by In a year where the disgraceful actions of former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales and, more recently, Joey Barton’s sexual rampage dominated the headlines, you could be forgiven for thinking 2023 was the year in which women had difficulties. football and women in football. But those incidents, and others, only seemed paler in contrast to the Women’s World Cup which captured hearts and generated the second highest revenue of any global sporting event – behind the men’s World Cup .
Ian Wright said it was better ahead of the women’s Euro 2022 final, in his passionate and endearing way: “We don’t have to worry about the dinosaurs. I saw someone say something about the dinosaurs screaming at the meteor. I love it – that’s what negative people are. Look how many millions of people were watching these women play – people are out there for this game.”
Very good
The people out there for this game? Well, the Women’s World Cup final between England and Spain was watched by a peak audience of 12 million on BBC One, with a further 3.9 million watching on iPlayer and the BBC Sport website and app. In Spain, RTVE’s main channel La 1 achieved a peak audience of 7.38 million people, an audience share of 71.1%. An impressive 53.9 million in China watched the country’s 6-1 win over England in their final group game, while co-hosts Australia peaked at 11.15 million for their win over England. Meanwhile, the total personal attendance was 1,978,274 for the 64 matches played across 10 stadiums in Australia and New Zealand.
The figures don’t tell the whole story, however, because they don’t indicate how widespread the competition has been infiltrating Australia’s consciousness for just over four weeks. It was next level and a world away from the indifference of fans who attended the previous edition in France in 2019. Then, you felt as if you were part of a secret society, working for a route through undiscovered cities, to stadiums that were embraced by the locals. wound up for the summer. In Australia the host cities booed the tournament: street vendors asked for tickets, office workers donned green and yellow scarves, taxi drivers talked enthusiastically about Sam Kerr’s hamstring and advertising and merchandising were everywhere.
Then, football, Spain in the lead, was fighting to the first senior international trophy in style against a background of internal turmoil that would be completely in the spotlight after its victory. For Australia there was catharsis in Kerr’s brilliant solo strike against England after they had been deprived of their talismanic bellwether for much of the campaign. The Lionesses scored twice more after Kerr’s leveler to push the hosts and deliver passage to a first World Cup final, despite the absence of Euro captain Leah Williamson, Euro golden boot winner Beth Mead and the winning No 10 Fran Kirby.
Moroccan defender Nouhaila Benzina became the first woman to wear a hijab in a World Cup match as did the debutants in the last 16. Then there was the amazing arrival on the world stage of 18-year-old Colombian Linda Caicedo who, days. after collapsing in training, she scored the first goal in a shock 2-1 win over Germany as her team worked their way into the knockout stages. Add to that Japan’s excellent form until they were stopped by Sweden at the quarter-final stage and some great football was played.
The evil
We will save the controversies for the “ugly” but, realistically, “the bad” and the “ugly” could be merged into one huge section, ripping into Rubiales, FIFA and many national confederations regarding the treatment of they do to teams and players in the country. around the competition. That would not, however, give us the space to talk about the “bad behavior” on the field … and there was a lot of it.
Germany were among the contenders going into the tournament and it looked like they would not escape from a group that included Colombia, Morocco and South Korea. It looked even more unimaginable after they started with a 6-0 win over Morocco. Colombia’s win, however, and a 1-1 draw with South Korea saw the Euro 2022 runners-up finish third in Group H. Head coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg was sacked three months later despite that a new contract was signed earlier in the year. .
Another big scalp was taken in the last 16, with Sweden winning on penalties over the USA, the holders and four-time winners. World Cup 2019 golden boot, golden ball and Ballon d’Or winner Megan Rapinoe failed to spot-kick, which she called “dark comedy”. Her penalty, one of three lost by the USA, in the shootout was Rapinoe’s final action for her team at a major tournament, after the forward had previously announced her intention to retire. As often as her team’s savior, as she was in 2019, when both goals helped USA past France and into the final, her World Cup ended in tears. It was a similar story for the game’s other two greats, with Canada’s Christine Sinclair, the world’s most successful international, and Brazil’s Marta exiting the group stage at their final World Cup.
The ugly
There was so much ugliness surrounding the Women’s World Cup, which made the success of the tournament even more remarkable. It was clear before the kick of a ball, with the teams protesting about inequality, unpaid wages and poor conditions. In the run-up to the tournament, Canadian players threatened to strike over what they considered discriminatory treatment, Zambia fought (and continue to fight) unpaid wages and bonuses, South African players staged a friendly pre- tournament over unpaid bonuses, England players. called off by the FA after talks of performance-related bonuses broke down, Nigeria threatened to boycott their first game of the competition over unpaid bonuses and later spoke of conditions surrounding their campaign including bed-sharing, and four days into the tournament Australia asked the players for prize money equivalent to the men’s World Cup.
Undoubtedly these issues hindered the ability of the teams to show their best. As great as football has been despite these trials, the positive thing is that it shows that the development of the sport is far from reaching its peak, where players are provided with everything they need , materially and environmentally wise.
There was also the pre-broadband fiasco, with FIFA trying to stop teams from wearing the OneLove band designed to support the LGBTQ+ community. With the rainbow mug banned and England planning to throw a OneLove alternative in Australia, Fifa stepped in, creating armbands supporting eight releases to reduce the intended impact and give countries a way to avoid
Rubiales. Need we say more? The actions of the RFEF president at the time after Spain’s victory over England in the final marked his team’s historic and heroic victory. 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 macho culture Spain’s players are battling with them for many years. That it took Rubiales’ actions being broadcast around the world for the players to be believed and understood after years of protests about the culture surrounding the team, including 15 players withdrawing from selection to protect their mental and physical health after after they exit the Euros in 2022. , it’s really damning. There are positives, in that Rubiales has been banned from football for three years, manager Jorge Vilda has been sacked and the players have felt empowered.
Lessons learned
There is no sign that the progress of the World Cup, or the women’s game more broadly, is slowing down. By the time teams take the field in 2027, the prize will be the same as the men’s edition of 2026. FIFA must now ensure that the portion of that money allocated to players reaches them and is not held back by confederation. It must also ensure that players’ voices are heard, that there are strong reporting mechanisms at national and international level and that education is carried out across the globe on what is and is not appropriate behaviour. It would also be nice to know where the World Cup will be held. We know where the 2026, 2030 and 2034 men’s World Cups will be held; it is great news that we are still waiting to announce the host of the 2027 Women’s World Cup.
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