2011 FIFA Women's World Cup

The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup. It was the second time the Women's World Cup was hosted by Europe, after the 1995 tournament was hosted by Sweden.

Germany was the defending champion, but suffered an upset by Japan in the quarterfinals.

Japan surprisingly won the title, defeating the United States in the final on penalty kicks after it was tied 2-2 in extra time. Japan became the first Asian team to win any FIFA World Cup (men or women). The 2006 FIFA World Cup Final, also hosted by Germany, did the same thing.

Host selection
Germany was selected as the host on October 30, 2007, one month after the final between Germany and Brazil. Germany previously hosted the men's tournament in 2006 and 1974 as West Germany. Canada would later win hosting for the 2015 edition.

Qualified nations
Originally it would be 24 nations, but due to Germany's 11-0 win over Argentina in the 2007 tournament, it would stay to 16 teams. In the next World Cup, hosted by Canada, 24 teams are participating.

Two teams qualified for the first time: Colombia and Equatorial Guinea. Out of the 24 representatives for Canada 2015, only two did not appear: Equatorial Guinea and North Korea, which has been banned by FIFA. Mexico made their first since 1999, and France for the first time since 2003. Ghana failed to qualify for the first time since 1995, and Argentina failed to qualify for the first time since 1999. China PR failed to qualify for the first time.