The Solheim Cup is a biennial golf tournament for professional women golfers contested by teams representing Europe and the United States. It is named for the American golf club manufacturer Karsten Solheim, who was a driving force behind its creation. The inaugural Cup was held in 1990, and the event was staged in even number years until 2002. As part of the general reshuffling of team golf events consequent to the postponement of the 2001 Ryder Cup due to 9/11, the Solheim Cup switched to odd numbered years from 2003, which means that it does not clash with the Ryder Cup, which is the equivalent mens event between the USA and Europe.

At the Solheim Cup the US team is selected by a points system, with American players on the LPGA Tour receiving points for each good finish on tour. For the European team, only seven players are selected on a points system based on results on the Ladies European Tour (LET). This is to allow top European players who compete mainly on the LPGA Tour to be selected to ensure that the European team is competitive. From 2007 only the top five players from the LET will qualify and another four will be selected on the basis of the Womens World Golf Rankings. This reflects the increasing dominance of the LPGA Tour, where almost all top European players spend most of their time.

In addition, each team has a number of "captains picks," players chosen at the discretion of the team captains, regardless of their point standings, though in practice the captains picks are often the next ranking players. Team captains are typically recently-retired professional golfers with Solheim Cup playing experience, chosen for their experience playing on previous Cup teams and for their ability to lead a team. The cup is played over three days. Since 2002, there have been 28 matches—eight foursomes, eight four-balls and 12 singles on the final day. This is the same format of the Ryder Cup. Before 1996, and also in 2000, the Solheim Cup used a similar, but abbreviated format.