A Record Breaking World Cup

Photo credit: Rachel Bach/By The White Line

This years 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup has seen historical moments, drama, broken records and incredible shows of athleticism. Here are 20 Record Breaking Moments (in no particular order):

1. It was the first Women's World Cup to be held in the Southern Hemisphere and the first senior FIFA tournament (men and women) to be hosted across two confederations.
2. Spain won their first ever FIFA Women's World Cup
3. The Lionesses made it to the FIFA Women's World Cup for the first time in their program history and is the first time in 57 years that an English senior team (men or women) has made it to a World Cup Final. It is the first time the Lionesses have received a silver medal.
4. Australia reached the Semi-finals for first time in the Matilda's history. Their semi-final against England was the most watched program in Australia with 11.15 million people tuning in on channel 7.
5. Morocco, in their first participation at the Women's World Cup, made it to the round of 16 (For the first time).
6. Jamaica made it out of the group stage for the first time. This was their second ever Women's World Cup appearance.
7. South Africa, in their second Women's World Cup appearance, made it out of the group stage for the first time.
8. For the first time in FIFA Women's World Cup History, three African teams qualified for the Round of 16 (South Africa, Morocco, Nigeria).
9. Colombia reached the quarter finals of the Women's World Cup for first time in their history.
10. The penalty shoot out between Australia and France to progress to the semi-final was the longest penalty shoot out in World Cup history
11. Marta Cox scored the fastest goal of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup in 68 seconds. The goal was also Panama's first ever Women's World Cup goal.
12. Sarina Bolden scored the Philippines first ever FIFA Women's World Cup goal, leading to the Philippines first ever win at the FIFA Women's World Cup goal against New Zealand.
13. The Spain vs England Final was the first time since 1991 that two new teams were in the Women's World Cup Final. Spain also became the first European team to win the Women's World Cup since 2007 (when Germany won).
14. Katie McCabe became the first player to score directly from a corner in Women's World Cup history. This was also Irelands first ever goal in the tournament, in their first ever Women's World Cup appearance.
15. Hinata Miyazawa from Japan won the golden boot by scoring 5 goals at the Women's World Cup. She scored 5 goals in 5 games. She is the second ever Japanese player to win the Golden Boot, after Homare Sawa in 2011.
16. Casey Phasir, playing for South Korea, became youngest player of all time to play at a World Cup (men and women's) at 16 years and 25 days old.
17. Linda Caicedo became the only player in the history of football (men and women) to start and score in 3 world cups in the span of a year (U17 World Cup, U20 World Cup, FIFA Women's World Cup).
18. Chloe Kelly recorded the fastest kick of the tournament with a penalty kick recorded at 111 kmph. Because it was in a shoot-out, and not regular time, the goal will not be on the overall leaderboard for fastest shot, but it is still impressive. The goal was a faster shot than any goal recorded in the 2023 season of the men’s English Premier League.
19. Brazil, after drawing to Jamaica, did not make it out of the group stages. This was their earliest exit since 1995.
20. Germany, who were the No.2 ranked team, did not make it out of the group stage which was their earliest exit from the tournament ever.