FIFA, the world governing body of soccer, has announced the team of World Stars that will face the U.S. women’s national team in the first-ever FIFA Women’s World All-Star Game to be held Feb. 14 at Spartan Stadium in San Jose, Calif. The Women’s World Cup Final Draw will be conducted at halftime on a stage constructed in one end of the stadium. The 16 nations will be placed into four groups of four teams each and the schedule for the tournament will be set as the countries find out in which stadiums and cities they will play. Both the All-Star Match and Final Draw will be broadcast live on ESPN2, starting at 5 p.m. PT. Tickets can be obtained by calling the San Jose Clash of Major League Soccer at (408) 985-GOAL or BASS Tickets at (408) 998-BASS. The World Stars team will bring together some of the finest players from around the globe who will be looking to make the 1999 FIFA Women’s World Cup their stage next summer. The World Stars team will be made up of one player from each of the qualified teams and three players from teams that did not qualify so as to continue the promotion of women’s soccer around the world. The coaches for the World Stars will be Gunilla Paijkull, the legendary coach of Sweden’s 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup team and a pioneer in the women’s game, and Sylvie Beliveau, the former national team coach of Canada, who led her team to the 1995 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Following are the 1999 FIFA World Stars:
| Goa Hong (Goalkeeper, China) |
| Most acrobatic keeper in the world faced USA in 1996 Olympic Final |
| Ulrika Karlsson (Goalkeeper, Sweden) |
| The total package; voted top goalie at ’97 Euro Championship |
| Corinne Diacre* (Defender, France) |
| Led team to brink of World Cup berth, but lost key game to Finland |
| Kim Sun Hui (Defender, North Korea) |
| Captained team to historic victory over Japan and WWC ’99 berth |
| Linda Medalen (Defender, Norway) |
| One of world’s legendary players; Team captain has over 100 caps |
| Sara Mohamed* (Defender, Egypt) |
| 16-year old is part of first generation of players from Arab countries |
| Lene Terp (Defender, Denmark) |
| ’95 World Cup and ’96 Olympic veteran is physical force in back |
| Mercy Akhide (Midfielder, Nigeria) |
| Nicknamed “Marvelous,” she is the Super Falconsf leading scorer |
| Antonella Carta (Midfielder, Italy) |
| Arguably one of the world’s best two-way center midfielders |
| Inna Grigorieva (Midfielder, Russia) |
| Highly skillful captain is a brilliant creator and scorer |
| Laurie Hill (Midfielder, Mexico) |
| Former UC Santa Barbara star now dominates MF for Mexico |
| Charmaine Hooper (Midfielder, Canada) |
| Tremendous attacker, she was MVP of the USISL W-League in ’98 |
| Homare Sawa (Midfielder, Japan) |
| Dynamic attacking MF scored 7 goals in one game at Asian Cup |
| Bettina Weigmann (Midfielder, Germany) |
| Slashing dribbler is best of Germany’s slew of talented attackers |
| Vivan Mensah (Forward, Ghana) |
| Mother of one, her scoring led Black Queens to first WWC berth |
| Julie Murray (Forward, Australia) |
| The Matildas captain in ’95 and best pure goal scorer |
| Sue Smith* (Forward, England) |
| England’s top attacker leads tremendous growth of game in UK |