FIFA Women’s World Cup™ 1991 – Oceania Qualifiers

Qualification for the inaugural FIFA Women’s World Cup™ in China in 1991 was held in Sydney, Australia, with all matches played at Marconi Park. The event consisted of just three teams – hosts Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, and doubled as the 1991 OFC Women’s Nations Cup.

All teams played each other twice in a group format, with the top side qualifying for the World Cup and claiming the OFC Women’s Nations Cup title. Australia and New Zealand proved evenly matched throughout the tournament, splitting the two matches played between each other with a 1-0 win apiece.

As such, qualification was decided by either side’s winning margins against Papua New Guinea. New Zealand picked up 16-0 and 11-0 victories, whilst Australia could only muster 12-0 and 8-0 wins over Papua New Guinea respectively.

Having scored seven goals more than their Trans-Tasman rivals, New Zealand qualified for the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup™ and claimed their second OFC Women’s Nations Cup title. New Zealand’s Wendy Sharpe also finished as the tournament’s top scorer with eight goals, after scoring two hat-tricks across the group matches.

It proved a tough FIFA Women’s World Cup™ initiation for New Zealand, who lost all three of their group games. They began with 0-3 and 0-4 defeats to Denmark and Norway respectively, but did at least have the consolation of scoring their first goal at the tournament in their final group game, when Kim Nye found the back of the net in a 1-4 defeat to hosts China.