You can find everything about the World Cup: Competition news, talking points, Futistietäjä, program, results and statistics on ‘s World Cup page.
The supremacy of the United States is history, and Europe is not slowing down either.
This summer’s World Cup has shown that women’s soccer at the international top is more even than ever. The tightrope walkers proved their potential despite the difficult starting points.
– The world order of football has changed. A bit like if a magician pulled a tablecloth from under the dishes, but now everything came from there and they have to be put in a new order. Even long-term successful people need to look in the mirror, Urheilu’s expert Hanna Ruohomaa declare.
The mantra of value tournaments “the games of all time” has been true in many respects.
There have been a record number of teams. Audience records were broken in individual matches and in total sales. Prize money is also paid out almost four times compared to the previous games. Still, they are less than a third of the equivalent of the men’s tournament.
The attendance record for the women’s games was broken at the beginning of the playoffs, and before the final weekend, there have been almost 1.9 million spectators in the stadiums.
Especially in Australia, there has been a stir. The England semi-final reached 11 million Australians on television, i.e. 42% of the total population, and was the most watched TV program of all time.
– This really feels like a turning point. I think these have been the games of all time, and yet I believe that the next ones will also be the games of all time. Records are being broken again. The potential may have been known, but it has not been used yet, says Ruohomaa.
– I remember how I put a football magazine on the wall as a child Mia Hammin poster. I probably haven’t even seen a game from him. Something in it said that he has been chosen as the best in the world, but he was nowhere to be seen. Now I can’t help but read everything about these games, and it comes up every time.
In 2011, Australia’s World Cup home general was played in Gosford in front of less than three thousand spectators.
This year, the last home match before the start of the Games gathered more than 50,000 spectators in Melbourne.
“New questions about power relations”
In light of the statistics, the playing level of the World Cup has been historically high.
The number of teams increased by eight this summer. Back in 2011, only 16 countries participated, half of the current number. Still, fewer goals have been scored on average than ever.
So the games have been expanded surprisingly successfully.
– It speaks of development potential. The starting situation was so far behind the men that even small investments have made the activity take off. It has been repeated all over the world, says Urheilu’s expert Jonne Kunnas.
– Almost all teams have gotten their defense organization in at least moderate shape. Attacking has not yet developed in the same proportion, but the national teams’ limited time resources are logically focused more on defense.
After the semi-finals, the actual playing time has ended with a draw or a one-goal difference in 58 percent of the matches. In the first tournament in 1991, only a third of the games were this close.
– In the last games, it was even embarrassing to watch the USA’s 13–0 victory. The level difference was striking. Even now, a few results broke, but the difference is huge. Tactical skills and physicality have improved. The teams understand each other’s play and respond to it. One of the trends of the Games was the fall of giants, says Ruohomaa.
Fifa analyses support the observations.
In the group stage, the teams defended with an average of one and a half meters narrower, i.e. more closely than in the previous games. They knew how to block the center, so they broke through the lines more through the wings and with vertical balls from the back. At the same time, the importance of speed and explosiveness was emphasized.
Eight countries made their World Cup debuts. Morocco even knocked out the European Championship finalist Germany from the continuation. Also, for example, the Olympic champion Canada and Brazil were left in the initial group.
The USA, which won the previous two championships, was immediately eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in the quarterfinals. Japan crushed Spain and missed out on the medal games, even though the majority of the team plays in their home country.
Ruohomaa says the games opened eyes even among football geeks.
– I believe that more and more players will change clubs with this window. How many people in Europe follow, for example, the Japanese series? Last summer I talked about how the United States has the world’s toughest league. Can you say that anymore? These competitions have raised completely new questions about power relations.
In second place, for example, Ruohomaa lifts Sweden, whose 2015 competition team had seven players from other countries’ leagues. Now there were only eight Damallsvenskan players in the group, five of whom are at least 30 years old and one of the rest is a triple goalkeeper.
– There, too, they have woken up to the development that happened elsewhere in Europe a little late, and the players go elsewhere in search of better bread. Sweden was a top 5 league once, when Marta too played there but now it’s more of a breeder series where the best are bought off.
Uneven starting points in the qualifying phase
While the medal teams are packing their belongings, the vast majority have already returned to their own everyday life, which may be far from the glossy images of the World Championships. In this field, inequality is more visible than in the field events of the Games.
While England have raised the bar, more than a third of the players in the 2022 continental tournaments felt they were amateurs. Almost a third stated that they do not receive any compensation from the national team.
The readings are revealed by the professional association of football players From FIFPro’s survey, which was answered by 362 players from the European Championships and other continental championships. Outside of Europe, the tournaments were also World Cup qualifiers.
There is a dispersion between continents and teams, and the continents were not equally represented in the respondents. Still, the Jamaican players, for example, had to resort to crowdfunding to cover their travel expenses.
National teams around the planet have been fighting for funding for years, with varying degrees of success.
At the beginning of the year, Canadian players threatened to strike because they did not receive enough support from the country’s sports federation. The English team, on the other hand, is at loggerheads with its association over performance bonuses, but the dispute was put on hold for the duration of the Games.
In the past, for example, Sweden, the USA and Australia have negotiated an equal distribution of fees between the women’s and men’s national teams. The Helmarei’s long battle also led to an equal player contract with Huuhkajie in 2019.
The increase coming now should be suitable to help the operations of countries coming from modest starting points.
Revolutionary support from prize money
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said during the finals weekend that the games have generated 570 million dollars.
The total prize pool of the Games is 110 million dollars, of which each team’s share is determined based on success. The winner gets $4.29 million, and each of the losers in the group stage gets $1.56 million.
The readings are from a different planet compared to previous tournaments, but the money was once again behind the fight. Originally, Fifa had promised a prize pool of 60 million.
Additionally, Fifa guaranteed each player a minimum $30,000 bonus that would increase based on success. Players on the championship team were promised $270,000. According to Fifa, the average salary of female players worldwide is $14,000 per year.
On the eve of the Games, Infantino corrected your speech and said Fifa is negotiating the compensation policy with the sports federations. Fifa accounts the money to the national federations, which are supposed to pay the players their share.
For example, each player in Jamaica should net $90,000 for a playoff spot. The end of the promised money to support the operation would therefore be a revolutionary change in, for example, Jamaica, Zambia and Haiti.
– I hope that the teams coming from difficult starting points, who now surprised, will really get a chance to reach even better than with this minimal investment. What would they be capable of if they were genuinely supported, Ruohomaa asks.
– For example, Spain started investing in youth national teams twenty years ago. Now Salma Parallel life has won the under-17 and under-20 world championships, and is playing in the women’s final. The Spanish team is really young anyway, so maybe it will make others think too.
What happens next?
Awarded as the best player in the world Alexia Putellas revealed last year its high expectations for the near future.
– Earlier, there was doubt about the demand for women’s football, but now the supply is lagging behind. If you think the importance of women’s football is at a good level now, then in a few years you will laugh because it will be crazy, the Barcelona and Spain player promised in the Players’ Tribune.
In 2027, the world championship will again be played between 32 countries. Experts expect a breakthrough based on the growing mass of top players and better quality training in a period of four years.
These competitions were, for example, Marta and Megan Rapinoe goodbye to legends like Ruohomaa reminds us that even though they were the most famous names in the tournament, they were now substitutes for their teams.
– You could know them if you follow women’s football occasionally, but read sports news. Then you could watch the games wondering that they didn’t stand out at all. Of course, they have a lot to contribute, because more women would be needed in decision-making positions. They are valuable advocates, but the field is by Lauren James or Linda Caicedon time.
– Now we get new martas – maybe for different reasons, but it’s only good. Maybe the best won’t have six World Cups or huge numbers of goals anymore, because the competition is tougher and more even.
The municipality expects a continuation of the tactical cycle. In practice, every team knew how to defend. The next thing to do is attack.
– The pace of the game and the speed of the players continue to grow. I bet that now there will be bangs in attacking and better players with the ball. I wouldn’t be surprised if, in four years’ time, more goals were scored in the games instead.
Coaching expertise has developed and, for example, Morocco hired a head coach Reynald Pedros’n, the Frenchman who won the Champions League twice, as part of his investment in women. Last year, the final of the African Women’s Championship tournament played in Morocco attracted more than 45,000 spectators.
– Over the course of four years, investments have literally exploded. Clubs are beginning to have the resources to operate with high quality. They lead the way in terms of game development and the national teams then come a little behind.
You can find everything about the World Cup in football: Competition news, topics, Futistietäjä, program, results and statistics on ‘s World Cup website.