The women's football qualifiers are ongoing. England Women absolutely battered Latvia in their Qualifier match on Tuesday (30th Nov 2021). They recorded their biggest ever competitive victory, a 20-0 win.
10 different players recorded their names on the scoresheet, with four of them getting a hat-trick – Beth Mead, Ellen White, Lauren May Hemp, and Alessia Russo. Ellen White became England Women's Football's leading goal scorer, taking her tally to 48 goals. Lauren Hemp, meanwhile, made her first ever goal for England a memorable one by depositing three more into the goal post.
Though this was their biggest win in International womens football,it definitely wasn’t the biggest margin ever recorded in the women’s sport.
Here’s looking at the 4 Biggest victory margins in International Women’s Football –
No.4 – Germany W 17 – 0 Kazakhstan W
In a European Championship qualifying match in 2011, Germany faced off against Kazakhstan in an extremely one-sided encounter. There were three hat-tricks in this drubbing - Célia Šašić (4), Alexandra Popp (4), and Babett Peter (3).
The German football team is among the most successful in the history of Women’s Football. They have two World Cup trophies, 8 European Championships, and 1 Olympics Gold.
No.3 – Belgium W 19 – 0 Armenia W
A few days before the England Women registered a 20-0 win, Belgium wrapped up a 19-0 win over Armenia in the World Cup Qualifiers. The drubbing also featured 3 hat-tricks. Tessa Wullaert (5), Amber Tysiak (3), and Tine De Caigny (3).
Their 19-goal margin of victory was comfortably larger than their previous record of a 12-0 win over Moldova in 2017.
No.2 – England W – 20 – 0 Latvia W
Another one-sided affair in the World Cup Qualifiers. As we mentioned earlier in the article, this drubbing by England has put them at the top of the table – Having scored 53 goals and conceded none.
The recent one-sided affair has raised concerns in the Women’s Football scene about the mismatch in quality between the teams. Score lines like these are not considered good for the game or competitive, and it hampers the development of newer teams. There needs to be institutional changes to the structure of these competitions, and UEFA and FIFA have been considering how best to approach this problem.
No.1 – Canada W – 21 – 0 Puerto Rico W
23 years before the recent one-sided wins, Canada handed a 21-0 drubbing to Puerto Rico in the 1998 CONCACAF Women’s Championship.
There were just two hat-tricks in this drubbing - Silvana Burtini (8) and Shannon Rosenow (4). 4 other players scored 2 goals each. Canada Women went on to lift the trophy – their first title. Silvana Burtini was the top scorer with 14 goals, and also won the Best Player award.