The tournament began on 6 June 2015, and finished with the final on 5 July 2015[1] with a United States victory over Japan.

A then-record eight nations made their Women's World Cup debut, as listed above: Cameroon, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Ivory Coast, Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, and Thailand.

The cities of Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montreal and Moncton were selected to host tournament matches.

The tournament introduced goal-line technology with the Hawk-Eye system by which it is possible to show on the stadium screen if the ball was in or not.

Each participating national association was required to confirm its final 23-player squad no later than 10 working days before the start of the tournament.

Replacement of seriously injured players was permitted until 24 hours before the team in question's first World Cup game.

[21][22] Formiga of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan were included in World Cup squads for the sixth time, a record for any men or women players.

The draw was held on 6 December 2014 at 12:00 Eastern Standard Time at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

[27] Despite having a lower FIFA ranking than Sweden and England, Brazil was seeded ahead of both for "geographical reasons".

[20] Single yellow cards accrued were cancelled after the quarter-finals, therefore ensuring that no players miss the Final because of receiving a caution in the semi-finals.

[104][105] The following candidates were ultimately not selected: The All-Star Squad elected by FIFA's Technical Study Group consists of the following players:[106] Karen Bardsley Nadine Angerer Hope Solo Kadeisha Buchanan Lucy Bronze Steph Houghton Wendie Renard Saori Ariyoshi Julie Johnston Meghan Klingenberg Elise Kellond-Knight Amandine Henry Eugénie Le Sommer Aya Miyama Mizuho Sakaguchi Rumi Utsugi Carli Lloyd Megan Rapinoe Lisa De Vanna Élodie Thomis Anja Mittag Célia Šašić Ramona Bachmann The Dream Team elected by users of fifa.com consists of the following players and manager:[107] Hope Solo Kadeisha Buchanan Wendie Renard Julie Johnston Ali Krieger Aya Miyama Carli Lloyd Megan Rapinoe Anja Mittag Célia Šašić Alex Morgan Silvia Neid The total prize money offered by FIFA for the tournament was US$15 million.

Célia Šašić of Germany and Carli Lloyd of the United States finished as the top scorers with six goals.

[111][112][113] 2012 Women's World Player of the Year Abby Wambach noted "The men would strike playing on artificial turf.

An application filed on 1 October 2014 with the Ontario Human Rights Tribunal by a group of women's international soccer players against FIFA and the Canadian Soccer Association noted that, in 1994, FIFA spent $2 million to plant natural grass over artificial turf in New Jersey and Detroit.

Even with the possibility of boycotts, FIFA's head of women's competitions, Tatjana Haenni, made it clear "We play on artificial turf and there's no Plan B.

On 21 June at the Canada vs Switzerland round of 16 game in Vancouver, she reported that her thermometer was "officially broken".

[120] During the tournament, Australian striker Michelle Heyman slammed the playing conditions, saying the turf is like "walking on hot coals" and the players feet "just turn white, your skin is all ripped off".

In its host country of Canada, Bell Media acquired the broadcast rights; the competition was televised by CTV and TSN in English, as well as Réseau des sports (RDS) in French.

[127][128] In December 2014, the European Broadcasting Union extended its rights to FIFA tournaments for its members in 37 countries, including the 2015 Women's World Cup.

[131] On 17 June 2014, the mascot of the tournament, Shuéme, a female great white owl, was unveiled at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa.

[132] In the final week of the tournament, the Canadian government added Gazprom to a list of organizations sanctioned for supporting the Russian annexation of Crimea.