There is still a month until the start of the Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and wouldn’t it be pleasing if we’ve already had the biggest disappointment/controversy before a ball is even kicked.
For without wishing to further stir up the debate about the standard of women’s football (high) and the argument broadcasters should financially value it as high as the men’s World Cup (nonsense), this is a tournament which football fans the world over should applaud.
The threat of a TV blackout now averted, there are a few other grumbles: not least the findings of a newly released survey of 362 female internationals by the global players’ union which has highlighted concerns with compensation, health, travel and recovery.
To complete the set, another potential negative is that the tournament runs until August 20, by which time much media focus will move to the start of a range of men’s leagues throughout Europe – surely a World Cup should be played as the sole focal point in any football calendar?
Putting all that to one side, though, when play begins, we can expect Women’s World Cup highlights galore and the controversy to be put to one side as fans look forward to compelling matches, wonderful stories and individual showcases.
This SBOTOP writer recalls covering the 2019 final when the USA defeated Holland in a match-up between the world and European champions and a contest which, at the time, extended the Americans’ record to just one defeat in 44 matches.
At that tournament, the US scored an all-time record 26 goals and their success further cemented their place as the pre-eminent force in the women’s game at international level.
Less than two months earlier, I recalled the Champions League Final in which sensational Norwegian Ada Hegerberg hit a 16-minute hat-trick to ensure Lyon were crowned European champions again at the expense of Barcelona.
Now if women’s football was soaring then, four years on it has reached another level of interest, helped by last summer’s European Championships which took to the game to an even wider audience.
That was then I was stopped in the office and in the street of my hometown by people asking me was I watching.
People of all ages were talking about it, especially the final when Sarina Wiegman, who guided Oranje Leeuwinnen to Euro success in 2017 and the 2019 final, masterminded England’s triumph over Germany at Wembley.
They are one of a number of teams with high hopes for more success as we move ever closer to the championships.
Without wishing to focus too much on the negatives, the United States captain Becky Sauerbrunn is the latest to be ruled out through injury and joins a number of players on the sidelines for various nations which is a a genuine shame.
How that is impacting on the SBOTOP Women’s World Cup betting odds, I will leave to you to decide.
However, it shows the strength in depth of the Americans that they remain favourites and dream of glory even without the likes of Sauerbrunn, Sam Mewis, Catarina Macario and Mallory Swanson.
As for the second favourites, no-one can accuse England of not embarking on a full and detailed build-up.
The Lionesses arrived at their St George’s Park base on Monday and had their first training session on Tuesday in preparation for a warm-up game against Portugal in Milton Keynes on July 1.
Players and staff will then fly to a training camp on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast before facing Haiti in Brisbane on 22 July.
That means they will have been together for some 33 days before kicking their first competitive ball in anger in Australia – something that has caused outrage among Women’s Super League clubs, who feel their England players were bullied into accepting the June 19 meet-up date by the Football Association.
Whether that is the case or not, England will have few excuses if they under perform.
It’s not just the favourites who are worth watching, of course, and there will surely be a few surprises.
All in all, the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup set to become most attended women’s sporting event in history.
The 1,032,884 tickets sold means it is set to surpass the competition in France for years ago as the most attended standalone women’s sporting event in history.
Local interest is soaring too.
Earlier this year, Australia’s opening fixture against the Republic of Ireland was moved to Stadium Australia in Sydney, which has a capacity of 83,000, in response to what FIFA described as “significant interest in tickets.”
Everything is gearing up to the big kick-off. Now we wait to see if it can live up to its billing.
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