Germany began their bid to regain the Women’s World Cup by putting 10 past Ivory Coast in Ottawa.
Celia Sasic scored a hat-trick and Anja Mittag netted twice as Germany were 5-0 up inside 35 minutes.
Mittag completed her treble after the break, with Simone Laudehr, Sara Dabritz, Melanie Behringer and Alexandra Popp all finding the net.
“We had judged them to be better than they were today,” said Germany coach Silvia Neid.
Germany fell short of matching the record they set with an 11-0 win over Argentina in 2007.
They went on to defend the trophy they won four years earlier, but failed to reach the semi-finals on home soil in 2011.
Now, the team at the top of the world rankings annihilated an Ivory Coast side who, at 67, are the lowest ranked in the tournament.
“We must forget the score from today, forget the negative points, and learn from this,” said Ivory Coast coach Clementine Toure. “Playing the best team in the world is also the best way to learn for us.”
Germany could have had more had they not wasted a host of chances in a desperately one-sided first half an hour.
Ivory Coast, making their tournament debut, were able to stem the tide for 30 minutes either side of the break and even had chances to get on the scoresheet.
Binta Diakite had a goal ruled out for a foul on German goalkeeper Nadine Angerer and Ange N’Guessan headed over when faced with an open goal.
But as the African side tired, more gaps opened in their defence, and Germany were able to add five more in the final 25 minutes.
Germany meet Norway, who beat Thailand 4-0, on Thursday.
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