View source for 1996 Algarve Cup

{{Infobox international football competition
| tourney_name = <!-- blank, if tournament name is like PAGE NAME-->
| year = 
| yearr = <!-- use if year is on right side-->
| other_titles = 
| image = 
| size = 
| caption = 
| country = Portugal
| dates = 
| num_teams = 8
| confederations = 2
| venues = 8
| cities = 
| champion_other= {{fbw|Norway}}
| count = 2
| second_other = {{fbw|SWE}}
| third_other = {{fbw|CHN}}
| matches = 16
| goals = 52
| attendance = 
| top_scorer = 
| player = {{flagicon|Norway}} [[Hege Riise]]
| updated =
| prevseason = [[1995 Algarve Cup|1995]]
| nextseason = [[1997 Algarve Cup|1997]]
}}
The '''1996 Algarve Cup''' was the third edition of the [[Algarve Cup]], an invitational [[women's association football]] tournament. It took place between 11  and 17 March 1996 in [[Portugal]] with [[Norway women's national football team|Norway]] winning the event for the second time in its history, defeating Sweden, 4–0 in the final-game.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dn.se/arkiv/sport/ny-forlust-mot-norge/|title=Ny förlust mot Norge|publisher=Dagens nyheter|language=Swedish|date=18 March 1996|access-date=2 February 2017}}</ref>

==Format==
[[China women's national football team|China]], [[Iceland women's national football team|Iceland]] and [[Russia women's national football team|Russia]] were all invited to appear in the Algarve Cup for the first time replacing [[Italy women's national football team|Italy]], the [[Netherlands women's national football team|Netherlands]] and the [[United States women's national soccer team|United States]]. China became the first team to compete in the tournament representing the [[Asian Football Confederation]].

The eight invited teams were split into two groups that played a [[round-robin tournament]]. On completion of this, the fourth placed teams in each group would play each other to determine seventh and eighth place, the third placed teams in each group would play each other to decide fifth and sixth place, the second placed teams in each group would play to determine third and fourth place and the winners of each group would compete for first and second place overall.

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.

==Group A==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!width=175 |Team
!width=20 abbr="Points" |Pts
!width=20 abbr="Played" |Pld
!width=20 abbr="Won" |W
!width=20 abbr="Drawn" |D
!width=20 abbr="Lost" |L
!width=20 abbr="Goals for" |GF
!width=20 abbr="Goals against" |GA
!width=20 abbr="Goal difference" |GD
|- 
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|NOR}}
|'''9'''||3||3||0||0||10||1||+9
|- 
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|CHN}}
|'''6'''||3||2||0||1||7||4||+3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|RUS}}
|'''3'''||3||1||0||2||2||5||&minus;3
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|POR}}
|'''0'''||3||0||0||3||1||10||&minus;9
|}

{{football box
|date = March 11, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|NOR}}
|score = 4&ndash;1
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|CHN}}
|goals1 = 
*[[Marianne Pettersen|Pettersen]] {{goal|11}}
*[[Brit Sandaune|Sandaune]] {{goal|46}}
*[[Hege Riise|Riise]] {{goal|73}}
*[[Ann Kristin Aarønes|Aarønes]] {{goal|75}}
|goals2 = [[Fan Yunjie]] {{goal|36}}
|stadium = [[Silves Municipality, Portugal|Silves]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 11, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|RUS}}
|score = 2&ndash;1
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|POR}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Silves Municipality, Portugal|Silves]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 13, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|NOR}}
|score =  3&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|POR}}
|goals1 = 
*[[Kjersti Thun|Thun]] {{goal|11}}
*[[Hege Riise|Riise]] {{goal|75}}
*[[Tina Svensson|Svensson]] {{goal|78}}
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Vila Real de Santo António Municipality|Vila Real de Santo António]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 13, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|CHN}}
|score = 1&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|RUS}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Vila Real de Santo António Municipality|Vila Real de Santo António]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 15, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|NOR}}
|score = 3&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|RUS}}
|goals1 = 
*{{goal|9|o.g.}}
*[[Marianne Pettersen|Pettersen]] {{goal|86}}
*[[Linda Medalen|Medalen]] {{goal|89}}
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Quarteira]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 15, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|CHN}}
|score =  5&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|POR}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Quarteira]]
}}

==Group B==
{| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;"
|-
!width=175 |Team
!width=20 abbr="Points" |Pts
!width=20 abbr="Played" |Pld
!width=20 abbr="Won" |W
!width=20 abbr="Drawn" |D
!width=20 abbr="Lost" |L
!width=20 abbr="Goals for" |GF
!width=20 abbr="Goals against" |GA
!width=20 abbr="Goal difference" |GD
|- 
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|SWE}}
|'''9'''||3||3||0||0||10||1||+9
|- 
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|DEN}}
|'''6'''||3||2||0||1||6||2||+4
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|ISL}}
|'''3'''||3||1||0||2||3||5||&minus;2
|-
|style="text-align:left;"|{{fbw|FIN}}
|'''0'''||3||0||0||3||1||12||&minus;11
|}

{{football box
|date = March 11, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|SWE}}
|score = 2&ndash;1
|report = [https://www.svenskfotboll.se/matchfakta/danmark-sverige-landskamper-dam-senior/1569523/ SvFF Report] (in Swedish)
|team2 = {{fbw|DEN}}
|goals1 = [[Pia Sundhage|Sundhage]] {{goal|51}}<br/>[[Malin Swedberg|Swedberg]] {{goal|70}}
|goals2 = [[Helle Jensen|Jensen]] {{goal|75}}
|stadium = [[Lagos, Portugal|Lagos]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 11, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|ISL}}
|score = 3&ndash;1
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|FIN}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Lagos, Portugal|Lagos]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 13, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|SWE}}
|score = 7&ndash;0
|report = [https://www.svenskfotboll.se/matchfakta/finland-sverige-landskamper-dam-senior/1569524/ SvFF Report] (in Swedish)
|team2 = {{fbw|FIN}}
|goals1 = [[Kristin Bengtsson|Bengtsson]] {{goal|13}}<br/>[[Anna Pohjanen|Pohjanen]] {{goal|54||67||74}}<br/>[[Malin Andersson|Andersson]] {{goal|58||59||83}}
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Portimão]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 13, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|DEN}}
|score = 3&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|ISL}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Portimão]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 15, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|SWE}}
|score =  1&ndash;0
|report = [https://www.svenskfotboll.se/matchfakta/island-sverige-landskamper-dam-senior/1569525/ SvFF Report] (in Swedish)
|team2 = {{fbw|ISL}}
|goals1 = [[Malin Andersson|Andersson]] {{goal|83}}
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Olhão]]
}}
----
{{football box
|date = March 15, 1996
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|DEN}}
|score =  2&ndash;0
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|FIN}}
|goals1 = 
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Olhão]]
}}

==Seventh Place==

{{football box 
|date = March 17, 1996 
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|POR}} 
|score = 3&ndash;0 
|report =  
|team2 = {{fbw|FIN}} 
|goals1 = {{goal}} [[Carla Couto|Couto]]<br>{{goal}} [[Maria João Xavier|Xavier]]<br>{{goal}} [[Patrícia Sequeira|Sequeira]]
|goals2 =  
|stadium = Montechoro, [[Albufeira]]
}}

Portugal finished bottom of their group for the third year in a row but defeated Finland 3&ndash;0 to finish seventh in the final overall standings.

==Fifth Place==

{{football box 
|date = March 17, 1996 
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|RUS}} 
|score = 1&ndash;1  [[Sudden death (sport)|asdet]]<br />(3&ndash;2)<br /><small>([[Penalty shootout (football)|PSO]])</small>
|report =  
|team2 = {{fbw|ISL}} 
|goals1 =  [[Nadezhda Bosikova|Bosikova]] {{goal}}
|goals2 =  {{goal}} [[Margrét Rannveig Ólafsdóttir|Ólafsdóttir]] 
|stadium = [[Vila Real de Santo António Municipality|Vila Real de Santo António]]
}}

Russia and Iceland faced each other in the fifth place deciding match and with the score level after normal time and an added period of [[sudden death (sport)|sudden death extra-time]], contested the outcome with a [[penalty shootout (football)|penalty shootout]]. Russia won this 3&ndash;2.

==Third Place==

{{football box 
|date = March 17, 1996 
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|CHN}} 
|score = 2–1
|report = 
|team2 = {{fbw|DEN}} 
|goals1 = [[Sun Qingmei|Qingmei]] {{goal}}<br />[[Own goal]] {{goal}}
|goals2 = {{goal}} [[Christina B. Petersen|Petersen]]  
|stadium = [[Algarve]]
}}

China reached the third place play-off in their first appearance at the Algarve Cup and defeated Denmark to take the bronze medal.

==Final==

{{football box 
|date = March 17, 1996 
|team1 = {{fbw-rt|NOR}} 
|score = 4&ndash;0 
|report = [https://www.svenskfotboll.se/matchfakta/norge-sverige-landskamper-dam-senior/1569526/ SvFF Report] (in Swedish)
|team2 = {{fbw|SWE}} 
|goals1 = {{goal|8}}{{goal|83}} [[Ann Kristin Aarønes|Aarønes]]<br>{{goal|36}}{{goal|71}} [[Marianne Pettersen|Pettersen]]
|goals2 = 
|stadium = [[Quarteira]]
}}

An all Scandinavian final saw [[1995 FIFA Women's World Cup]] winners Norway beat Sweden 4&ndash;0 and become champions for the second time in the competition's history.

==Awards==
{{winners|fbw|1996 Algarve Cup|Norway|Second}}

{| class="wikitable" style="margin: 0 auto;"
|-
!Best player
|-
|align=center|{{flagicon|Norway}} [[Hege Riise]]
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.rsssf.org/tablesw/wom-algarve96.html 1996 Algarve Cup] on RSSSF

{{Algarve Cup}}
{{International women's football}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Algarve Cup}}
[[Category:Algarve Cup|1996]]
[[Category:1995–96 in Portuguese women's football]]
[[Category:March 1996 sports events in Europe]]