Using the words “England”, “Final” and “World Cup” in the same sentence still leaves many Brits awestruck. This happened for the only and last time in 1966. That year, Maria Esther Bueno was the number one tennis player in the world, John Lennon said that the Beatles were more famous than Jesus Christ and man had not even stepped on the moon. The men’s soccer team won the world title on home soil.
Now it may be their turn, at the Women’s World Cup, held in Australia and New Zealand.
The Spain team is also in the final for the first time. There will be an unreleased champion. Two countries that, a few years ago, lived a very different reality.
Spanish women’s football has undergone a dramatic transformation since 2015, when the first participation in a World Cup spurred changes. Clubs came together to accelerate the professionalization of the modality, sponsors, investments, games broadcast on TV arrived.
It was also in 2015 that Barcelona’s women’s team turned professional; the club improved the structure and invested in the base. The results came. He won eight Spanish titles, twice the Champions League and the love of the fans. Last year, 91,648 people watched the Champions League semi-final between Barcelona and Wolfsburg at the Camp Nou, a world record in women’s football. The captain of the team, Alexia Putellas, was twice named the best player on the planet. Barcelona and national team mate Aitana Bonmati is a candidate to inherit the post.
Spain won the under-17 and under-20 world cups in 2022, but lacked expressive results in the adult category. It still reached the Cup under suspicion after 15 players refused to play for the national team, in protest against coach Jorge Vilda and the working conditions offered by the Spanish Football Federation. Three withdrew and the team showed talent to supply the lack of those who decided for the boycott.
The athletes’ struggle over the years generated improvements in preparation. For the first time, the selection has a nutritionist and psychologist, and an agreement reached with the federation allowed athletes who are mothers to spend time with their children during the tournament.
In England, the turning point was in 2012, when Great Britain played Brazil in front of 70,000 people at Wembley at the London Olympic Games. The potential was clear. The Women’s Super League, the new format of the English top flight, was starting.
As in the Spanish case, came sponsorship, professionalization of athletes and the emergence of the culture of watching the sport; broadcast on TV increased. Dutch coach Sarina Wiegman was hired, having a European title and a World Cup final in charge of her country on her resume. She did it again with England, winning the Euros last year with a record attendance at the final against Germany – 87,000 spectators at Wembley. More than 17 million people, a quarter of the UK population, watched it on TV.
This year, in the same stadium, more than 83,000 people saw England win the Finalissima, a dispute between the European and Copa America champions, Brazil. Wiegman has only one defeat in 38 matches in charge of the English “lionesses”.
Regardless of who wins this Sunday (20), the world title will be in good hands. It is the victory of investment and persistence in women’s football.
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