South Korea had been 2-0 up at the half-time break thanks to Choe Yu-ri’s opener and Ji So-yun’s penalty. Out of nowhere, China got back into the match with a penalty of their own, converted by Tang Jiali, who two minutes later set up Zhang Linyan to head home the equaliser.

“At half-time I told the players not to give up as anything can happen in 45 minutes,” China head coach Shui Qingxia told reporters.

“We are delighted to win the title and we are going in the right direction in tactical, technical and psychological terms.”

The dramatic victory maintained a remarkable record for Shui, who took over the side in November following a disastrous Tokyo 2020 olympics campaign.

A five-time winner of the trophy as a player, she has never lost a match in the competition, either on the pitch or the sidelines.

“We played well in the first half and it was great to score but we have to reflect on what happened in the second,” South Korea’s first goalscorer Choe said.

“We did show that we have progressed as a team and have to keeping moving forward in the future.”

Colin Bell’s South Korea side went in front on 26 minutes, somewhat against the run of play, with a marvellously created goal.

A perfect cross from the right by Lee Geum-min was met by the onrushing Choe, who timed her run into the box and swept the ball home from close range.

China were then left reeling right before the interval, with Yao Lingwei being harshly punished for a handball in the box after a long VAR review.

Ji stepped up slotted the penalty home into the bottom left corner, powering it past Zhu, who got the tip of her glove to it.

It looked like South Korea had one hand on the trophy, with Bell’s team in complete control in the early stages of the second half.

Chasing two goals, Shui took off talisman striker Wang Shuang and sent on Zhang, and the move paid off in spades.

Suddenly China were handed – quite literally – a chance to get right back into it, with a penalty out of nothing that Bell will have been left ruing.

Another handball, this one by Lee Young-ju, was given after a lengthy look by VAR.

Tang stepped up and sent the ball into the bottom left corner – just – on 68 minutes, with South Korea goalkeeper Kim Jung-mi left banging the turf in frustration after getting a hand to it.

And just four minutes later, Tang burst past the South Korea defence down the right wing and whipped in a cross, which was met with a powering header by Zhang, the ball flying into the net.

Zhu then somehow denied Son from very close range, wrestling the trophy out of South Korea’s in added time, before China snatched the trophy at the death.

Tang’s slick slide slide-rule pass split the South Korea defence, with the Xiao sneaking into the right hand side of the box and burying the ball in the bottom left for just her second international goal on her 92nd appearance for her country.

There was another lengthy VAR check for offside, but the goal stood, and China’s remarkable smash-and-grab was complete.

Australia’s Sam Kerr ended up as the tournament’s top scorer, with seven goals, but Zhu was selected as the best goalkeeper, while Wang Shanshan was chosen as the most valuable player.

Captain Wang had scored the winning spot kick after firing in a late equaliser in extra-time as China knocked defending champions Japan on penalties in the the semi-finals.

Additional reporting by Associated Press