Women's World Cup is most exciting ever - imagine if teams were properly backed

04 August 2023 , 12:51

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Women's World Cup is most exciting ever - imagine if teams were properly backed

Morocco captain Ghizlan Chebbak delivered her warning way before the country would help knock out European giants Germany.

On the eve of this summer’s Women’s World Cup, the 32-year-old stated firmly on the record: “We are not here just to make up the numbers but to compete.”

When FIFA decried their expansion of the Women’s World Cup from 24 teams to 32 four years ago, the general scepticism from federations and fans alike was that the added numbers simply would not be able to compete.

The worries weren’t helped by the fact that, days before FIFA’s announcement, the reigning world champions USA had thumped a dozen goals past Thailand, another tangible example of the irrefutable chasm separating women’s football’s historic goliaths from the rabble.

To take in this summer’s Women’s World Cup so far, however, has been to take in a new spectacle of women’s football altogether.

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First it was the Philippines defeating co-hosts New Zealand. Next, Nigeria landed their punch against Australia.

Haiti almost added to these early blueprints as they put European champions England through their paces, before Morocco, the first North African team to qualify for the tournament, defeated South Korea.

All of this only whet the palette of course. Colombia’s 97th-minute winner over Germany was not only shocking in its efficacy but its eventual non-singularity.

The once-insurmountable USA required inches of white pipe against World Cup debutants Portugal to keep them from group stage ignominy. The same fortuitous intervention couldn’t be said of world No 6 Brazil, whose draw with Jamaica, who also held France to a lone point to help them advance to the knockout stages for the first time, sent the Selecao on a premature plane home.

Neither was luck afforded No 2 Germany as they joined the South Americans and Olympic champions Canada in becoming the latest top 10 side to crash out of the tournament early.

Sofia Bouftini and Morocco players celebrate advancing to the knock out stages (Photo by Alex Grimm - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Riveting. Wild. Crazy. Exhausting. Unprecedented. The adjectives to describe this iteration of the Women's World Cup are endless and vast, the talking points from this summer's group stages equally so. But the crux of any dissection will revolve around a sole pressure point: In a tournament infamous for its humiliating one-sided score lines, the humiliations have begun to be delivered the other way around.

These results are being hailed as sign of the once impervious gulf in quality on the international stage shrinking in real time.

But an equally important subplot to this is this democratisation of quality in spite of the myriad parity and pay issues still stymieing a glut of national sides from reaching their full potential.

This Women's World Cup threatened to take a starkly different route in the months leading to its commencement.

Nigeria, who will face England in the Round of 16 and are a familiar face on the world stage, endured their tournament preparations under a perennial cloud of failed bonus payments and administrative interference, including a cancellation of a pre-tournament camp which resulted in threats of strike action.

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Canada too threatened strike action as early as this spring after preparatory camps were discarded amid growing pay equity concerns and stark budget cuts to the national team program despite historic success on the pitch.

Spain seized headlines for over a year following their "15+3" mutiny, an incredible act of defiance from Spain's golden generation in response to perceived outmoded national team facilities and standards, as well as an oppressive coaching environment that resulted in the ultimate omission of 12 former key players from this summer's squad.

South Africa, who will face the 2019 Women’s World Cup runners-up Netherlands in the Round of 16 after dumping out Italy, opted to boycott their send-off game against Botswana in July due to accusations of poor pitch standards amid an ongoing row with the SAFA over competition payment.

And a month before the tournament's commencement, Jamaican players posted statements to their social media accounts revealing they had yet to be paid and had been subjected to "subpar planning", a polite way of addressing the need to use online fundraising efforts through a player's mother to finance their tournament.

Deneisha Blackwood of Jamaica celebrates advancing to the knockout stage

The above are far from the only teams ensconced with longstanding off-pitch tribulations (England halted their dispute over bonus payments with the Football Association until the tournament's culmination). But as the headlines pile into an almost indistinguishable blur, their familiarity is all the more striking.

It also makes beholding many of the group stage results feel like a matter of defied explanation. And to an extent they are. Teams have not only continued to succeed on the pitch in spite of their perennial toils off it but have come to produce what is being billed as one of the most entertaining Women's World Cups in history.

It begs the question: If these nations can accomplish these feats in the wake of so little support, how much might they accomplish with real investment?

Morocco Women are a paradigm for the upshots relished in result to proper financial and infrastructure investment from a federation.

Hildah Magaia of South Africa celebrates with teammates after scoring her team's second goal (Photo by Lars Baron/Getty Images)

Since 2009, the Moroccan FA has invested heavily in the promotion of women’s football throughout the country. The creation of a professional league some years later ignited that development, as well as the FRMR's decision to pay players' monthly wages, which helped dismiss the financial uncertainty surrounding those women and their families contemplating pursuing a career in football.

The FRMR also created a women’s football academy six years ago and is the only country in the world with a two-tier championship that is entirely professional.

While Morocco’s senior team might have been lacking experience on the world stage, the debutants' foundations have proved critical in their historic progression to the Round of 16.

Such evidence will only show other federations that backing their women’s programs should not be optional but a minimum.

Morocco players celebrate their historic Round of 16 berth at the 2023 Women's World Cup (Photo by Alex Grimm - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

“The opportunity they had was a platform to go to a World Cup. That’s the first door to knock down,” former Lioness and England's most capped player Fara Williams told the Mirror in an interview recently.

“I think many more doors will open for them with what they’ve been able to produce in this World Cup.”

Already, they are.

Following the Super Falcons' goalless draw with Republic of Ireland, FIFA Secretary-General, Fatma Samoura, told the team in their dressing room at Brisbane’s Suncorp Stadium that they would receive their prize money directly from FIFA.

Jamaica's progress to the knockout rounds means each player on the Reggae Girlz squad is guaranteed to make at least $60,000 in bonus money from FIFA, with another £90k guaranteed if advancement to the quarter-finals is achieved.

The funds are eye-watering and, for the swathes of players that had mostly come to terms with likely never glimpsing the backpay they are owed, potentially life-altering.

They are also a precedent.

“Everyone is looking at these smaller countries,” Jamaica head coach Lorne Donaldson said during the group stage. “Governments and everybody, cut the bull crap; it’s time to step up and support women’s football.”

If ever the rationale to do so felt indisputable, it is now.

Fara Williams was speaking at a screening in Manchester of England’s final group game in the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ where fans exclusively had the chance to try the McCrispy® Deluxe before it hit restaurants..

McDonald’s screened all of England’s group games, as well as handing out free menu items and exclusive world cup merchandise at each event. McDonald’s is the official restaurant sponsor the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023.

Megan Feringa