Toronto, Edmonton, Montreal. These are since long well-known places for ice hockey fans all over the world. Moncton is not. For three August weeks, these four cities will draw interest from people mainly interested in football, the soccer variety, that is. Since we are in the middle of the European pre-season with daily transfer rumours and big friendlies like Arsenal vs Boreham Wood, there is some competition for the attention by fans and media, but there is a big championship going on in the land of maple leafs.
Partly as a rehearsal for next year's senior world cup, Canada is hosting the U-20 World Cup.
Probably you understand, or already knew, that it´s not real football going on, but the kind played by women. Well, the rules are the same, the playing time is the same, but still... I mean, they don´t play as GOOD as all men, and they don´t earn as much money, so you can´t really call it football, can you?
The tournament started on Tuesday, and I´m very (unironically) pleased to see how much FIFA is highlighting it on their website. It massively headlines the start page, and you can read a lot about every team and follow every match live.
The first four matches drew a total attendance of almost 50,000. I think that's as remarkable as the 41,000 attending the Women´s Euro 2013 final game in Stockholm, considering this is a youth tournament.
Hopefully, these are steps to a broader acknowledgement of women´s football worldwide. Hopefully, FIFA will soon have more women in power. Hopefully, the teams that are good enough to qualify for the senior tournament next summer will meet an even bigger audience in Moncton and the other five host cities. Hopefully, the media attention will be bigger than ever.
The players deserve it.
Young football-loving girls all over the world deserve it.
We all would benefit from it.
FIFA U-20 WWC
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