2018 Algarve Cup

Tournament details
Host country	Portugal
Dates	28 February – 7 March
Teams	12 (from 3 confederations)
Venue(s)	5 (in 5 host cities)
Final positions
Champions	Netherlands   Sweden (Final cancelled)
Third place	Portugal
Fourth place	Australia
Tournament statistics
Matches played	22
Goals scored	61 (2.77 per match)
Top scorer(s)	Christine Sinclair Lieke Martens Fridolina Rolfö (3 goals)
Best player(s)	Cláudia Neto
Fair play award	Japan
← 2017 2019 →

The 2018 Algarve Cup was the 25th edition of the Algarve Cup, an invitational women's football tournament held annually in Portugal. It took place from 28 February to 7 March 2018. ^[1]

The final was cancelled after torrential rain flooded the pitch: the Netherlands and Sweden were declared joint winners of the Algarve Cup. ^[2]

Format

The twelve invited teams were split into three groups to play a round-robin tournament.

Points awarded in the group stage followed the standard formula of three points for a win, one point for a draw and zero points for a loss. In the case of two teams being tied on the same number of points in a group, their head-to-head result determine the higher place.

Teams

Team	FIFA Rankings [3] (December 2017)
Australia	4
Canada	5
Netherlands	7
Japan	9
Sweden	10
Denmark	12
Norway	14
South Korea	14
China	16
Iceland	20
Russia	25
Portugal	38

Venues

• Albufeira Municipal Stadium, Albufeira
• Bela Vista Municipal Stadium, Parchal
• Estádio Algarve
• Lagos Municipal Stadium, Lagos
• VRS António Sports Complex, Vila Real de Santo António

Squads

Group stage

The groups were announced on 6 December 2017, and re-organised on 18 December, ^[4] due to South Korea being drawn against Australia in the Asian Cup finals the following month.

All times are local ( UTC±0).

Tie-breaking criteria

For the group stage of this tournament, where two or more teams in a group tied on an equal number of points, the finishing positions were determined by the following tie-breaking criteria in the following order:

1. number of points obtained in the matches among the teams in question
2. goal difference in all the group matches
3. number of goals scored in all the group matches
4. fair-play ranking in all the group matches
5. FIFA ranking

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Australia	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7
2	Portugal (H)	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7
3	Norway	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	3
4	China	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0

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Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Sweden	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7
2	Canada	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6
3	South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4
4	Russia	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

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Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5	7
2	Japan	3	2	0	1	6	7	−1	6
3	Iceland	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2
4	Denmark	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1

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Ranking of teams for placement matches

The ranking of the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th placed teams in each group to determine the placement matches:

• 1st placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C	Netherlands	3	2	1	0	9	4	+5	7	Final
2	B	Sweden	3	2	1	0	7	2	+5	7
3	A	Australia	3	2	1	0	6	3	+3	7	Third-place match

• 2nd placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	A	Portugal	3	2	1	0	4	1	+3	7	Third-place match
2	B	Canada	3	2	0	1	5	3	+2	6	Fifth-place match
3	C	Japan	3	2	0	1	6	7	−1	6

• 3rd placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	B	South Korea	3	1	1	1	4	5	−1	4	Seventh-place match
2	A	Norway	3	1	0	2	5	6	−1	3
3	C	Iceland	3	0	2	1	1	2	−1	2	Ninth-place match

• 4th placed teams

Pos	Grp	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	C	Denmark	3	0	1	2	2	5	−3	1	Ninth-place match
2	A	China	3	0	0	3	1	6	−5	0	Eleventh-place match
3	B	Russia	3	0	0	3	1	7	−6	0

Placement matches

Eleventh place game

Ninth place game

Seventh place game

• The match was abandoned at half-time with the score 0–0 due to torrential rain that flooded the pitch: both teams were awarded joint seventh place. ^[5]

Fifth place game

Third place game

Final

The final was cancelled after torrential rain flooded the pitch: the Netherlands and Sweden were declared joint winners of the Algarve Cup. ^{[6] [7]}

Final standings

Rank	Team
	Netherlands
	Sweden
	Portugal
4	Australia
5	Canada
6	Japan
7	South Korea
	Norway
9	Iceland
10	Denmark
11	China
12	Russia

Awards

Top Goalscorer [8]	Player of the Tournament	Fair play award
Christine Sinclair Lieke Martens Fridolina Rolfö	Cláudia Neto	Japan

Goalscorers

3 goals

2 goals

1 goal

Own goal

• Simone Boye Sørensen (playing against the Netherlands)

References

External links

• Official website