For a sport touching warp speed in the pace of its development, the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand is already proving another great leap forward. At the halfway stage, attendance and television audience records have been broken. More than 1.7m tickets have been sold, far outstripping Fifa’s expectations.
But mere statistics cannot convey the quality and sporting intensity of a tournament that has already provided unforgettable plotlines, as it moves into the knockout phase. At a time when state sovereign wealth funds and billionaires are steadily corrupting the values of the men’s game, the first two weeks of this World Cup have showcased the planet’s most popular sport at its vibrant, unpredictable best.
