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.
The United States team, the traditional hegemon of women’s football, has staggered through the group stage, vulnerable to formerly lesser powers and consumed by angst. Germany, ranked second in the world, are out, pushed aside by Morocco, ranked 72nd, after a late night of high emotion in Group H. Australia’s Matildas – who have captured the hearts of a country where football lies some way down the sporting hierarchy – have been on a rollercoaster ride, flirting with early elimination. Will their injured star, Sam Kerr, regain fitness to lead them to glory? A nation is waiting to find out.
The upsets, the drama and the joy of emerging national sides such as Morocco are testimony to a sport that is rapidly globalising in terms of female participation. Enthusiasm for the women’s game is developing across the world in a way that is making it more competitive and exciting than ever before.
The post-tournament challenge will be to build on this progress, by persuading Fifa and national associations to put adequate money into domestic leagues and grassroots structures. Jamaica’s Reggae Girlz sparked joyous scenes back home when they drew with Brazil to progress to the knockout stages for the first time. But before the tournament, the squad wrote a furious open letter complaining at the lack of proper support – financial and otherwise – from the Jamaican football federation.
According to a Fifa report published in 2022, the average salary of paid female footballers is just £11,300. But as this World Cup is so vividly demonstrating, the international women’s game is now generating the same kind of emotional buy-in and engagement as the men’s. After intense lobbying, Fifa’s president, Gianni Infantino, has declared an ambition to equalise payments for the 2026 men’s and 2027 women’s World Cups. But much greater equity and investment is needed at all levels of the female game, if it is to fulfil its vast potential.
For now though, such debates can be put on hold. Of more immediate concern, to Australians at least, is Sam Kerr’s possible comeback in Monday’s knockout game with Denmark. England, too, after finding new form and a new system in a 6-1 hammering of China, are beginning to believe. A marvellously open World Cup is only at the halfway point. It has been a gripping watch so far, and the stories that will come to define it are yet to be written.
