The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation and competes in CONCACAF (the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football).

[5] On April 5, 2017, USWNT players and the U.S. Soccer Federation reached a deal on a new collective bargaining agreement that would, among other things, lead to a pay increase.

[12][16] The team played several exhibition matches abroad against European opponents to prepare for the world championship, while its players quit their regular jobs to train full-time with meager compensation.

[17][18] Dorrance utilized a 4–3–3 formation that was spearheaded by the "Triple-Edged Sword" of forward Michelle Akers and wingers Carin Jennings and April Heinrichs.

[20] The United States proceeded with a 7–0 victory in the quarterfinals over Chinese Taipei, fueled by a five-goal performance by Akers in the first fifty minutes of the match.

[21] The team's lopsided victories in the earlier rounds had brought attention from American media outlets, but the final match was not televised live in the U.S.[20] The United States won the inaugural Women's World Cup title by defeating Norway 2–1 in the final, played in front of 65,000 spectators at Tianhe Stadium in Guangzhou, as Akers scored twice to create and restore a lead for the Americans.

[23] Despite their Women's World Cup victory, the U.S. team remained in relative obscurity and received a small welcome from several U.S. Soccer Federation officials upon arrival at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City.

[26][25][27] The United States played in several friendly tournaments to prepare for the 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup and its qualification campaign.

[28][29] Dorrance resigned from his position as head coach in early August and was replaced by his assistant, Tony DiCicco, a former professional goalkeeper who played in the American Soccer League.

[25][30] DiCicco led the United States to a berth in the Women's World Cup by winning the 1994 CONCACAF Championship, where the team scored 36 goals and conceded only one.

[28] In February 1995, the U.S. women's program opened a permanent training and treatment facility in Sanford, Florida, and began a series of warm-up friendlies that were paid for by American company Nike.

[35] In the 2000 Summer Olympics, the USWNT were close to defending their gold medal but were controversially defeated by Norway in the final with a golden goal in extra time, which involved an alleged handball in the lead-up.

In the 2004 Olympics, the last major international tournament for Hamm and Foudy, the U.S. earned the gold medal, winning 2–1 over Brazil in the final on an extra time goal by Wambach.

[38] At the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the U.S. defeated England 3–0 in the quarterfinals but then suffered its most lopsided loss in team history when it lost to Brazil 4–0 in the semifinals.

[44] The United States advanced to face Japan for the gold medal by winning the semifinal against Canada, a 4–3 victory at the end of extra time.

With 2–1 victories over France[65] and then England[66] seeing them advance to a record third straight World Cup final, they played against the Netherlands for the title.

On July 30, 2019, Jill Ellis announced that she would step down as head coach following the conclusion of the team's post-World Cup victory tour on October 6, 2019.

On July 21, 2021, the USWNT lost 3–0 against Sweden in the opening round of group stage at the 2020 Summer Olympics, thus ending a 44-match unbeaten streak.

[93] Ten of their twelve goals in the tournament were scored by the self-named "Triple Espresso" attackers Trinity Rodman, Mallory Swanson, and Sophia Smith.

[97][98] In December 2021, a deal was signed to broadcast TV coverage of other USWNT games between TNT and TBS and streaming on HBO Max through the end of 2030.

[101] The 1999 World Cup final set the original record for largest U.S. television audience for a women's soccer match, averaging 18 million viewers.

[102][103] It was the most viewed English-language U.S. broadcast of any soccer match until the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup final between the United States and Japan.

[113] The 1999 World Cup final, in which the United States defeated China, set a world attendance record for a women's soccer event of 90,185 in a sellout at the Rose Bowl in Southern California (until it was broken on March 30, 2022, with 91,553 people at the Camp Nou in Barcelona, Spain in the second-leg of a UEFA Women's Champions League match).

[115] Since 2016, the players of the U.S. team had waged an escalating legal fight with the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) over gender discrimination.

The new agreement mandates that men and women split prize money from international competitions equally, making it the first such instance in the world.

[126] Prior to the 2015 World Cup, Abby Wambach headed a discrimination lawsuit with other global soccer stars including Marta of Brazil and Homare Sawa of Japan.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The women's national team boasts the first six players in the history of the game to have earned 200 caps.

The team has participated in every Olympic tournament through 2024 and reached the gold medal game in each until 2016, when they were eliminated in the quarter-finals in a penalty shoot-out loss to Sweden.

The SheBelieves Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer hosted in the United States.

The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF).