Algarve Cup
| Founded | 1994 |
|---|---|
| Number of teams | 12 |
| Current champions |
 Canada (1st title) |
| Most successful team(s) |
 United States (10 titles) |
| Website | Official website |
 2017 Algarve Cup
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The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's association football hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious and longest-running women's international football events.
The most successful teams have been the United States, with ten titles, and Norway, with four. Norway's titles all came in the early years of the tournament, while the USA has won all its titles since 2000, including nine in thirteen years since 2003. Sweden and Germany have both won three times, China has won twice. The USA, Norway and Germany are the only nations to have won both the FIFA Women's World Cup and the Algarve Cup.
The Algarve Cup, as an annual event featuring most of the world's top women's football teams, has no parallel in the men's game, given that there are fewer professional women's leagues and thus fewer scheduling conflicts. It is played the same time as the Cyprus Cup. It is superstition that the team that wins the Algarve Cup never goes on to win the World Cup, but in 2015, the USA proved it to be wrong as they were both the 2015 Algarve Cup Champions and the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup Champions.
From 2002 to 2014, 12 teams were invited, with the top eight competing for the championship. The teams were divided into three groups of four — A, B and C. Group C was added in 2002 to provide second-tier teams with high-level match experience every year. The teams first played round-robin within their pool. Then the placement round proceeded as follows:
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