World Cup, to be hosted by China in 1991. The tournament, which had several modified rules and was officially known as the 1st FIFA World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup until retroactively given the World Cup moniker, was considered a success by FIFA and was followed up by the second World Cup in Sweden four years later with greater media attention but played in front of smaller crowds averaging under 4,500. Host selection The United States Soccer Federation announced their intention to bid for the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup in February 1995, shortly after hosting the successful 1994 men's World Cup. Australia and Chile both announced their intention to bid but withdrew from the process in December 1995. This left the United States as the sole applicant by the March 1996 deadline for bids. The FIFA Executive Committee officially awarded hosting rights to the United States on May 31, 1996, the same day that the 2002 men's World Cup was jointly awarded to Japan and South Korea. Venues With the exception of the semi-finals, the tournament's 32 matches were organized into 15 doubleheaders, consisting of two matches played back-to-back in the same stadium. The semi-finals were played in separate venues, but organized as doubleheaders hosted by the San Jose Clash and New England Revolution of Major League Soccer. Eight venues were used for the tournament: three on the East Coast, four on the West Coast, and one in Chicago. Most of the stadiums were American football venues with higher capacities than many of the stadiums used in the first two tournaments. At FIFA's request, the tournament's organizers had originally planned to use five smaller college football venues on the East Coast located in a single time zone. The final match would be staged at RFK Memorial Stadium in Washington, D.C. Following the success of the inaugural women's soccer tournament at the 1996 Summer Olympics, which had high attendances and culminated in 76,489 watching the gold medal match, the organizing committee chose to use larger stadiums instead and received 15 bids in 1997. The eight venues and host cities were announced on November 19, 1997, including five large American football venues that were used in the 1994 men's World Cup. The tournament final was awarded to the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, which reprised its role from the 1984 Summer Olympics gold medal match and the 1994