Kuenzer had come on as a substitute in the 88th minute but soon found herself at the center of her sport's most dramatic moment—a World Cup final. The winning goal came when she headed a free kick from teammate Renate Lingor past Swedish keeper Caroline Joensson.

It was the first World Cup for the German women, the German men have won three.

Sweden opened the scoring in the 41st minute when Hanna Ljungberg scored off a feed from Victoria Svensson. Germany countered when Maren Meinert converted off a feed from Birgit Prinz in the opening minute of the second half.

Sweden had some good chances for the remainder of regulation time but could not convert and Kuenzer's goal brought matters to a dramatic conclusion. Prinz was chosen as the tournament's Most Valuable Player.

Attendance for the final was announced a 26,137, although published reports indicated that there might have been fewer bodies in the stands.

This was the fourth time that FIFA staged a World Cup for women. The next one will be in 2007 in China, which was scheduled to host this year's event before the tournament was moved to the United States because of concerns about an outbreak of SARS.

On October 11, the United States defeated Canada 3-1 in the third-place match.

Past FIFA Women's World Cup Champions

1991 United States 2003 Germany

1995 Norway

1999 United States