by In a year where the actions of disgraced former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales and, more recently, Joey Barton’s sexist rampage have dominated the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking that 2023 was a year of setbacks for women’s football. Football and women in football. However, those incidents, and others, have only seemed more ridiculous when contrasted with a women’s World Cup that captured hearts and generated the second-highest revenue for any global sporting event, behind the men’s World Cup.
Ian Wright said it best before the Women’s Euro 2022 final, in his characteristically passionate and charming style: “We don’t have to worry about dinosaurs. I saw someone say something about dinosaurs yelling at the meteor. I love it, that’s what those negative people are. See how many millions of people have been watching these women play; “There are people out there for this game.”
The good
The people who are there for this game? Well, there was a peak audience of 12 million people watching the Women’s World Cup final between England and Spain on BBC One, and a further 3.9 million watched it on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. In Spain, RTVE’s main channel, La 1, achieved a maximum audience of 7.38 million viewers, an audience share of 71.1%. Surprisingly, 53.9 million in China watched the country’s 6-1 loss to England in their final group match, while viewership in co-host Australia peaked at 11.15 million for their semi-final loss to England. . Meanwhile, total in-person attendance was 1,978,274 for the 64 matches played across 10 stadiums in Australia and New Zealand.
The figures don’t tell the full story, however, because they don’t capture the extent to which the tournament infiltrated the Australian consciousness for just over four weeks. It was a level up and a world away from the indifference encountered by fans who attended the previous edition in France in 2019. Afterwards, you felt like you were part of a secret society, making your way through cities undetected, to stadiums that locals assumed were finished by summer. In Australia, the host cities hummed to the rhythm of the tournament: street vendors asked for tickets, office workers added green and yellow scarves to their suits, taxi drivers chatted animatedly about Sam Kerr’s hamstring, and there was advertising and merchandise everywhere. everywhere.
Then, there was football, with Spain at the helm, fighting for a first senior international trophy in style against a backdrop of internal turmoil that would come into the spotlight after their triumph. For Australia there was catharsis with Kerr’s stunning solo goal against England after being deprived of their talismanic striker for much of the campaign. The Lionesses would score twice more after Kerr’s equalizer to crush the hosts and send them into a first World Cup final, despite the absence of Euro captain Leah Williamson, the boot winner of Euro gold Beth Mead and influential number 10 Fran Kirby.
Moroccan defender Nouhaila Benzina became the first woman to wear a hijab in a World Cup match when the debutants reached the round of 16. Then came the remarkable arrival on the world stage of 18-year-old Colombian Linda Caicedo, who, days later, after collapsing in training, scored the first goal in a surprising 2-1 victory over Germany as her team advanced to the elimination rounds. Added to this was Japan’s impressive form until Sweden stopped them in the quarter-finals and some sumptuous football was played.
The bad
We’ll leave the controversies to “the ugly ones” but, realistically, “the bad ones” and “the ugly ones” could merge into one giant section criticizing Rubiales, FIFA and many national federations for their treatment of teams and players in and around of the tournament. That, however, would not leave us room to talk about “the bad” in the field… and there was plenty of that.
Germany was among the favorites at the start of the tournament and it seemed inconceivable that they would not escape a group that included Colombia, Morocco and South Korea. It seemed even more inconceivable after they began with a 6-0 defeat of Morocco. However, defeat to Colombia and then a 1-1 draw with South Korea meant the Euro 2022 runners-up finished third in Group H. Coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was fired three months later despite having signed a new contract at the beginning of the year. .
Another big win came in the round of 16, when Sweden scored a penalty shootout victory over four-time champions the United States. The golden boot, the golden ball and the 2019 World Cup Golden Ball winner, Megan Rapinoe, missed a penalty, which she described as “black comedy”. Her penalty, one of three missed by the United States, in the shootout was Rapinoe’s last action for her team in a major tournament, as the forward had previously announced her intention to retire. She was often the savior of her team, as she was in 2019, where her two goals helped the United States beat France and reach the final, their World Cup ending in tears. It was a similar story for two other football greats, with Canada’s Christine Sinclair, the world’s most capped international, and Brazil’s Marta, also knocked out in the group stage at her last World Cup.
The ugly one
There were so many unpleasant things surrounding the Women’s World Cup, which made the tournament’s successes even more impressive. It was evident before the ball was kicked, when teams were protesting inequalities, inequity, unpaid wages and poor conditions. In the run-up to the tournament, Canada players threatened a strike over what they perceived as discriminatory treatment, Zambia fought (and continues to fight) against unpaid salaries and bonuses, South Africa players boycotted a pre-tournament friendly over unpaid bonuses , England players called out the FA after talks over performance-related bonuses collapsed, Nigeria threatened to boycott their first match of the tournament over unpaid bonuses and then discussed the conditions of their campaign, which included having to share beds and four days of tournament. Australia The players asked for cash prizes equivalent to those in the men’s World Cup.
These issues undoubtedly hampered the teams’ ability to show their best. Given how impressive football was despite these tests, the positive thing is that it shows that the development of the sport is far from reaching its peak, where players are given everything they need, both materially and environmentally.
There was also the pre-tournament armband fiasco, when FIFA took action to prevent teams from wearing the OneLove band designed in support of the LGBTQ+ community. With the rainbow armband banned and England planning to use the OneLove alternative in Australia, FIFA stepped in and created armbands supporting eight themes to soften the planned impact and give countries a way around it.
Rubiales. Do we need to say more? The performance of the then president of the RFEF after Spain’s victory over England in the final overshadowed the historic and heroic victory of his team. He was shown grabbing his crotch in celebration, kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips, behaving inappropriately with other players and lifting Athenea del Castillo over his shoulder, and his actions reflected the sexist culture that Spanish players have been struggling with. during decades. That it was necessary for Rubiales’ actions to be broadcast around the world for the players to be believed and understood after decades of protests over the culture surrounding the team, including 15 players who withdrew from the national team to protect their physical health and mental after his exit from the Euro Cup in 2022, it is truly damning. There are positives, as Rubiales has been banned from football for three years, coach Jorge Vilda has been sacked and the players have felt the power of him.
Learned lessons
There are no signs that the progress of the World Cup, or women’s football in general, is slowing. By the time the teams take the field in 2027, there will be prize money equal to that of the men’s edition in 2026. FIFA now needs to ensure that the proportion of that money allocated to the players actually reaches them and is not withheld by the federations. It must also ensure that player voices are heard, that reporting mechanisms at national and international level are robust and that education is provided across global football on what is and is not appropriate behaviour. It would also be good to know where the World Cup will be held. We know where the men’s World Cups in 2026, 2030 and 2034 will be held; It’s frankly ridiculous that we’re still waiting for the hosts of the 2027 Women’s World Cup to be announced.
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