South American nations at the FIFA Women's World Cup

Association football is among the most popular sports in South America, with five members of the CONMEBOL having competed at the sport's biggest international event, the FIFA Women's World Cup. The highest ranked result in the Women's World Cup for a South American team is 2nd place in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup by Brazil.

Overview

1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (16)	2003 (16)	2007 (16)	2011 (16)	2015 (24)	2019 (24)	2023 (32)	Total
Teams	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	BRA	18
Top 16	—	—	—	—	—	—	2	1	0	3
Top 8	0	0	1	1	1	1	0	0	0	4
Top 4	0	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	2
Top 2	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	0	1
1st										0
2nd										1
3rd										1
4th										0

Country	#	Years	Best result
BRA	9	1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015, 2019, 2023	2nd
ARG	4	2003, 2007, 2019, 2023	GS
COL	3	2011, 2015, 2023	R2
ECU	1	2015	GS
CHI	1	2019	GS

Results

Most finishes in the top four

Team	#	Top-four finishes
BRA	2	1999, 2007

Team results by tournament

Legend

• C — Champions
• RU — Runners-up
• TP — Third place
• FP — Fourth place
• QF — Quarter-finals
• R2 — Round 2
• R1 — Round 1

col-2

• Q — Qualified for upcoming tournament
• TBD — To be determined (may still qualify for upcoming tournament)
• QBW — Qualified but withdrew
• DNQ — Did not qualify
• DNE/W/B — Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
• H — Hosts
• NAIF — Not affiliated in FIFA

The team ranking in each tournament is according to FIFA. The rankings, apart from the top four positions, are not a result of direct competition between the teams; instead, teams eliminated in the same round are ranked by their full results in the tournament. In recent tournaments, FIFA has used the rankings for seedings for the final tournament draw.

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

Team	1991 (12)	1995 (12)	1999 (16)	2003 (16)	2007 (16)	2011 (16)	2015 (24)	2019 (24)	2023 (32)	Total	Qual. Comp.
ARG	×	•	•	R1 16th	R1 16th	•	•	R1 18th	Q	4	8
BRA	R1 9th	R1 9th	3rd	QF 5th	2nd	QF 5th	R2 9th	R2 10th	Q	9	9
CHI	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	R1 17th	•	1	9
COL	×	×	•	•	•	R1 14th	R2 12th	•	Q	3	7
ECU	×	•	•	•	•	•	R1 24th	•	•	1	8

Tournament standings

Team	Champions	Finals	Semi-finals	Quarter-finals	Second round
BRA	0	1	1	2	2
COL	0	0	0	0	1

Overall team records

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. 3 points per win, 1 point per draw and 0 points per loss.

Results through 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
BRA	34	20	4	10	66	40	+26	64
COL	7	1	2	4	4	9	–5	5
CHI	3	1	0	2	2	5	–3	3
ARG	9	0	2	7	5	37	–32	2
ECU	3	0	0	3	1	17	–16	0

Appearances

Ranking of teams by number of appearances

Team	Appearances	Record streak	Active streak	Debut	Most recent	Best result (* = hosts)
BRA	9	9	9	1991	2023	Runners-up (2007)
ARG	4	2	2	2003	2023	Group stage (2003, 2007, 2019)
COL	3	2	1	2011	2023	Round of 16 (2015)
ECU	1	1	0	2015	2015	Group stage (2015)
CHI	1	1	0	2019	2019	Group stage (2019)

Team debuts

Year	Debutants	Total
1991	BRA	1
2003	ARG	1
2011	COL
2015	ECU
2019	CHI	1
Total		5

Summary of performance

This table shows the number of countries represented at the Women's World Cup, the number of entries (#E) from around the world including any rejections and withdrawals, the number of South American entries (#A), how many of those South American entries withdrawn (#A-) before/during qualification or were rejected by FIFA, the South American representatives at the Women's World Cup finals, the number of World Cup Qualifiers each South American representative had to play to get to the World Cup (#WCQ), the furthest stage reached, results, and coaches.

Year	Host	Size	#E	#A	#A-	South American finalists	#WCQ	Stage	Results	Coach
1991	China	12	48	3	0	2	Group stage	won 1–0, lost 0–5 , lost 0–2	Fernando Pires
1995	Sweden	12	55	5	0	5	Group stage	won 1–0, lost 1–2 , lost 1–6	Ademar Fonseca
1999	United States	16	67	10	0	6	Third place	won 7–1 , won 2–0 , drew 3–3 , won 4–3 , lost 0–2 , drew 0–0 (won 5–4)	Wilsinho
2003	United States	16	99	10	0	5	Group stage	lost 0–6 , lost 0–3 , lost 1–6	Carlos Borrello
	3	Quarter-finals	won 3–0 , won 4–1 , drew 1–1, lost 1–2	Paulo Gonçalves
2007	China	16	120	10	0	7	Group stage	lost 0–11 , lost 0–1 , lost 1–6	Carlos Borrello
	7	Runners-up	won 5–0, won 4–0 , won 1–0, won 3–2, won 4–0 , lost 0–2	Jorge Barcellos
2011	Germany	16	125	10	0		7	Quarter-finals	won 1–0 , won 3–0 , won 3–0 , drew 2–2 (lost 2–4)	Kleiton Lima
	7	Group stage	lost 0–1 , lost 0–3 , drew 0–0	Ricardo Rozo
2015	Canada	24	134	10	0		7	Round of 16	won 2–0, won 1–0 , won 1–0, lost 0–1	Vadão
	7	Round of sixteen	drew 1–1 , won 2–0 , lost 1–2 , lost 0–2	Fabián Taborda
	9	Group stage	lost 0–6 , lost 1–10 , lost 0–1	Vanessa Arauz
2019	France	24	144	10	0		9	Group stage	drew 0–0 , lost 0–1 , drew 3–3	Carlos Borrello
	7	Round of sixteen	won 3–0 , lost 2–3 , won 1–0 , lost 1–2	Vadão
	7	Group stage	lost 0–2 , lost 0–3 , won 2–0	José Letelier
2023	Australia New Zealand	32	172	10	0	6	TBD
	6	TBD
	6	TBD

Not yet qualified

5 of the 10 active FIFA and CONMEBOL members have never appeared in the final tournament.

Legend

• TBD — To be determined (may still qualify for upcoming tournament)
• DNQ — Did not qualify
• DNE/W/B — Did not enter / Withdrew / Banned
• NAIF — Not affiliated in FIFA
• Q,BWBF — Qualified, but withdrew before Finals

Country	Number of Qualifying attempts	1991	1995	1999	2003	2007	2011	2015	2019	2023
BOL	8	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
PAR	7	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
PER	7	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
URU	7	×	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•
VEN	8	•	×	•	•	•	•	•	•	•

Competitive history

1991: the first

Brazil qualified to the first-ever FIFA Women's World Cup by winning the inaugural 1991 South American Women's Football Championship, and was drawn with the likes of Japan, Sweden and the United States. As the only South American representative, Brazil achieved a respectable win over Japan 1–0, but heavy losses to Sweden and the United States effectively denied Brazil a place in the knockout stage.

1995: new historical chapter, but same outcome

Like in 1991, Brazil qualified for the 1995 edition by winning the 1995 South American Women's Football Championship, and again, found itself with Japan and hosts Sweden, with the United States replaced by Germany. Brazil registered a historic 1–0 triumph against the Swedish hosts, the first-ever host country in either men's or women's World Cup to lose the opening match. However, Brazil performed poorly against Japan and Germany, losing both games in process and failed to qualify for the knockout phase.

1999: historic medal and rise

Brazil qualified for the 1999 edition in the United States by winning the 1998 South American Women's Football Championship. This time, Brazil registered a historic milestone: the Brazilians topped the group stage with two wins against Mexico and Italy, before holding the Germans in an exciting 3–3 draw to meet Nigeria in the quarter-finals, which ended with another historic 4–3 win, to put Brazil a place in the semi-finals. However, Brazil's hope for a maiden Women's World Cup trophy was dashed by the powerful American hosts 0–2, thus ended its journey with bronze medal by beating Norway 5–4 on penalties. This, nonetheless, became the highest finish ever for a team from South America at the time.

2003: new debutant, but failed to breakthrough

The two highest finishers of the 2003 South American Women's Football Championship, Brazil and Argentina, together qualified for the World Cup held again in the States, with the latter being its historic debut. The Brazilians did a great job in the group stage, beating South Korea and Norway before holding France to take the top of the group undefeated; however, Brazil's journey was again dashed when they lost 1–2 to eventual runners-up Sweden in the last eight. For Argentina, with all players were of part-time status, the Argentines could not make any surprise in a tough group stage, losing all three games to Canada, Japan and Germany.

2007: same participants, new records

Brazil and Argentina were again South America's representatives for the 2007 edition in China, but their results diverged significantly once the tournament started. Brazil made history reaching the final for the first time ever, winning all group stage games against hosts China, New Zealand and Denmark, before beating Australia and the United States in the knockout stage, including the famous 4–0 win over the Americans at the time, the biggest defeat for the Americans in a FIFA Women's World Cup history up to date. Brazil failed to win the title after losing 0–2 to Germany, but with the silver medal, Brazil has the highest finishing position up to date.

For Argentina, the team also entered history, but in a sour note instead. Argentina suffered the heaviest defeat in Women's World Cup history at the time, a 0–11 loss to eventual champions Germany. Argentina followed by two other defeats to Japan and England, and finished bottom.

2011: new debutant

Colombia replaced Argentina to join Brazil for the World Cup in Germany as Brazil and Colombia aimed for new heights. However, Brazil failed to perform at the same level it used to be back in 2007 – the Brazilians topped the group stage easily by wins over Australia, Norway and Equatorial Guinea, but fell to the United States in a thriller, losing on penalty shootout 2–4. Meanwhile, Colombia marked its debut in an unimpressive style, losing to Sweden and the United States, but salvaged a point by drawing North Korea goalless, but this also led Colombia to end its campaign without a goal scored.

2015: more slots, yet setback for South America

The 2015 edition in Canada saw for the first time, three South American teams took part. Brazil, Colombia and debutant Ecuador took part, with Ecuador qualified after the playoffs. However, Brazil failed to impress in the tournament: the Brazilians won all three group stage games against South Korea, Spain and Costa Rica, yet it suffered a shock loss to Australia 0–1 in the round of 16 and were eliminated. Ecuador were even more humiliated in the tournament, with the Ecuadorians losing all three group stage games, including the record 1–10 defeat to Switzerland, though Ecuador earned praise by its grit performance against then-defending champions Japan with only one goal conceded. Colombia were the only team from South America to truly breakthrough, reaching the knockout phase for the first time after a draw with Mexico and a shock win over France 2–0 guaranteed a place for Colombia; the Colombians then had its journey ended after losing 0–2 to future champions United States.

2019: return of Argentina, but ongoing struggle

For the 2019 edition in France, three South American nations once again took part, but except for Brazil, two other teams were Argentina and Chile, the latter debuted in the tournament. The Brazilians could not improve from the 2015 failure, when Brazil only finished third in the group stage after suffering a shock 2–3 comeback loss to Australia, before France put an end to Brazil's journey in the last sixteen after extra time 1–2.

While Brazil struggled, Argentina and Chile had managed to stun much of prediction, but neither had enough luck to survive the group stage. Argentina found itself with England, Japan and Scotland, and for the first time, Argentina won two points by two brave draws to Japan 0–0 and, especially, the emotional 3–3 comeback draw over Scotland. Chile, meanwhile, lost two first games to more powerful opponents Sweden and the United States, but salvaged third place with a 2–0 win over Thailand, Francisca Lara could have put Chile through, but her penalty hit the crossbar and thus Chile were eliminated.

2023: Colombia's return

Brazil, Colombia and Argentina together qualified for the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand.

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