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Algarve Cup
 Outside of the Women's World Cup Finals, the Olympic Games and the European Championships, the Algarve Cup is the biggest international tournament in women's soccer. |
The tournament is held in Portugal every March, and is organised jointly by the Danish, Norwegian and Swedish associations, who take it in turns to oversee it each year.
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It was set up to allow these nations' players to train away from their home environment in the months of February and March, when Scandinavia is usually iced up.
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Finland, the other country from the Nordic region, receives an automatic invitation, as do Portugal as the host nation. The USA and China are regularly invited, with European teams making up the balance of the invitees.
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Since 1999, the organisers have endeavoured to invite one other non-European team - besides China and the USA - to participate in this tournament each year. Consequently, these invitations are much coveted and highly sought after, arguably more so than the trophy itself!
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Originally set up as a two-group competition with play-offs, a third group was added in 2002 to allow Portugal to take on teams more suited to their calibre. Teams in this group aren't eligible to win the tournament, but can finish as high as seventh in the play-offs.
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The USA's Abby Wambach thwarted by Denmark's Gitte Andersen in the 2007 Algarve Cup Final
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ROLL OF HONOUR
Year
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Winners
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Second
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Third
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Norway
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USA
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Sweden
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Sweden
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Denmark
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Norway
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Norway
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Sweden
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China
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Norway
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China
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Sweden
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Norway
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Denmark
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USA
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China
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USA
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Norway
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USA
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Norway
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China
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Sweden
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Denmark
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China
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China
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Norway
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Sweden
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USA
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China
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Norway
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USA
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Norway
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France
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USA
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Germany
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France
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Germany
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USA
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Sweden
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USA
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Denmark
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Sweden
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USA
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Denmark
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Norway
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