SheBelieves Cup
This year’s SheBelieves Cup tournament has exposed the inequalities in the women’s international game
On reflection, Argentina’s 6-0 defeat to United States in the SheBelieves Cup could have been a lot worse, as a 27-1 shot count underlined. It was certainly neither a disgrace nor a surprise. In the home corner the world champions, undefeated in 36 matches with 32 wins in their previous 33 outings. In the away corner a team that went into the tournament having not played for 15 months.
That absence from the international arena would have been even longer had Japan not pulled out of the SBC due to COVID. US Soccer Federation scrambled for a replacement and wound up with Argentina, at 31st in the world comfortably the lowest-ranked team to feature in the tournament’s six-year history.
As it was La Albiceleste showed the spirit they displayed at the 2019 World Cup, when they held Japan and Scotland, the latter after having gone 3-0 down with 20 minutes left, and only lost 1-0 to England. They were barely off the plane when losing 4-1 to Brazil in the opening match, and then followed that by losing 1-0 to Canada before succumbing to the US. Given their hosts had cumulatively won the previous three meetings 22-1, a 6-0 defeat was slightly better than par.
Adding to Argentina’s problems, several players had to pull out after testing positive for COVID, including captain and goalkeeper Vanina Correa.
Three more of their best players, La Liga-based trio Estefania Banini, Ruth Bravo and Florencia Bonsegundo, were absent. But this wound was selfinflicted. Banini and Bravo were among the players to publicly call for better support from the Argentine federation after the World Cup – and subsequently dropped from the Pan American Games. Bonsegundo pulled out of that tournament, reportedly in solidarity. She was named on the long list for the SBC but was not in the final squad.
Player activism was a reaction to years of neglect. The team did not play for 18 months from 2015 to 2017 and on the rare occasions they met up were not paid the $10-a-day training compensation. There has been some progress since at a domestic level with a semi-professional league launched, won this season by Boca Juniors, but the international team appear an afterthought.
Much the same applies to the previous month’s South American visitors to the US. Colombia had not played since 2019 either, and as it was not an international window
A disparity in football investment between countries is not unique – it happens in the men’s game too – but it is greater and more widespread in the women’s game
European clubs were not obliged to release players such as Lady Andrade (Deportivo La Coruna), captain Natalia Gaitan (Sevilla) and Yoreli Rincon (Inter). A youthful all-domestic squad, further weakened by COVID-enforced withdrawals, lost 4-0 and 6-0.
Despite Colombia bidding (unsuccessfully) to host the 2023 Women’s World Cup the sport is chronically under-funded. A domestic league, begun in 2017, has veered between levels of professionalism and this year will last less than two months prompting a letter from national team players expressing “extreme concern”. Men’s legend Carlos Valderrama described it as “more like pre-season training than a league”.
Players also claim bonuses due them for reaching the knockout stages of the 2015 World Cup were not paid, they were given men’s shirts to play in and rarely even had a national training camp, never mind matches. Most seriously of all, former Under-17s coach Didier Luna was found guilty of sexually harassing the team’s physio and sentenced to 28 days in jail (a fine was paid instead). This incident had echoes of even more concerning ones in Haiti and Afghanistan, which have led to both national FA presidents, Yves Jean-Bart and Karemuddin Karim respectively, being banned for life by FIFA.
The governing body, belatedly, is driving progress. As part of FIFA’s COVID relief programme, grants of $500,000 are available for allocation to women’s football. Mexico, for one, are using this to cover testing and COVID protocols required to maintain the Liga MX Femenil.
There is also the threat of losing FIFA largesse. South Sudan launched its first women’s league in February, a response to FIFA/CAF funding being reduced by $200,000-a-year due to the lack of activity in the women’s game.
A disparity in football investment between countries is not unique – it happens in the men’s game too – but
it is greater and more widespread in the women’s game. Nor is it limited to regions, which have traditionally been indifferent.
Japan won the 2011 World Cup, but has failed to develop a strong domestic base. That should change this year with the autumn launch of a fully professional competition. Named the Women’s Empowerment League, participating clubs will be required to employ a significant level of women off the field.
Sweden was one of women’s football’s early adopters and the national team remain a force. Yet the champions, Kopparbergs/Gothenburg, announced recently that they would disband within days of being knocked out of the Champions League by Manchester City. The Kopparbergs brewery had decided it could not compete at European level, believing it would be increasingly dominated by clubs like City, and would pull the plug. However, efforts were made to find a new owner and BK Hacken, which has a men’s first division and women’s third-tier club, agreed to take over. The incident did, however, highlight the sport’s continuing fragility.
Even in the US progress is not always smooth. The players equality suit against the US Soccer Federation is into a third year. While the players’ demand for $66m in damages has been dismissed, still at issue is a settlement on working conditions. That may now be determined at an April hearing, enabling the players to start a planned appeal against the equal pay ruling.
On the field US players continue to make their case. Victory over Argentina wrapped up another SBC success having already defeated Canada 1-0 and Brazil 2-0. With American wins and Argentine losses predictable, most interest surrounded Brazil’s match with a Canadian team under new coach Bev Priestman. US-based Debinha, who had a fine tournament, scored as Brazil won 2-0. All games were played in Orlando with the outlay required to make it COVID-secure underlining the investment underpinning US success.
It is a commitment many of their opponents can only dream of.