UEFA Women's Championship

Women's football was banned or restricted by male-chauvinist football associations in many European countries, and the women's game was unrecognised by UEFA.[1] In 1957 in West Berlin, a European Championship was staged by the International Ladies Football Association.[2][3] Four teams, representing West Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and the eventual winners, England, played the tournament at the Poststadion,[2][3] at a time when women's football teams were officially forbidden by the German Football Association, a ban that was widely defied.[4]

The FICF, which eventually merged into the Italian Football Federation, organised a European tournament in Italy in 1969 for women's national teams, a tournament won by the home team, Italy, who beat Denmark 3–1 in the final.[5] The two nations were also the finalists of the 1970 Women's World Cup in Italy.

Italy hosted another European women's tournament a decade later, the 1979 European Competition for Women's Football – won by Denmark.[6]

UEFA displayed little enthusiasm for women's football and were particularly hostile to Italy's independent women's football federation. Sue Lopez, a member of England's squad, contended that a lack of female representation in UEFA was a contributory factor:[7]

In 1971, UEFA had set up a committee for women's football, composed exclusively of male representatives, and by the time this committee folded in 1978 they had failed to organise any international competitions.[7]

At a conference on 19 February 1980 UEFA resolved to launch its own competition for women's national teams.[8] The meeting minutes had registered the 1979 competition as a "cause for concern".[9] The first UEFA-run international tournament began only in 1982, when the 1984 European Competition for Women's Football qualification was launched. The 1984 Finals were won by Sweden. Norway won the 1987 Finals. Since then, the UEFA Women's Championship has been dominated by Germany, which has won eight out of ten events. Norway won in 1993 and the Netherlands in 2017. Germany's 2013 win had been their sixth in a row.

The tournament was initially played as a four-team event. The 1997 edition was the first that was played with eight teams. The third expansion happened in 2009 when 12 teams participated. From 2017 onwards 16 teams compete for the championship.[10]

The first three tournaments of the UEFA competition in the 1980s had the name "European Competition for Representative Women's Teams". With UEFA's increasing acceptance of women's football, this competition was given European Championship status by UEFA around 1990. Only the 1991 and 1995 editions have been used as European qualifiers for a FIFA Women's World Cup; starting in 1999, women's national teams adopted the separate World Cup qualifying competition and group system used in men's qualifiers.

Team	Winners	Runners-up
Germany1	8 (1989*, 1991, 1995, 1997, 2001*, 2005, 2009, 2013)	1 (2022)
Norway	2 (1987*, 1993)	4 (1989, 1991, 2005, 2013)
Sweden	1 (1984)	3 (1987, 1995, 2001)
England	1 (2022*)	2 (1984, 2009)
Netherlands	1 (2017*)	—
Italy	—	2 (1993*, 1997)
Denmark	—	1 (2017)

* hosts

¹ named West Germany until 1990

In the 1987, 1989, 1991 and 1993 tournaments there was a third place playoff. Since 1995, both losing semi-finalists are counted as bronze.

Rank	Team	Gold	Silver	Bronze	Total
1	Germany	8	1	0	9
2	Norway	2	4	3	9
3	Sweden	1	3	5	9
4	England	1	2	2	5
5	Netherlands	1	0	1	2
6	Italy	0	2	2	4
7	Denmark	0	1	5	6
8	Austria	0	0	1	1
	Finland	0	0	1	1
	France	0	0	1	1
	Spain	0	0	1	1
Totals (11 entries)		13	13	22	48

In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.

As of UEFA Women's Euro 2022, 31 July 2022

Rank	Team	Part	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Germany[lower-alpha 1]	11	46	36	6	4	107	27	+80	114
2	Sweden	11	42	22	6	14	72	47	+25	72
3	Norway	12	39	16	7	16	51	58	−7	55
4	England	9	34	17	3	14	62	53	+9	54
5	France	7	26	11	8	7	39	34	+5	41
6	Denmark	10	33	10	8	15	33	46	−13	38
7	Netherlands	4	18	10	3	5	27	15	+12	33
8	Italy	12	35	8	7	20	38	63	−25	31
9	Spain	4	16	5	3	8	16	19	−3	18
10	Austria	2	9	4	3	2	8	4	+4	15
11	Finland	4	14	3	3	8	12	27	−15	12
12	Belgium	2	7	2	1	4	6	7	−1	7
13	Iceland	4	13	1	4	8	7	22	−15	7
14	Russia	5	15	1	3	11	10	31	−21	6
15	Switzerland	2	6	1	2	3	7	11	−4	5
16	Portugal	2	6	1	1	4	7	15	−8	4
17	Ukraine	1	3	1	0	2	2	4	−2	3
18	Scotland	1	3	1	0	2	2	8	−6	3
19	Northern Ireland	1	3	0	0	3	1	11	−10	0

Legend

• 1st – Champions
• 2nd – Runners-up
• 3rd – Third place (not determined after 1993)
• 4th – Fourth place (not determined after 1993)
• SF – Semi-finals (since 1995)
• QF – Quarter-finals (since 2009)
• GS – Group stage
• Q – Qualified for upcoming tournament
•  •  – Did not qualify
•  ×  – Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
•    – Hosts

For each tournament, the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.

Team	1984 (4)	1987 (4)	1989 (4)	1991 (4)	1993 (4)	1995 (4)	1997 (8)	2001 (8)	2005 (8)	2009 (12)	2013 (12)	2017 (16)	2022 (16)	Total
Austria	×	×	×	×	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	SF	QF	2
Belgium	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	QF	2
Denmark	SF	•	•	3rd	3rd	•	GS	SF	GS	GS	SF	2nd	GS	10
England	2nd	4th	•	•	•	SF	•	GS	GS	2nd	GS	SF	1st	9
Finland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	SF	QF	GS	•	GS	4
France	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	GS	QF	QF	QF	SF	7
Germany	•	•	1st	1st	4th	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	1st	QF	2nd	11
Iceland	•	×	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	GS	QF	GS	GS	4
Italy	SF	3rd	4th	4th	2nd	•	2nd	GS	GS	QF	QF	GS	GS	12
Netherlands	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	SF	GS	1st	QF	4
Northern Ireland	•	•	×	•	×	×	×	×	×	•	•	•	GS	1
Norway	•	1st	2nd	2nd	1st	SF	GS	SF	2nd	SF	2nd	GS	GS	12
Portugal	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	2
Russia	×	×	×	×	•	•	GS	GS	•	GS	GS	GS	×	5
Scotland	•	•	•	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	•	1
Spain	×	•	•	•	•	•	SF	•	•	•	QF	QF	QF	4
Sweden	1st	2nd	3rd	•	•	2nd	SF	2nd	SF	QF	SF	QF	SF	11
Switzerland	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	GS	GS	2
Ukraine	Part of  Soviet Union				×	•	•	•	•	GS	•	•	•	1

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UEFA Women's Championship.

• UEFA Women's Champions League
• UEFA Women's Under-19 Championship
• UEFA Women's Under-17 Championship
• FIFA Women's World Cup
• FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup
• FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup

Wikimedia Commons has media related to UEFA Women's Championship.

• UEFA Women's Championship
• BBC Sport – "How Women's Euros have evolved"