The World Cup reflects the game’s growth and increasing competitiveness
evolution of women’s football, look at the World Cup, the sport’s most prestigious prize. The first men’s tournament took place in 1930; women only got their version in 1991. That edition, held in China, featured just 12 teams. This year’s tournament, the ninth, which is being held in Australia and New Zealand, has 32. It took the men 16 tournaments to reach this size. And contrary to pre-tournament fears, the expansion has not compromised quality or diluted competition.
Just ask the Americans. In the 1991 tournament America steamrolled their opponents, winning all six of their games with an aggregate score of 25-3. They have won four World Cups and dominated the sport’s rankings. But others are catching up. In this year’s tournament they managed to win only one match before being knocked out in the round of 16 for the first time, by Sweden. There will be new champions. On August 20th England and Spain will both contest their first final.
Not only are there more teams, their ranking points are also more narrowly distributed, suggesting tighter competition. In 2003 America’s score was 2.1 times that of the 100th-ranked team . Before this World Cup began America was only 1.7 times better than the 100th-ranked team . The distribution is approaching the men’s game where Argentina, the world champions, score roughly 1.5 times higher than 100th-ranked Lebanon.
In both England and Spain the top women’s domestic leagues are emerging out of the shadow of their male counterparts. Attendances at women’s games have soared. Last year Barcelona, the Spanish champions, played Wolfsburg, a German side, in front of more than 91,000 people—the most ever at a women’s football match and possibly any women’s sporting event. Interest is spreading to the.
Though such progress is remarkable, it comes from a low base. Chelsea, who won the English Women’s Super League last season, drew an average attendance of around 6,000 last season; their male counterparts averaged 40,000. Professional women’s football is relatively new.
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