In July 2013 more than 41,000 people gathered in Solna, just outside Stockholm to watch the final of UEFA Women's Euro 2013. In November 2014 England and Germany attracted a record attendance of 45,000 to Wembley stadium.
In France, the first division is dominated by Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique Lyonnais. In England´s Super League Arsenal, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea struggle. In the top of the tables in Germany and Spain you find household names like Wolfsburg, Bayern München, FC Barcelona and Atlético Madrid.
Perhaps the time has come for women´s football to take the next step towards more attention. The big clubs seem to see the potential value to their brands. If the clubs work together with FIFA and the continental associations in highlighting the achievements of top female players, it could result in more young girls playing and following the game (and buying jerseys and calendars).
I think football can strengthen girls and that girls strengthen football. (Read here about the project "Futebol dá forca" to get an idea of what the further implications can be.)
It´s not that strange that women´s football doesn´t get as much attention as men´s. Whatever the issue is, I think that it usually takes at least two generations to really achieve a change in general attitude. Women´s football has of course been around in some form as long as men´s, but it was not until the 1970´s that it began to wear a somewhat more modern costume, with semi-professional teams in Italy. The first World Cup was arranged in 1991 with just twelve teams. Now another 24 years have passed and we are looking forward to the World Cup in Canada. With a record number of 24 teams the tournament promises to be a success, judging from the U20 World Cup last year which attracted tens of thousand spectators.. Could it be that in the future we might look back at 2015 as the year women´s football got a real breakthrough? I repeat the last lines from my post during the U20 tournament, aiming at Canada 2015:
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.
