The key facts and figures from the FIFA Women’s World Cup

After a month-long festival of football, the curtain has come down on the FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

The global tournament has been a resounding success, breaking attendance and viewership records and taking the women’s game to a whole new level.

There’s a new name engraved on the trophy as Spain defeated England 1-0 in the decider in Sydney to become only the fifth nation to be crowned champions in the competition’s 32-year history.

Before we bid farewell to the biggest sporting event ever seen on these shores, here’s a look at some of the key facts and figures.

164

Olga Carmona’s 29th-minute strike in the final was the 164th goal in the 64th game of this World Cup – the highest at any edition.

Though with 12 more matches than the previous one after the tournament was expanded to 32 teams, that shouldn’t come as a surprise.

There were 146 goals scored at the 2019 World Cup in France, an average of 2.81 per match. That fell to 0.96 goals every 90 minutes in Australia and New Zealand – a sure sign of the women’s game’s growing competitiveness.

708,743

In the 29 World Cup matches held at four venues across New Zealand, 708,743 fans passed through the turnstiles – a tidy average of 24,439 – as football fever swept the nation.

Indeed, attendance records for women’s sports events in the country were shattered as 42,958 poured into Auckland’s Eden Park to see the defending champion United States’ final Group E match against Portugal, breaking the record set 12 days earlier when 42,173 witnessed the Football Ferns’ upset of Norway on opening night.

Taking in co-host Australia’s crowds, the average attendance then swells to 30,911 – more than 9000 above the 2019 median. Across the ditch, the highest recorded attendance was a capacity 75,784 crowd for four games at Stadium Australia, including the final.

27

Excluding shootouts, 27 penalties were awarded at this World Cup, 20 of which were converted for a 74% success rate.

That average would have been higher had Spain’s Jenni Hermoso not seen her tame spotkick saved by England goalkeeper Mary Earps in Sunday’s final.

Sweden had the most success from the spot, scoring three of their penalties in regulation time.

16 years and 28 days

When she came off the bench in the 78th minute of South Korea’s Group H opener with Colombia, Casey Phair made history.

Aged just 16 years and 28 days, she became the youngest player – male or female – to appear at a World Cup finals, breaking the previous mark set by Nigeria’s Ifeanyi Chiefjine 24 years ago by eight days.

The US-based Phair was not the only 16-year-old making waves in Australia and New Zealand – Italian playmaker Gulia Dragoni and Costa Rican striker Sheika Scott also earned game time.

At the other end of the scale, 40-year-old Nigerian centre-back Onome Ebi was the oldest participant in what was her sixth World Cup appearance, being a few weeks older than Canada’s record goalscorer Christine Sinclair.

18

The World Cup winners were fittingly also the highest scoring team at the tournament.

Spain plundered 18 goals in their seven matches en route to their maiden title, eight of which came during the group stage in 3-0 and 5-0 wins over Costa Rica and Zambia respectively.

They were hammered 4-0 by Japan in their final Group C match but quickly rediscovered their goalscoring touch in the knockout rounds, rolling the Swiss 5-1, before hard-fought 2-1 wins over the Netherlands and Sweden.

And goal number 18 came in the final as La Roja edged England 1-0 to take the trophy back home to Madrid.

Japan were the next most prolific with 15, followed by Sweden (14) and runners-up England (13).

0

The number of times the Football Ferns – or indeed any New Zealand team – has made it beyond the group stage of a senior World Cup.

Despite the advantage of playing on home soil, Jitka Klimková’s side blew their big chance of escaping from a modest-looking Group A, finishing third behind Switzerland and Norway with four points from their three matches.

After winning their toughest game on paper against the No 12-ranked Norwegians in the tournament opener, the Ferns were stunned by the lowly Philippines in Wellington five days later courtesy of Sarina Bolden’s first-half header.

Still, going into their final game against Switzerland in Dunedin, qualification was in New Zealand’s hands with victory enough to guarantee safe passage into the round of 16.

But it wasn’t to be, their goal-shy attack unable to breach the Swiss’ dogged defence in 98 minutes of turgid football as the co-hosts’ once promising campaign ended with a whimper.

At least they ended their long wait for a World Cup win, stretching 16 games across six tournaments.

5

Despite Japan bowing out in the quarterfinals with an agonising 2-1 loss to Sweden, Hinata Miyazawa still managed to win the coveted Golden Boot award for the most goals with five.

The 23-year-old midfielder was one of the breakout stars of the World Cup, finding the net twice against Zambia and Spain and once more in the 3-1 win over Norway in the round of 16.

Her closest challengers were Sweden’s Amanda Ilestedt, France’s Kadidatou Diani, Netherlands’ Jill Roord and Germany’s Alexandra Popp, who all scored four.

The top assist makers were Diani, England’s Lauren James and Miyazawa’s Japan team-mate Mina Tanaka with three apiece.

112

Of the 112 yellow cards dished out at this World Cup, seven of them went to Jamaican players – a tournament high.

The uncompromising Reggae Girlz certainly weren’t afraid to leave their foot in as they frustrated powerhouses France and Brazil with some rugged defending to earn goalless draws and advance from the group stage for the first time.

However, their historic run came to an end in the round of 16 where they were beaten 1-0 by Colombia.

Only six players were given their marching orders across 64 games, with England’s Lauren James the only player to see red during the knockout stages for her stomp on Nigeria’s Michelle Alozie. But that’s still two more than the men’s event in Qatar last year.