at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon, France.
The final was contested by the United States, the defending champion, and the Netherlands, in their first final. The United States won 2–0, earning their second consecutive and fourth overall Women's World Cup title, with second-half goals scored by co-captain Megan Rapinoe (from the penalty spot) and Rose Lavelle. With their victory, the U.S. joined Germany as the second team to win consecutive titles. The team's coach, Jill Ellis, became the first manager to win two Women's World Cup titles, and also the first in 81 years since Vittorio Pozzo achieved this result in the 1934 and 1938 FIFA World Cups with Italy men's team.
Each finalist was the reigning champion of their own respective confederation, with the U.S. having won the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship and the Netherlands having won UEFA Women's Euro 2017.
Venue
The final was held at the Parc Olympique Lyonnais in Décines-Charpieu, a suburb of Lyon. During the tournament, the stadium was referred to as the Stade de Lyon by FIFA. The venue has a seating capacity of 57,900, and hosted both semi-final matches. The stadium was announced as the final venue when France was confirmed as host on 19 March 2015, with the stadium officially confirmed to host the semi-finals and final in September 2017. The stadium is home venue of Ligue 1 club Lyon, opening in January 2016 to replace their previous stadium, the Stade de Gerland. It has also hosted several UEFA Women's Champions League matches for the club's women's side, which is the most successful in European history.
In 2008, the project for the new stadium was agreed upon by the government and commune of Décines. Stadium construction started in mid 2013, and finished in late 2015 at a cost of €450 million. The stadium was chosen as a venue for UEFA Euro 2016, where it hosted six matches. The stadium also hosted the 2017 Coupe de la Ligue Final and 2018 UEFA Europa League Final. Outside of football, the Parc Olympique Lyonnais has hosted several musical performances, as well as ice hockey and rugby union matches, including the Rugby Champions Cup and Rugby Challenge Cup finals of 2016. The stadium is planned to host matches for the 2023 Rugby World Cup and the men and women's football tournaments at the 2024 Summer Olympics.
Background
For the first time since 2007, and fifth time overall (along with 1991, 1995 and 2003), the final featured a European team, as the continent took seven of the eight places in the quarter-finals. The previous two finals were contested by Japan and the United States. The match was the first final since 1991 to feature a North American side against a European side. The match was also the first final of a women's or men's World Cup to feature the defending champions against the reigning European champions.
The match was a record-extending fifth Women's World Cup final for the United States, who were the defending champions and record winners of the competition with three titles. They won the inaugural final in 1991 against Norway, before winning their second title in 1999 as hosts via a penalty shoot-out victory against China PR. They made their next appearance in the 2011 final, losing on penalties to Japan, before securing their third title in the 2015 rematch against Japan. In the previous seven editions of the tournament, the U.S. never finished outside of the top three. The fixture was the third consecutive appearance in the final for the United States, setting a competition record.
Jill Ellis became the third manager to reach two Women's World Cup finals, after Even Pellerud for Norway (in 1991 and 1995) and Norio Sasaki for Japan (in 2011 and 2015), both with one win and one loss in the final. With her counterpart Sarina Wiegman, the match was the second final in which both teams have a female coach, after the 2003 matchup between Tina Theune of Germany and Marika Domanski-Lyfors of Sweden.
The match was the first Women's World Cup final for the Netherlands in their second tournament appearance. They were the fourth European country (after Germany, Norway and Sweden) and eighth overall to reach a Women's World Cup final, and the first new finalist since Japan in 2011. In the Netherlands only prior tournament appearance, in 2015, they were eliminated in the round of 16 by defending champions and eventual runners-up Japan.
The match was the eighth meeting between the United States and the Netherlands, and the first competitive fixture as all prior matches were friendlies. The sides first met in 1991, which the Netherlands won 4–3, but the U.S. won all six subsequent meetings, most recently a 3–1 win in September 2016.
Route to the final
United States Round Netherlands Opponents Result Group stage Opponents Result 13–0 Match 1 1–0 3–0 Match 2 3–1 2–0 Match 3 2–1 Group F winners Final standings Group E winners Opponents Result Knockout stage Opponents Result 2–1 Round of 16 2–1 2–1 Quarter-finals 2–0 2–1 Semi-finals 1–0
United States
The United States is the most successful team in women's football, having won three Women's World Cups in four previous final appearances and four Olympic gold medals. The team had never finished below third place in all eight editions of the World Cup. Jill Ellis was appointed as interim head coach of the team in 2014, following the firing of Tom Sermanni between major tournaments, and oversaw qualification for the 2015 World Cup using a core inherited from earlier cycles. The United States had reached their second consecutive final in 2015, playing in a rematch of the 2011 final in which they had lost to Japan. The Americans won 5–2, including a first-half hat-trick by Carli Lloyd, to secure their third Women's World Cup title—their first since 1999. Following an early quarter-final exit at the 2016 Olympics, Ellis adjusted the team's usual formation and adopted a 4–3–3 with an emphasis on faster play under the direction of new call-ups. The United States qualified for the 2019 Women's World Cup by winning the 2018 CONCACAF Women's Championship, outscoring their opponents 26–0 and defeating Canada in the final.
The U.S. team, entering the tournament ranked first in the FIFA World Rankings, were drawn into Group F and opened their title defence with a 13–0 victory against Thailand, setting a new tournament record for largest margin of victory and goals in a match. Alex Morgan scored five goals, equalling a one-match record set by compatriot Michelle Akers in 1991, while four of her teammates scored their first World Cup goals in their debut at the tournament. The U.S. team were later criticised for celebrating their later goals during the match, with some media commentators and former players calling it disrespectful, but the celebrations were defended by other media commentators, the team's players and members of the opposing Thai bench. Ellis then fielded a squad of reserve players in a 3–0 win over debutants Chile, which included Carli Lloyd's pair of goals and a missed penalty kick. The U.S. closed out its group by winning 2–0 against Sweden, advancing with three shutout victories and outscoring opponents 18–0, a group stage record in the Women's World Cup.
In the round of 16, the U.S. played Group B runners-up Spain, who conceded an early penalty in the seventh minute that was converted by captain Megan Rapinoe. Spanish forward Jennifer Hermoso found an equaliser within three minutes after capitalising on a defensive error near the top of the box, shooting from distance to beat goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher and end her shutout streak. The U.S. were awarded a second penalty kick after a foul in the box on Rose Lavelle and won the match 2–1 on another conversion by Rapinoe in the 75th minute per instruction from Ellis, after Morgan initially looked set to take the kick. The Americans were then matched against hosts France, winners of Group A and a tournament favourite, in the quarter-finals. This was the first time the U.S. had faced the tournament hosts of the Women's World Cup. Rapinoe opened the scoring in the fifth minute, with a free kick that was driven low and through several players, and added a second in the 65th minute by finishing a cut-back cross from Tobin Heath in the box. French defender Wendie Renard scored a consolation goal in the 81st minute on a headed corner kick, but the U.S. held on to win 2–1 and eliminate the hosts.
The U.S. played England in the semi-finals, but were without Rapinoe due to a hamstring injury that kept her out of the starting line-up. Her replacement, Christen Press, scored the opening goal in the tenth minute on a header in the box; English forward Ellen White then volleyed a shot from inside the box in the 19th minute to earn her team an equaliser. Alex Morgan restored the U.S. lead in the 31st minute, the first player in Women's World Cup history to score on her birthday, finishing a cross by Lindsey Horan with a header that she celebrated with a controversial tea-sipping gesture. White scored an apparent second equaliser in the 67th minute, but was ruled offside by a video assistant referee (VAR) decision. A VAR decision in the 82nd minute determined that White was fouled in the penalty area by defender Becky Sauerbrunn and awarded a penalty to England. The resulting penalty was struck by captain Steph Houghton and saved by Alyssa Naeher, the first penalty save by a U.S. goalkeeper in the Women's World Cup outside of a shoot-out, ensuring a 2–1 victory for the United States. The U.S. reached their third consecutive Women's World Cup final by winning all six matches without trailing. Their semi-final win set a new tournament record for longest winning streak with eleven wins since 2015, as well as a record sixteen World Cup matches undefeated. They scored 24 goals en route to the final, including one in the opening twelve minutes of each match, coming close to the single-tournament record of 25.
Netherlands
The Netherlands, nicknamed the Oranje, first qualified for a major women's tournament in 2009, reaching the semi-finals of their first UEFA European Championship, and qualified for their first FIFA Women's World Cup in 2015. The team's rapid improvement in international competition was credited to the establishment of a professional club league in 2007 with investment from the Royal Dutch Football Association; the league later merged to form a combined Belgian–Dutch competition in 2012 and split again in 2015. In the 2015 Women's World Cup, the Dutch side finished third in their group with a 1–1–1 record and advanced to the round of 16, where they lost 2–1 to eventual runners-up Japan. The Netherlands hosted and won the 2017 European Championship, earning their first major international title with a dominating style implemented by interim manager Sarina Wiegman. The Dutch earned the last remaining European berth in the 2019 Women's World Cup by finishing second to Norway in its qualification group and winning the play-offs, defeating Denmark over two legs in the semi-finals and Switzerland in the finals.