A severe outbreak of SARS in early 2003 affected Guangdong in southern China and prompted FIFA to move the Women's World Cup to the United States, who had hosted the previous edition in 1999.

[7] The United States was judged to be a suitable emergency host because of their experience with organizing the 1999 tournament, despite potential conflicts in the fall sports schedule with American football and baseball.

The Los Angeles area repeated as host of the final, which was moved from the Rose Bowl to the Home Depot Center, a smaller stadium in Carson, California.

[24][25] FIFA also unveiled its Women's World Rankings system, which was used to determine seeded groups and retroactively calculated points for over 3,000 international fixtures dating back to 1971.

[27] The hosting United States was drawn into the tournament's "Group of death" alongside Sweden, Nigeria, and North Korea—all considered strong teams from their respective confederations.

The Swedish defense limited North Korea to a single shot in the first half, but goalkeeper Ri Jong-hui prevented a rout with several saves.

[44] Brazil took the lead against France in its final group stage match in the 58th minute, through a goal from Kátia, but conceded in stoppage time to a finish by Pichon.

[18][21] In the opening match of the first group doubleheader in Columbus, Christine Sinclair scored her first Women's World Cup goal in the fourth minute from a header to give Canada the lead.

Germany then equalized from a penalty kick before halftime, awarded for a handball, and completed a 4–1 comeback victory with three goals in the second half by Birgit Prinz and substitute Kerstin Garefrekes.

[46] The second match in Columbus ended with Argentina being defeated 6–0 by Japan, with two goals from Homare Sawa and a hat-trick scored by Mio Otani in an eight-minute span in the second half.

The team lost defender Steffi Jones to a knee injury in the second half and conceded a consolation goal to Argentina before scoring twice at the end of the match to extend their lead.

[18] Australia continued their Women's World Cup winless streak by losing 2–1 to Russia in the opening match, despite taking a 1–0 lead in the 38th minute through a goal from Kelly Golebiowski.

They opened the scoring in the 36th minute with a free kick taken by Marina Saenko, which was followed by a pair of close-range shots in the second half from Natalia Barbashina and Olga Letyushova.

[55] Group favorites China had unexpectedly conceded to Australia in the first half of their match, with a goal in the 28th minute for midfielder Heather Garriock, that would have snapped a winless World Cup record for the Matildas.

A potential equalizer in the first half from Sun Wen was saved off the line by Cheryl Salisbury, but Bai Jie was able to score shortly after halftime to earn a draw for China and prevent an upset victory for Australia.

[56] Australia continued its winless streak in World Cup play after losing 2–1 in its final group stage match against Ghana, who had also been eliminated from advancing to the quarterfinals.

Ghanaian striker Alberta Sackey, who had been named Africa's best female player, scored twice within five minutes near the end of the first half—once from long range and the other from a rebound on a saved shot.

A minute before halftime, Marta drew and scored an equalizing penalty for Brazil after being tripped by goalkeeper Sofia Lundgren, who was starting in place of Caroline Jönsson because of her drug treatment for stomach cramps.

[65] The Germans led 1–0 at halftime, with a goal by Martina Müller in the 25th minute, but scored three times within a five-minute span to open the second half after breaking down the Russian defense.

[65][66] Canada then achieved an upset defeat of China in their quarterfinal match, taking an early lead in the seventh minute through a header from Charmaine Hooper and maintaining a shutout to win 1–0 despite several scoring chances for the Chinese.

[69] Germany took the lead in the 15th minute through a header by Kerstin Garefrekes and held onto the shutout, despite the U.S. switching formations to produce attacking chances that often required saves from goalkeeper Silke Rottenberg.

[69] Maren Meinert and Brigit Prinz scored a pair of goals in stoppage time, taking advantage of the vulnerable American defense with their counterattacks.

[72] Canada were awarded a free kick from 35 yards (32 m) in the 64th minute, which was shot towards goal by Kara Lang and spun off the hands of Jönsson as she attempted to make the save.

Sweden made three substitutions to bring on attacking players and won a free kick in the 79th minute that was quickly taken by Victoria Svensson and passed to Malin Moström, who scored the equalizer.

[72] Substitute forward Josefine Öqvist scored the winning goal for Sweden six minutes later, finishing a rebound off a shot by Hanna Ljungberg that was saved by goalkeeper Taryn Swiatek.

[73] The third-place play-off was played on the day before the final at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California, between the United States and their continental rivals Canada.

The match remained tied after regulation time and was decided by a golden goal scored in the 98th minute by substitute defender Nia Künzer, who headed in a shot from a free kick taken by Renate Lingor.

[81][82] The tournament's sixteen-member all-star team, including eleven starters and five substitutes, was selected by the FIFA Technical Study Group and announced on October 8, 2003, by President Joseph Blatter.

[85] Silke Rottenberg Wang Liping Joy Fawcett Charmaine Hooper Sandra Minnert Bettina Wiegmann Malin Moström Shannon Boxx Maren Meinert Birgit Prinz Victoria Svensson Caroline Jönsson Solveig Gulbrandsen Marta Mia Hamm Dagny Mellgren The "FANtasy All-Star Team", which was sponsored by MasterCard, featured eleven players decided by a poll on FIFA.com.