2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1 facts for kids
The 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup qualification – UEFA Group 1 was part of the exciting journey for European teams hoping to play in the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. Teams competed in groups to earn their spot in the big tournament. In this group, the German team played amazingly and finished as the winners. A German player named Anja Mittag was the top scorer in this group, scoring 11 goals!
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What Was the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Qualification?
The FIFA Women's World Cup is a major international football tournament. It happens every four years. To play in it, teams must first go through a qualification process. This means they play against other teams from their continent. They try to win enough games to get a spot in the main World Cup event.
How Teams Qualified in Europe
In Europe, teams were put into different groups. Each team played against every other team in their group twice. They played one game at home and one game away. Teams earned points for their results:
- A win gave them 3 points.
- A draw (tie) gave them 1 point.
- A loss gave them 0 points.
After all the games, the team with the most points in each group usually qualified directly. Some second-place teams might also get a chance to qualify through play-off games.
Group 1: The Teams and Their Journey
Group 1 had six teams from Europe. They all wanted to reach the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup. These teams were:
- Germany
- Russia
- Republic of Ireland
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Slovakia
Germany's Amazing Performance
The German team was incredibly strong in this group. They won every single one of their games. This perfect record showed how dominant they were. They scored many goals and let in very few. This helped them easily win the group and qualify for the World Cup.
How the Group Standings Worked
The table below shows how each team finished in Group 1. It helps us understand their performance.
| Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Germany |
10 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 62 | 4 | +58 | 30 |
 Russia |
10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 19 | 18 | +1 | 22 |
 Republic of Ireland |
10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 9 | +4 | 17 |
 Croatia |
10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 20 | –13 | 8 |
 Slovenia |
10 | 2 | 0 | 8 | 7 | 34 | –27 | 6 |
 Slovakia |
10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 6 | 29 | –23 | 4 |
Here's what the columns in the table mean:
- Pld (Played): The total number of games each team played. All teams played 10 games.
- W (Won): The number of games a team won. Germany won all 10 of their games.
- D (Drawn): The number of games that ended in a tie. Germany had no draws.
- L (Lost): The number of games a team lost. Germany lost no games.
- GF (Goals For): The total number of goals a team scored. Germany scored 62 goals!
- GA (Goals Against): The total number of goals scored against a team. Germany only let in 4 goals.
- GD (Goal Difference): This is the number of goals scored minus the number of goals let in (GF - GA). A higher number is better. Germany had a huge goal difference of +58.
- Pts (Points): The total points a team earned from wins and draws. Germany finished with a perfect 30 points.
Other Teams in the Group
Russia finished second in the group. They won 7 games and had one draw. This strong performance gave them a chance to play in the play-offs. The Republic of Ireland came in third. They won 5 games and had two draws. The other teams, Croatia, Slovenia, and Slovakia, finished lower in the standings. They did not qualify for the World Cup.
