The record-breaking US women’s national soccer team, before their first 2025 appearance
For all those reminiscing about summer days, sitting around the TV watching the Olympics with your loved ones, you’re not alone.
Research shows that viewership of last year’s games was overwhelmingly popular, with most networks reporting more than double the streaming numbers of the Tokyo games.
One of the sports with a dramatic uptick in viewers however was women’s soccer (that’s football to you Brits), with the Spanish-speaking television giant Telemundo showing a 386% increase in viewers of the sport compared to the previous Olympics.
The women's gold medal winner of last year’s Olympics – and arguably the most dominant team in the history of their sport – was the US Women’s National Team (USWNT), who beat Brazil 1-0 for their third victory over the team in an Olympic final.
It’s not the first time their fans went home happy. The US Women’s National soccer team (USWNT) is one of the most successful national sports teams in America, after holding their #1 spot atop the FIFA rankings for 13 years in a row, capturing the most gold medals in Olympic women’s soccer history (five since 1996), and four Women’s World Cup championships since 1991.
So perhaps predicting a big game, people tuned in – NBC’s broadcast of the game averaged 9 million viewers, which was the highest audience for a Gold Medal women's soccer game since 2004, despite the early morning kickoff.
The next international fixture for the US women’s team is the SheBelieves Cup, which is hosted in America between 20-26 February. So if you’re one of the millions of soccer (or ‘football’) fans around the world waiting for the next big game, we’ve collected some USWNT record titles for you to read about while you wait.
Most wins of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (team)
The USWNT has four Women’s World Cup titles from 1991, 1999, 2015, and 2019 - more than any other team. By defeating Japan 5-2 in the 2015 final, the USWNT surpassed Germany as the team with the most wins of the FIFA Women’s World Cup (team), giving them a Guinness World Records title in the process.
They’ve participated in every tournament, and medaled for the first eight competitions until 2023, in a dramatic penalty-kick loss to Sweden.
Most consecutive wins at the FIFA Women’s World Cup finals (team)
Naturally then, the most consecutive wins at the FIFA Women's World Cup finals by a team is also by the US with 13, achieved between 2015 and 2023.
Their record winning streak began after beating Nigeria 1-0 in the group stage at the 2015 Women’s World Cup, and they won the championship twice in 2015 and 2019 within this streak. Their run finally ended in 2023 at the hands of the Netherlands, after drawing 1-1 on 27 July.
Most Olympic Women’s football (soccer) titles won
The US women also hold the Guinness World Records title for the most Olympic Women’s football (soccer) titles won, for their five gold-medal achievements in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2024.
Their tense game against Brazil at the Parc au Princes in Paris last year extended their record, off an early second-half goal from Mallory Swanson.
Most consecutive Women’s FIFA World Cup Finals games scored in by an individual
USWNT legend Carli Lloyd also holds the record title for most consecutive Women’s FIFA World Cup Finals games scored in by an individual, six, which she achieved during a group stage match against Chile in the 2019 World Cup on 16 June.
The previous five fixtures she scored in came during the knockout stage of the 2015 tournament, including the final which USWNT won, as well as the first group match of the 2019 tournament.
Youngest debut goalscorer in the football (soccer) National Women’s Soccer League
While older fans of the USWNT would have followed players like Kristine Lilly, Mia Hamm, Megan Rapinoe, or Carli Lloyd, while more recent fans might remember Alex Morgan or Hope Solo, the faces of the USWNT have changed in this new era.
Currently, one of the biggest USWNT stars is Trinity Rodman, who made her debut on the national team in February 2022. She currently holds the record title for youngest debut goalscorer in the football (soccer) National Women’s Soccer League, after a strike for the Washington Spirit in 2021 when she was 18 years and 325 days old.
Header image: Kelly/Pexels