Women's association football, more commonly known as women's football or women's soccer, is the team sport of association football played by women. It is played at the professional level in multiple countries and 187 national teams participate internationally. The same rules, known as the Laws of the Game, are used for both men's and women's football.
The Spain national football team has represented Spain in men's international football competitions since 1920. It is governed by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, the governing body for football in Spain.
The Japan Women's Football League, commonly known as the Nadeshiko League, is a semi-professional women's association football league in Japan.
The Brazil women's national football team represents Brazil in international women's football and is run by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF). It has participated in eight editions of the FIFA Women's World Cup, finishing as runner-up in 2007, and nine editions of the Copa América Femenina.
The Japan women's national football team, or nicknamed Nadeshiko Japan (なでしこジャパン), represents Japan in women's association football and is run by the Japan Football Association (JFA). The only country to win every FIFA competition and the most successful women's national team in the Asian Football Confederation, its highest ranking in the FIFA Women's World Rankings is 3rd, achieved in December 2011.
Homare Sawa is a Japanese former professional footballer who played as a forward or a midfielder. Regarded by many as one of the greatest female footballers of all time and the greatest Asian female footballer of all time, Sawa had a professional club career spanning 24 seasons, mostly with Nippon TV Beleza and INAC Kobe Leonessa. She also spent 22 years with the Japan national team, most notably captaining them to a FIFA Women's World Cup win in 2011 and an Olympic silver medal finish in 2012.
The Empress's Cup All-Japan Women's Soccer Championship Tournament, since 2018 renamed "Empress's Cup JFA Japan Women's Football Championship" or The Empress's Cup, is a Japanese Women's football competition. As an elimination tournament, it can be considered the female counterpart to the men's Emperor's Cup. The name "Empress's Cup" has been used since the 2012 season as the Empress's Cup trophy was founded in that year.
Tiki-taka or Tiqui-taca is a style of play in football characterised by short passing and movement, working the ball through various channels, and maintaining possession. The style is primarily associated with the Spain national team since 2006 by the managers Luis Aragonés and Vicente del Bosque. Tiki-taka methods were eventually embraced by the La Liga club FC Barcelona from 2009, especially during the era of manager Pep Guardiola; however, Guardiola distanced himself and the club from the style: "I loathe all that passing for the sake of it", stating, "Barça didn't do tiki-taka!", adding, "You have to pass the ball with a clear intention, with the aim of making it into the opposition's goal." Its development and influence goes back to Johan Cruyff's tenure as manager in the early 1990s all the way to the present. The first goal using this system is considered to be the Sergio Ramos goal in the qualifying match for UEFA Euro 2008, played in Aarhus (Denmark) on October 13, 2007. The play involved 9 players making 28 passes with 65 touches over 75 seconds. Spain went on to win the competition.
Yukari Kinga is a Japanese football player. She is currently playing as a defender for Sanfrecce Hiroshima Regina in the WE League. She previously played for the Japan women's national football team, winning a World Cup and an Olympic silver medal before her international retirement in 2016.
Nahomi Kawasumi is a Japanese footballer who plays for Japanese club Albirex Niigata. A full international since 2008, she won gold at the 2011 World Cup as well as silver at the 2012 London Olympics and 2015 World Cup. During the 2011 World Cup, she scored two goals—including a lob at 35 yards away against Sweden during the semifinals—helping Japan eventually win the tournament for the first time in its history.
Association football in New Zealand is one of the fastest growing and most popular sports amongst women. The National Women's League was created in 2002 in order to help improve the New Zealand women's national football team. New Zealand Football is now focusing its efforts on youth development so the country can be internationally competitive.
The International Women's Club Championship (IWCC), previously named the mobcast Cup and the Nestlé Cup for sponsorship reasons, was an international association football knockout cup competition contested by women's champion clubs. It was organised by the Japan Football Association and the Nadeshiko League. The first International Women's Club Championship took place in Japan in November 2012 with participation from four teams; Olympique Lyonnais (Europe), Canberra United (Australia), INAC Kobe Leonessa (Japan) and NTV Beleza. The holders are São José, who beat Arsenal Ladies 2–0 in the 2014 final.
The Nadeshiko League Cup is a cup competition for women's football clubs in Japan. The competition began as the L.League Cup in 1996 and it was abolished after the 1999 edition. It reappeared on the occasion of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, under the name Nadeshiko League Cup. The WE League, a professional women's football league, was launched in 2021, and the Nadeshiko League Cup ended in 2020.
Carolina Conceição Martins Pereira, known as Carol Carioca, is a Brazilian former footballer who played as a centre back. She was part of the Equatorial Guinea women's national football team at the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. On 5 October 2017, she and other nine Brazilian footballers were declared by FIFA as ineligible to play for Equatorial Guinea.
Ana Cristina da Silva, commonly known as Cris, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Série A1 club Ceará.
Tsuru Morimoto is a former Japanese football player. She played for Japan national team. Her father Mamoru Morimoto is former middle distance runner.
Tokiwagi Gakuen High School LSC (常盤木学園高等学校サッカー部) is a Japanese women's football team that plays in the regional fourth-division Tōhoku Women's Football League. It notably competed as a high school club of youth players in semi-professional senior Japan women's football leagues from 2010 to 2019, most recently in the third-tier Nadeshiko League Division 2, and won the third-tier Challenge League in 2015. In high-school competition, the club has also won five national All Japan High School Women's Soccer Tournament championships, most recently in 2012.
Women's association football is a newly professionalized sport in Italy relative to the greater emphasis of the male competitions. However, it was also one of the first nations to host professional women's football after the era of European bans on women playing the sport came to a close in the 1970s, among the first modern European markets to import footballers from other European nations and hosted the first unofficial edition of the Women's World Cup in 1970.
The WE League (WEリーグ), officially the Japan Women's Empowerment Professional Football League, also known as the Yogibo WE League for sponsorship reasons, is the top flight of women's association football in Japan, starting from the 2021–22 season. It is the first fully-professional women's soccer league in Japan.
Misaki Amano is a former professional football goalkeeper and goalkeeping coach for Urawa Red Diamonds of the Japanese top-division WE League. She was also a professional goalkeeper for TEPCO Mareeze and Vegalta Sendai of the top-division Nadeshiko League, and was a member of the Japan women's national football team's 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup squad.
