The FIFA Weekly Issue #20

ISSUE 20, 7 MARCH 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

PIA SUNDHAGE GIANT STRIDES STEFFI JONES FIGHTING DISCRIMINATION SEPP BLATTER FOOTBALL MEANS FREEDOM Women’s football

AIMING HIGH

CONTENTS

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Lyon’s grand plan Lyon has had a women’s football team for ten years now, and has won the Champions League twice in the past four years. Olympique Lyonnais Féminin has 20 players currently contracted to the club.

We discover what life as a professional women’s footballer in Lyon is like, and to what extent the club has fulfilled its ambitions, in this report by Perikles Monioudis with images by Mareike Foecking.

SL, not the Premier League’s poor relation W Just like in the men’s Premier League, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are among the favourites in England’s Women’s Super League, but the WSL is no cheap imitation of the ‘real thing’.

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USA on the road to success The second season of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL) gets underway on 12 April, with Ballon d’Or winner Nadine Angerer and world champion Nahomi Kawasumi likely to boost the league’s appeal and help it to achieve continued success.

Pia Sundhage, the interview The Swede is one of the most successful female coaches in the world. In The FIFA Weekly interview, she predicts a promising future for her sport, explains what male footballers could learn from their female counterparts and why the fight for gender equality was not on her mind at the start of her career.

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eekly Top 11 – football’s greatest heroines W USA’s Kristine Lilly heads the Weekly Top 11, with Sweden’s Lotta Schelin and German legend Birgit Prinz also making an appearance in our list of football’s greatest heroines.

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An emotional journey into the past María Elena Valverde shaped football in Costa Rica. We spoke to the 86-year-old pioneer for a striking trip down memory lane.

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teffi Jones, no holds barred S The FIFA Weekly sits down with the former German international, capped 111 times for her country, to tackle homophobia, racism and emancipation. “Football incorporates values we would do well to heed in our everyday lives.”

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N etzer a fan of women’s football Our columnist Gunter Netzer is captivated by women’s football and recollects the 2011 Women’s World Cup Final: “It was fantastic.

That match was as good as anything men’s football has ever produced.”

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D efying a father’s blows Nigerian footballer Perpetua Nkwocha’s father beat her to keep her away from the football pitch. Despite this, she persevered and found a new home in Sweden.

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South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

Abby Wambach American trailblazer

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North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

U-17 Women’s World Cup 15 March to 4 April 2014, Costa Rica

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Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup 28 to 29 May 2014, Zurich

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

Europe 53 members www.uefa.com

Steffi Jones German icon

Africa 54 members www.cafonline.com

Asia 46 members www.the-afc.com

Pia Sundhage Sweden's illustrious coach

Oceania 11 members www.oceaniafootball.com

Homare Sawa Japanese world champion

New heights To celebrate International Women's Day, our cover shows some of Olympique Lyonnais Féminin's biggest stars: Japanese World Cup winner Saki Kumagai, France's Wendy Renard and Swedish striker Lotta Schelin (from left to right).

Cover: Mareike Foecking / Getty Images

Perpetua Nkwocha Embodying the spirit of resistance in Africa

FIFA World Cup 12 June to 13 July 2014, Brazil

U-20 Women’s World Cup 5 to 24 August 2014, Canada

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Youth Olympic Football Tournament 15 to 27 August 2014, Nanjing

FIFA Club World Cup 10 to 20 December 2014, Morocco

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game onor game over

all in or nothing

adidas.com/worldcup Š 2014 adidas AG. adidas, the 3-Bars logo and the 3-Stripes mark are registered trademarks of the adidas Group.

UNCOVERED

The feminisation of football

Triumphant Olympique Lyonnais players celebrate their Champions League victory over FFC Frankfurt in May 2012.

Thomas Renggli

Dylan Martinez / Reuters

“In agreement with the class-conscious, political and trade union organisations of the proletariat of their respective countries, the Socialist women of all countries will hold each year a Women’s Day, whose foremost purpose it must be to aid the attainment of women’s suffrage. The Women’s Day must have an international character and is to be prepared carefully.”

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ith these formal words, the introduction of an International Women’s Day was proposed at the Second International Socialist Women’s Conference in Copenhagen on 27 August 1910. The day was first initiated in the United States and is now celebrated each year on 8 March. In Eastern Europe, the day is even marked with a public holiday, and if it falls on a Saturday – as it does this year – the population gets the following Monday off work instead. In honour of this special day, this week’s The FIFA Weekly is a special issue celebrating women’s football.

“The future of football is female,” said FIFA President Blatter 20 years ago, and the facts appear to confirm this. Today, women play football in all 209 FIFA member association countries, even those where women rarely appear in public for cultural reasons.

“Football has the power to overcome cultural and social barriers, give women and girls confidence and enable them to improve their standing in society,” said prominent Swedish coach Pia Sundhage when illustrating the significance of sport as a tool for social integration.

The development of women’s football can also be seen at club level across the globe, with many major clubs professionalising their women’s teams. France’s Olympique ­Lyonnais Feminin pioneered this approach when club president Jean-Michel Aulas made women’s football a priority, employing 20 professional female players with the intention of one day generating income from the women’s game. He has since been rewarded for his efforts with two Champions League T H E F I FA W E E K LY

trophies. In this issue, Perikles Monioudis delves into the story of the women’s game in France’s third-largest city.

Football is no longer a male-dominated arena at FIFA’s headquarters in Zurich, either; 40 per cent of its 401 employees are female. Nor is there any room for prejudice when having a lunchtime kickabout with colleagues, as the workforce includes former international players from the New Zealand, Greece and Switzerland national women’s sides, not to mention Palestinian women’s football pioneer Honey Thaljieh, who can elegantly outmanoeuvre any man she might encounter on FIFA’s artificial turf.

Last but not least, our editorial team further reflects the spirit of the age. More than 50 per cent of the issue you hold in your hands was produced by women. There is no doubting that the FIFA of today is female. Å

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Fortune favours the brave 6

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The plan is for Olympique Lyonnais Féminin to turn a profit one day.

With a squad of 20 full-time professionals that is a realistic target for the two-time Champions League winners, who are well aware of their pioneering status in the women’s game.

By Perikles Monioudis (Text) and Mareike Foecking (images) in Lyon

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hen moving pictures were made for the first time, Lyon was the centre of the universe. Inventors Auguste and Louis Lumiere made a fortune with their photographic plates: sales in 1894 came to 15,000,000 units manufactured by 300 staff. The first Lumiere brothers movie released to the public lasted all of minute and was entitled Sortie des Usines Lumière à Lyon, “Workers Leaving the Lumiere Factory in Lyon”. The film did exactly what it said on the tin: with work over for the day the staff departed for home from the Lumiere factory in the Lyon suburb of Montplaisir.

OL Ladies’s headquarters at Gerland are just a couple of kilometres to the south-west of Montplaisir, and on the day we visited Olympique Lyonnais Féminin, players were leaving their club buildings, heading for their training ground with its distant view of the venerable Stade de Gerland. The programme was to include pace-building and shooting accuracy drills, and these professional women were clearly looking forward to their day’s work, for good reason. They are living the dream, their royal blue training kit contrasting starkly with the lush green of the pitch, glistening in hazy sunshine.

After the session, 23-year-old Wendy Renard sat chatting to the physiotherapist in OL Féminin’s neat and functional premises. The centre-back left the Caribbean island of Martinique at the age of eight, informing her mother she would soon pull on the shirt of the French national team. She was as good as her word.

Renard is effectively the new figurehead for French women’s football. Olympique Lyonnais’ eloquent and undisputed leading player has already earned 40 international caps and is captain of both club and country.

“I came to Lyon when I was 16,” Renard told us later, “but I didn’t choose Lyon. After I failed to gain a place at the French association elite academy in Clairefontaine, my advisor made 8

Wendie’s workout Captain Wendie Renard takes a turn at lugging the equipment.

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Investing in the future U-19 player Maeva Manuel in training.

­ nquiries with the coach in Lyon, and they said e I could go there for the time being. I turned professional here in 2009.” The tall defender appreciates how lucky she is to be in Lyon. “Football is my job now, but it’s my passion first and foremost. Even as a kid I was first out onto the pitch.

I couldn’t wait for that first kick of the ball.”

The two-time Champions League winner tends to use terse and clipped phrases, mirroring her playing style. “Trophies are a must for us. We want people to be proud of their women’s football team,” she revealed.

Great leap Saki Kumagai won the 2011 World Cup with Japan.

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Solid spiral of success All elite athletes aim to win trophies. Medals and pennants are permanent, and the tangible expression of a successful career, but in Lyon titles and trophies take on added significance because they are clearly part of the grand plan.

In the absence of regular domestic and European success, the edifice carefully constructed in the third-biggest city in France would fall apart.

Lyon’s strategy is for women’s football to gain a place among the most important sports in the country, and then bear fruit, not merely in terms of prestige, but also money. The OL Féminin business plan is drawn up in a similar way to the men’s team. Transfer funds are put aside in order to bring in the best players, and are complemented by in-house youth development, with the goal of winning titles and attracting crowds to the stadium and audiences to their TVs at home. Commercial revenues are the next step. Investing heavily in the OL brand increases the potential for profit.

The OL women’s team is still loss-making. but the section has been given time to gain a foothold among the supporters. Sonia Bompastor has been tasked with further developing the women’s football operation at the club. The former midfield schemer won the Champions League twice with Les Fenottes and played for the club up until last season. A firm believer in the power of youth development, and the essential nature of education, Bompastor would like to set up a form of girls’ boarding academy similar to the one operated for the boys.

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On the afternoon of our visit, Bompastor was watching the oldest juniors train. “The project has two key dimensions,” she said. “We want to show the girls that top-level sport demands personal abstinence and huge motivation. And we place great value on them not neglecting their school education along the way.”

Bompastor, who made 156 appearances for France, cut a focused figure on the touchline, surveying the field with a practiced eye. You sensed nothing escapes her attention. “Even if you make it as far as a pro career, it can be over in a flash, due to injury for example,” she said.

“We want our girls to succeed in football, but also in life.” Making it to the professional ranks is a far from easy target, as Bompastor was quick to point out: “We have 180 women and girls playing in our nine teams. Of those, 20 are professional, out of a total of around 50 in the whole of France. There are 65,000 players in our country.”

For Bompastor, the keys to success are schooling, on-field advancement, and appropriate behaviour, and she feels it is of fundamental importance that the girls are capable of assessing themselves against these criteria.

Skill in the spotlight It has become a mantra of the game that people should desist from comparing the men’s and women’s variants. Women’s pro team head coach Patrice Lair agrees. “The women’s game is slower and less physical,” he told us, “but the accent is on technical skill and you see more goals. It’s a form of football capable of attracting people to the stadiums, because the players are creative and always oriented towards goal.”

The experienced and fully qualified coach added a rider: “We do need to move closer to the men’s game, by having more physical contact with opponents, for example, or greater intenisity to our play.” As a point of principle, Lair never significantly differentiates between football played by men and women. “My demands are the same for both types of football, and I coach men and women in the same way,” 10

Building a new generation U-18 player Yasmine Badache at OL Ladies’ training ground.

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“We want our girls to succeed in football, but also in life.”

Sonia Bompastor

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he said. In Lair’s opinion the divergence is­ solely due to the fact that women’s football is yet to gain recognition to anything like the same ­extent.

Wendy Renard offered a typically crisp summary: “Many people think being a woman footballer isn’t very prestigious, and think women’s football is slightly odd. But you should never forget we’ve only been playing professionally for a couple of years. A decade ago it would have seemed impossible to turn a passion for football into regular employment.”

Renard feels this change is one of the great success stories so far. “You cannot take away a girl’s right to express herself the way she wants.

We’ve talked quite a lot of people round in France, especially parents who used to find it difficult bringing their daughters to football.

But that’s nothing unusual nowadays.”

“It really pains me when I look at Bulgaria for example, where women want to play football but where it’s simply made too difficult for them. That’s why it’s important we keep asking questions of ourselves and remain grateful that we are able to play football every day, and have the resources to do so.”

Renard is one of the younger players at the club but 29-year-old Camille Abily is already thinking about life after her pro career. The midfielder aims to enter coaching and has been taking the requisite courses. With 120 caps for France, Abily is a member of the first generation of players offered the prospect of genuine full-time employment within the game. “I don’t think all the investment in OL has paid out yet, but we’re attracting more and more sponsors,” she told us. “And our crowds are getting bigger and bigger. Our president Jean-Michel Aulas is definitely way ahead of his counterparts elsewhere.”

“Looking at it ten years ago, you’d never have predicted women’s professional football would take such great strides. Obtaining pro playing credentials was definitely a big reward for me personally. But let’s never forget how precarious it all is. It depends on a number of factors. If Mr Aulas woke up one morning and 11

O LY M P I Q U E LY O N N A I S F É M I N I N Lofty ambitions Head coach Patrice Lair at Stade de Gerland.

“It’s a man’s world. But we’re working on changing that in football.”

Lotta Schelin decided to shut the section, there’d only be one or two clubs with any kind of professional structure left in France.”

Club president Jean-Michel Aulas, a successful and forward-thinking entrepreneur, has a clear vision for Olympique. When he came to the club in 1987, his goal was to lead Lyon to the top of the European game, and he has succeeded in that aim. He sowed the early seeds for women’s football at the club a decade ago, signing only the very best players. Les ­Lyonnaises’ current squad includes World Cup winner Saki Kumagai and world-class Swedish striker Lotta Schelin.

Lotta loves Lyon Schelin was sitting out training on the day of our visit with a sprain, but that did not prevent her coming to the club anyway. “I joined Lyon in 2008 because of the prospect of winning the Champions League. I chose to come here rather than join an American club,” she said. “I felt like I wanted to stay in Europe.” Schelin is 29 and has been playing for 23 years. “I’ve put down roots in Lyon now. I need the sense of being at home somewhere. And it’s worked out right here,” she added.

The Swede revels in the day-to-day routine of professional football. Even as a child all she ever wanted to do was play. “We train in the morning and we eat after that at midday,” she said. “We have access to the physios between 1 pm and 3 pm. I also work out in the weights room twice a week, like the other players. We normally have the rest of the afternoon off, but obviously we travel a lot with the team.”

Schelin believes it has become recognised and acceptable in France for women to play professional football. “And that’s partly due to our success,” she said, before breaking into a smile. “It’s a man’s world. But we’re working on changing that in football. A little bit, every year. What really counts is for every girl to have the chance of playing football if that’s what she wants.”

Saki Kumagai of Japan scored the winning penalty in the World Cup final shoot-out in 12

“Trophies are a must for us.

We want people to be proud of their women’s football team” Wendy Renard

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Staying in the game Coaching beckons for Camille Abily.

2011, beating iconic USA keeper Hope Solo from the spot and condemning the Americans to ­defeat. The defender came to Europe the same year to augment German powerhouses FFC Frankfurt, and joined Lyon prior to the current season. “I don’t sense any greater pressure to succeed here,” said Kumagai after morning training. “We usually win and that makes it easier. We put the pressure on ourselves.”

As a child, when she expressed the desire to play her parents were in no way suspicious or mistrustful. Instead, she sensed great ­support. “Winning the 2011 World Cup gave the women’s game in Japan a real boost. Girls flocked to join football clubs. But it’s still true that not many people turn out to watch topflight matches.”

This season Olympique Lyonnais Féminin are already out of the Champions League, but their domestic position is far more promising.

Realistically the only remaining threat in the title race comes from Paris Saint-Germain.

After training, the players left the facility in small white cars. Their future is, it must be said, not entirely certain. But whatever happens they will always be able to say they lived their dream, as professional women’s footballers at the highest level, in Lyon, the city of the Lumiere brothers, where pictures started to move for the first time. Å

“It’s a man’s world.

But we’re working on changing that in football.”

Lotta Schelin T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Will to win too much for Lyon Olympique Lyonnais' premature exit from the Champions League following their last-16 defeat to Turbine Potsdam illustrates how strong German teams are at present.

Sarah Steiner

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he fight for top spot in the German women’s Bundesliga will go right down to the wire this season. Frankfurt might be back in pole position thanks to a recent 3-0 win against Freiburg, but Turbine Potsdam are only one point behind the league leaders and remain in hot pursuit. Nor would it be wise to rule out reigning champions Wolfsburg and with the situation so tight at the top, there will almost certainly be more twists and turns to come in the ten games that remain.

Wolfsburg coach Ralf Kellermann has now committed his future to the club, the title-winning coach signing a three-year extension on a contract that was set to expire this summer.

The 45-year-old will continue to demand a lot from his team, declaring the following on signing the deal: “The team’s development has a way to go. I'm happy to still be part of it”.

Kellermann has certainly been successful, ­following up a second-placed finish in 2012 with a surprising treble success one year later.

And despite the Wolves’ premature exit from this season’s German Cup, they remain in hot pursuit of Bundesliga and Champions League success.

All-German semi-final looms large But it is not just Wolfsburg’s women who have taken this season’s Champions League by storm. Turbine Potsdam have also secured their place in the quarter finals of the competition, the team built around playmaker Julia Simic causing a huge upset by beating last year’s finalists Olympique Lyonnais Féminin in the previous round. “We made it!!! Proud to be part of this team”, wrote a jubilant Simic on her Facebook page following the surprise victory. Even Patrice Lair, the French side’s head coach, was impressed by Potsdam’s performance. “When you face German teams you always sense this insurmountable will to win! This is something 14

my players still need to learn.” Potsdam will now face Torres Calcio in the quarter finals on 23 and 30 March. If Wolfsburg triumph over Barcelona in their tie, the semi-final will see the two German sides fight it out for a place in the final.

Bundesliga big in Japan German women’s clubs have often enjoyed ­success on the international stage, with seven Champions League titles and eleven final ­appearances between them. And on a national level, women’s football has also earned its place alongside the men’s game in the country’s footballing identity, a position secured in no small part thanks to the two World Cup titles and the seven European Championship titles lifted by Germany’s ladies. The Bundesliga’s popularity is

growing too, with DFB TV now broadcasting one live match per round and Eurosport recently obtaining rights to the women’s Bundesliga until 2016.

However, the Bundesliga has not just become a focal point in Germany. Thanks to Yuki Ogimi, who played for Turbine Potsdam until the end of last season and became the first Japanese woman to join Chelsea in the FA Women’s Super League in 2013, the Bundesliga is increasingly able to lure promising talents from the Land of the Rising Sun. From now on, Japanese broadcaster Asahi is set to show the best match of each round. “It’s a fantastic sign for the women’s Bundesliga brand and the high quality it possesses. This represents yet another important step forward in the development of the league”, said DFB Director Steffi Jones. Å

“It’s a fantastic sign for the women’s Bundesliga and the high quality it possesses.

This represents yet another important step forward” DFB Director Steffi Jones

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F A W o m e n ’s S u p e r L e a g u e

Investments all around Sven Goldmann is a football expert at Tagesspiegel newspaper in Berlin.

The usual suspects are among the favourites to take the title in England this season, with Liverpool and Arsenal set to jostle with Manchester City for superiority. Yet the fact that Chelsea are not expected to mount a challenge and that Manchester United are nowhere to be seen, coupled with the presence of Notts County and Bristol Academy among the league’s elite show that the FA Women’s Super League (WSL) is no mere cheap imitation of the Premier League.

Getty Image

The top tier in England’s women’s football kicks off its fourth season on 16 April and while the basic format is the same – eight teams will play each other in home and away fixtures over the course of the campaign – plenty has changed too. The FA is eager to promote women’s football and will invest 3.5 million pounds in the league over the next four years. For the first time ever there is also a second division, made up of ten clubs featuring prominent names such as Sunderland, Aston Villa and Watford.

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A new Continental Cup including teams from both leagues will be played and sides can now also be promoted and relegated, with the top tier’s bottom club swapping places with the best team from the WSL 2. Not that Manchester City Women’s Football Club earned their spot in this season’s WSL that way. Instead, the FA made the controversial decision to offer the side a place in the league, with Doncaster Rover Belles relegated to the second division.

The newcomers may be embarking on their maiden top-flight campaign but that has not stopped them approaching the term with their sights set on success. England national team goalkeeper Karen Bardsley, recruited from Lincoln Ladies, will be between the sticks for Manchester City, although she will initially be absent due to a stress fracture in her foot. Jill Scott, who has 74 caps for England, has been brought in from Everton to bolster the midfield, while the new captain will be Stephanie Houghton, who boasts a bulging trophy cabinet from her time at Arsenal.

City’s credentials will be put to the test in their very first game, an away fixture at the Halton Stadium in Widnes against Liverpool Ladies, who sent shockwaves through the country when they ended Arsenal Ladies’ nine-year reign as English champions last autumn.

Arsenal, much like the film ’Bend it like Beckham’, have long been synonymous with English women’s football and are the only English team to have conquered Europe, lifting the UEFA Women’s Cup – now called the Champions League – in 2007. The women’s game is now so ingrained in Arsenal’s fabric that the team even play at the Emirates Stadium on certain occasions.

Conversely, Liverpool finished bottom of the pile in the first two WSL seasons, forcing coach Matt Beard to shake up his squad and bring in ten new faces. Iceland’s Katrin Omarsdottir, Sweden’s Louise Fors and German duo Corina Schroder and Nicole Rolser were among the new recuits, although the standout player from their championship winning season was English. Natasha Dowie, one of the club’s longer serving members, hit the target 13 times in 14 games to fire Liverpool to the title, something their male counterparts have not been able to do for almost a quarter of a century.

Liverpool’s men’s team last held the championship trophy in their hands in 1990. Back then Ian Rush was still lacing his boots at Anfield under the watchful eye of coach Kenny Dalglish, who brought himself on as a substitute in the last game of the season against Coventry City. A long time ago indeed. Å

Aiming high Arsenal are the only English women’s team to win the UEFA Women’s Cup, now the Champions League.

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N a t i o n a l W o m e n ’s S o c c e r L e a g u e

The time has come Sarah Steiner is an editor at The FIFA Weekly.

The USA is not famed for its passion for football but the women’s game nevertheless plays an important role on the country’s sporting scene, with home-grown stars such as Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Kristine Lilly and Hope Solo all enjoying roles as ambassadors. The 300-plus college teams in existence are testament to the huge popularity of women’s football, and the national league - its chequered history notwithstanding - is followed with interest.

Last year brought the latest incarnation with the launch of the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL), which aims to prioritise financial security and sustainability. To that end the league is backed by the national associations from the USA, Canada and Mexico, who pay the wages of their respective players in order to keep clubs’ expenditures in check. Eight teams contested the inaugural championship, with Portland Thorns topping the pile come the end of the season. The new campaign kicks off on 12 April 2014 and will welcome newcomers Houston Dash. Each side was allocated internationals from the USA, Canada and Mexico in January.

Party time in Portland Thorns are eager to defend their crown in the coming season.

An additional attraction this term will be the presence of Germany goalkeeper Nadine Angerer between the posts for the defending champions. “I’ve always dreamed of playing in the USA,” said the 2013 World Player of the Year at the Ballon d’Or Gala, where she received the award. She is not the only new face to enrich the NWSL this season, with Japanese World Cup winner Nahomi Kawasumi joining Seattle Reign on loan from INAC Kobe Leonessa. “Naho is a world class player who will give our attack a new dimension in the coming season,” said Seattle coach Laura Harvey.

tainly more promising than it has been in the past. Children of former stars are on the cusp of beginning their own careers in the game, while the achievements of the women’s national team and success of the men’s Major League Soccer have contributed to a more widespread acceptance of football in the country and established a broad fan base. It seems the time has finally come for a successful and financially healthy women’s league in the USA. Å

The future of women’s football in America is still unclear but the current climate is cer-

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Howard Smith / ISI / Corbis / Dukas / Urzula Striner

The first professional women’s league, the Women’s United Soccer Association (WUSA), was founded in 2001 but folded just two years later due to financial difficulties. A special committee was set up to reorganise women’s football and several ultimately unsuccessful attempts were made to resuscitate the WUSA. Women’s Professional Soccer (WPS) suffered a similar fate and collapsed just three years after being established in 2009.

Swedish Damallsvenskan

The battle of the favourites – and an exciting newcomer Andrea Grunenfelder is a Swedish

“The league’s popularity is dwindling”

author and journalist who lives in Switzerland.

The Damallsvenskan, the top league in Sweden, is set for kick-off on April 13 and a couple of clear favourites have emerged for the title, plus one exciting newcomer harbouring formidable ambitions.

With salaries having doubled in the last five years, the Damallsvenskan is clearly an attractive proposition for players whose average salary has reached €1,230 per month. The league was able to increase revenues by 12 % in 2012 and keep them at the same level last season. 2012 saw sponsorship and advertising revenues reach €437,000, but despite that, attendances have fallen over the past two seasons.

Last season, for example, the highest gate was 5,361 when Linköping FC, who finished fourth, met KIF Örebro, who ended the season in fifth spot. The total number of spectators was 47,605 at 65 matches, making a low average of 731 fans per game. The increase in revenues can be explained by the fact that fewer tickets were given away free, and those that were sold were more expensive. Last year’s winner LdB Malmö, who changed their name to FC Rosengård in

December 2013 are favorites again this season and according to observers of the Swedish Damligan are at least as strong as last year, when they notched up 17 wins in 22 matches. FC Rosengård start the season with an away game against newcomers AIK FF from Stockholm, a team finished second in last season’s Elitettan (Sweden’s second division). Runners-up Tyresö FF kick their campaign off away to Kristianstad DFF, who were ninth last term, and having made it through to the quarter-finals of the Champions League in March, will probably keep all their top players. All except American trio Christen Press, Whitney Engen and Meghan Klingenberg that is, who, if rumours are to be believed are set to leave after the Champions League and head back to the States. Kopparberg/Göteborg FC, who finished fourth last year, will be without Stina Segerström all season.

Segerström, an experienced central defender with 52 caps to her name is expecting a baby.

Stefan Rehn, a top coach and one of the few personalities who won the league several times both as a footballer and as a coach. A gifted midfielder, Rehn played for clubs such as Everton and Lausanne and coached men´s teams IFK Göteborg and Djurgårdens IF as well as managing Jitex BK for a season in the Damallsvenskan. Potentiall the most interesting squad to follow this season is Eskilstuna United. The team who won the Elitettan last year has 200 sponsors, including a main sponsor who is investing around 277,000 Euros into the club. Additionally, Eskilstuna have signed Sara Thunebro, one of Sweden’s best defensive players with 105 caps on her CV, as well as 300 games in the Damallsvenskan and 70 in Germany’s Bundesliga. Å

Kopparberg/Göteborg FC have lost a couple of other top players as well, but have signed

Favourites Champions FC Rosengard, formerly LdB Malmo, with the impressive Sara Bjork Gunnarsdottir (in white).

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

19

Bildbyr책n

Visionary Sundhage has raised the bar for coaching on multiple continents.

20

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

PIA SUNDHAGE

As a two-time Olympic champion and FIFA Women’s Coach of the Year 2012, Pia Sundhage (54) is an icon of women’s football. In this week’s interview, she predicts a promising future for her sport and ­explains why she is unlikely to manage a men’s team any time soon.

“We’re at the start of a major period of development” Name Pia Sundhage Date and place of birth 13 February 1960, Ulricehamn, Sweden Clubs played for 1978 Falkopings KIK 1979–1981 Jitex BK 1982–1983 Osters Vaxjo 1984 Jitex BK 1985 Lazio 1985 Stattena IF 1985 Jitex BK 1986 Hammarby IF 1987–1989 Jitex BK 1990–1996 Hammarby IF 1975–1996 Swedish women’s national team Clubs coached 1992–1994 Hammarby IF (player-coach) 1998–1999 Vallentuna BK (assistant coach) 2000 AIK Solna (assistant coach) 2001–2002 Philadelphia Charge (assistant coach) 2003 Boston Breakers 2004 Kolbotn IL 2005–2006 KIF Orebro 2007 China (assistant coach) 2008–2012 USA 2012– Sweden

An article in the Svenska Dagenbladet news­ paper recently stated that women’s football now enjoys almost the same status as the men’s game. Do you share this view?

Pia Sundhage: It’s tough to say, but what I

do know is that an awful lot has happened since I began playing football. For example, there was the 1999 Women’s World Cup in the USA, which was the first time women’s football caught the public’s attention on a large scale. For many of those watching, it was the first time they had come into contact with women’s football, and they were surprised that women could play at that level. Back then, many fans came to watch the games not just because of the sport but to show solidarity with the women’s moment. They were happy to see women playing football.

Successes as a player European champion: 1984 Swedish champion: 1979, 1981, 1984, 1989 Swedish Cup winner: 1981, 1984, 1994, 1995 Algarve Cup winner: 1995 Damallsvenskan top scorer: 1982 and 1983 Successes as a coach Women’s World Cup runner-up: 2011 with USA Olympic champion: 2008 and 2012 with USA Algarve Cup winner: 2008, 2010, 2011 with USA WUSA champion: 2003 Honours Women’s Player of the Year in Sweden: 1981 WUSA Coach of the Year: 2003 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football winner: 2012 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women’s Football, 3rd place: 2013

Is it reasonable to compare women’s football with the men’s game?

No – it would be as unfair as it is in other sports. Time is also an important factor in football. The men’s game is much further along in its development because they started playing much earlier, have been able to take advantage of better organisation and infrastructure and generate greater media interest and income. Nevertheless, there are ways in which women’s football is more advanced – fair play is not an issue, for example. It’s much more unusual to see brutal fouls, timewasting and diving in the women’s game.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

With that in mind, do you think women’s football is a different sport to the men’s game?

No – it’s the same sport, with 11 versus 11 and the same rules. The tactics and techniques are also identical, but anyone expecting to see a similar game would be surprised. It’s the same as going to the theatre: if you go to a performance with the wrong expectations, you end up disappointed.

Sweden experienced its fair share of ignorance and even derision from men when women’s football was in its infancy. Do you remember much of that today?

Thinking back to my first matches seems like a distant dream now. I was 11 years old and playing with the boys. I can still remember it clearly: I ran up to take a corner, and an old man standing on the sidelines said, “You can’t do it – you don’t have enough power to lift the ball across goal.” For him, it was unthinkable for a girl to possess that skill. He had to change his thinking pretty quickly!

It used to be said that football was not a feminine game, and that it could even cause physical harm to women. Do you think that stemmed from the men’s fear of competition from women?

I think it was ignorance more than anything else. At the start, we would hear people say, “Girls can’t play football,” then it was: 21

PIA SUNDHAGE

Role model Sundhage is one of Sweden's most popular sports personalities.

Looking ahead “I expect the tempo of games to increase in the next 10 years.”

Looking back Women's football was beset by prejudice and misconceptions when Sundhage began her career.

Which came first – women’s football or the fight for gender equality?

They ran parallel to one another. Having said that, women’s rights were never something that crossed my mind, although today I think football could have been better used to further the cause. Both movements could have benefited from it.

When you began your career, the situation was improving – in Sweden, at least. As early as 1973, the Swedish Football Association had 10,000 women’s footballers in its ranks. Why was Northern Europe so far ahead of its time compared to other countries?

22

It was linked to the status of women in those countries. Northern Europe has always been very progressive in its attitudes to gender equality, so things developed in football more quickly, too. This trend really got underway at the start of the 1970s; it was the first time women came together on a large scale to play football, and at that point many women realised it was the most beautiful game in the world.

Women’s football is even more firmly established in the USA, where soccer is even considered to be a women’s sport…

The development programmes at universities in the USA were groundbreaking, as they stipulated that women should earn the same from sport as men. As there weren’t any women playing baseball and American football, a disproportionate amount of funding went into soccer instead. This gave women’s football in the USA an enormous boost, but T H E F I FA W E E K LY

fan interest lagged behind for a long time.

Although we were challenging for the biggest trophies – we became Olympic champions in 2008 and 2012 and reached the World Cup final in 2011 – our home matches only attracted 4,000 spectators at the start. Today, that has changed; there was a crowd of 20,000 at the home match against Canada at the end of January. Players like Mia Hamm, Hope Solo or Abby Wambach are figureheads for the whole football movement.

In 2007, you were appointed assistant coach, alongside your compatriot Marika Domanski-Lyfors, of the Chinese national team – another leading force in women’s football…

That really was a very special experience.

We didn’t speak any Chinese and could only communicate with the players via an interpreter. Despite this, we made ourselves understood when things got frantic; football is an international language, after all. Culturally,

Carl Sandin / Bildbyrån

“Football is unhealthy for women’s bodies.”

These ideas were simply plucked from thin air; there was no proof for any of it, yet people simply claimed it was true. As a child, I wanted to play football because I enjoyed it, not to prove anything.

PIA SUNDHAGE

China was a great adventure. We were fully supported by the Chinese Football Association. The team’s success made anything possible, even though China isn’t at the forefront of gender equality.

Bildbyrån

There are now almost 30 million women and girls playing football across the globe. What key event do you think triggered this increased interest in the sport?

Without a doubt, it was the launch of the Women’s World Cup in 1991. That tournament gave the sport a huge boost and prompted governing bodies to invest in women’s football. The establishment of World Cup tournaments at every youth level has also been crucial. It has motivated football associations to put more energy and funds into development, which benefits women and girls at every level. Sport is a great tool for social integration and for boosting self-confidence.

Despite all this, there are still relatively few women coaching football. How can this be changed?

the start of a major period of development and there’s no way I’d want to miss that.

It needs clear commitment on the part of football associations. We have to move away from traditional gender roles wherever possible. I know many current and former players who would make excellent coaches, but we have to place trust in them and give them a chance to prove themselves. We need greater collaboration between men and women in coaching. The most capable people should be put in the best roles, regardless of whether they are male or female.

Where do you see women’s football in 10 years time?

As the game becomes increasingly professional, the ability level and number of teams challenging for titles will continue to increase, not just in terms of technique but athletically, too. Above all, I expect the tempo of games to increase significantly. Å Pia Sundhage was talking to Thomas Renggli

Would you ever consider coaching a men’s team?

I could imagine it, but I’d never want to do it just to prove that a woman can coach men. Besides, what’s happening in women’s football right now is very exciting. We’re at T H E F I FA W E E K LY

23

Photograph by Levon Biss with support from Umbro / RPM

First Love Place: Khaylitsha, South Africa Date: 9 October 2010 Time: 15.33 pm

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

25

EVERY GASP EVERY SCREAM EVERY ROAR EVERY DIVE EVERY BALL E V E RY PAS S EVERY CHANCE EVERY STRIKE E V E R Y B E AU T I F U L D E TA I L SHALL BE SEEN SHALL BE HEARD S H A L L B E FE LT

Feel the Beauty

BE MOVED

THE NEW 4K LED TV

“SONY” and “make.believe” are trademarks of Sony Corporation.

C O U N T D OW N C A N A DA 2015

→ http://www.fifa.com/worldcup

“We’re ready to win the title” The 2015 World Cup will be the biggest tournament in the history of women’s football, with the opening ceremony promising to be a must-see spectacle. And when it comes to hosting a sporting festival, Edmonton has previous.

Alan Schweingruber

S

Reuters / A ndy Clark

ince oil reserves were discovered in Edmonton in 1947 it has grown to become the fifth-largest city in Canada.

Edmonton is also home to top-class ice hockey and Canadian football teams, with The Oilers winning the coveted Stanley Cup four times in the 1980s alone, while The Eskimos lifted the Grey Cup for five consecutive years from 1978 onwards. It should come as no surprise then, that the metropolis’ nickname is the City of Champions.

Sporting triumphs in Canada’s oil capital became rather more infrequent after 1991 but its residents still know how to celebrate sports festivals. In 2002 an astonishing 47,784 spectators attended the U-19 Women’s World Cup final, a figure that has yet to be surpassed at a FIFA youth tournament.

1.5 million visitors planned The fact that the title went to USA on Pre-World Cup delight Canada’s Karina Le Blanc and team-mate Christine Sinclair (right) in Vancouver. the Golden Goal rule has paled in significance 12 years on. “The whole experience in Edmonton was unforgettable,” said Christine Sinclair, who tions for the first time ever and the signs point of women’s football. The opening World finished as the competition’s top scorer. point towards the competition breaking exCup game will be staged in Edmonton on 6 June “We’ve developed a lot since then and played isting attendance records. “After the men’s 2015, and as hosts, Canada will be playing. really well at the 2012 Olympics. Winning World Cup we want it to be the best-attended Kick-off cannot come soon enough for Sinclair: third place in London has given us impetus “We want to become world champions in 2015. football event in history,” said Peter MonWe’re ready to win the title.” Å going into the 2015 World Cup.” Sinclair is now topoli, CEO of the National Organising Comcaptain of the senior team and holds a host of mittee. “Our aim is to attract 1.5 million peoimportant records in Canadian women’s footple to watch the matches.” ball, having been voted Player of the Year ten times, earning 203 international caps and scoSinclair optimistic ring 147 goals along the way. “Hosting the There are still 15 months to go until the showWorld Cup in my own country will be the down begins, but this summer’s U-20 World highlight of my career,” she said. “Chances Cup will provide the country with a dress relike that don’t ever come around again.” hearsal. Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal and The seventh edition of the Women’s Moncton are the venues for the matches and World Cup will feature 24 participating nathe former will subsequently become the focal T H E F I FA W E E K LY

27

HISTORY

6 JUNE – 5 JULY

EDMONTON VANCOUVER

WINNIPEG

HISTORY

Canada has hosted one edition of the Summer Olympics (Montreal 1976) and two Winter Olympics (Calgary 1988 and Vancouver 2010).

The Canadian women’s team has participated in five out of six editions of the FIFA Women’s World Cup™, their best ranking being fourth in 2003.

One year before the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2015™, Canada will also play host to the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2014.

Canada will be the first country to host this tournament twice after staging the first edition in 2002 when they finished as runners-up. Toronto is the only FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup stadium that will not host the senior event in 2015.

The Canadian Soccer Association celebrated its centenary in 2012.

Christine Sinclair scored ten goals in one edition of the FIFA U-19 Women’s World Championship in 2002, the tournament that is now called the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. Former FIFA referee Sonia Denoncourt from Canada has refereed the second highest number of matches in the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ with a total of nine.

The number of teams participating in the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ will increase from 16 to 24 in 2015. In 1991 and 1995, there were just 12.

In Mexico in 2010, Canada won the CONCACAF Women’s Championship for the second time.

Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.

MONCTON

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), known around the world as The Mounties, is a federal police force for Canada.

Even though the RCMP is a modern policing body, the scarlet tunic and the black horse remain an important part of the force’s traditions and form part of Canada’s national identity, as seen in the popular Musical Ride ceremony.

Inuksuit are stone landmarks or cairns built primarily by the Inuit in the Arctic region of Canada. They vary greatly in shape, colour, size and how they are constructed and each one has some form of meaning. They have also been used in the past by Inuit in the Arctic region to divert caribou to a wider part of a river or lake for hunting purposes. The word inukshuk means “in the likeness of a human”. Inuit Heritage Trust

MONTREAL

OTTAWA

Totem poles are monumental sculptures carved from large trees, mostly Western Red Cedar, by indigenous peoples of the Pacific coast of North America. The word totem means “kinship group”.

Tidal Bores are natural phenomena caused here by the surging Bay of Fundy tides which are the highest in the world. The higher waters in the bay cause the water in the placid Petitcodiac River to roll back upstream in one wave. Tidal bore activity occurs twice daily and waves range in height from 3cm to 60cm.

Trees have a commercial, environmental and aesthetic importance to Canadians. Maples sustain the maple sugar industry, help to beautify the landscape and contribute valuable wood products. The maple tree was officially recognised as Canada’s arboreal emblem in 1996.

On 15 February, 1965, the red maple leaf flag was inaugurated as the national flag of Canada making it one of the most prominent Canadian symbols.

Live Your Goals is FIFA’s long-term commitment to support women’s football worldwide and encourage more young women and girls to participate in the sport.

@FIFAWWC facebook.com/fifawomensworldcup © FIFA 2014 Editorial deadline: March 2014 Images © Getty Images

T HE DEBAT E

Development on course

Focus on youth Increasing numbers of girls are now playing football, like at this school in Potsdam.

Alan Schweingruber and Xavier Breuil While it is doubtful whether James Brown would have considered renaming his chauvinistically titled hit ‘It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World’ in 1966 - the song made the Soul legend millions after all - events 45 years previously might have given him food for thought. At that time women’s football was developing rapidly and a benefit match in Liverpool between Dick Kerr Ladies, employees of the company Dick Kerr, and Saint Helen's attracted a crowd of 53,000. However, women’s on-pitch elegance and playing style were evidently met with disapproval by their male counterparts, who feared the men’s game would be overshadowed.

Consequently, the Football Association made 30

the pitiable decision to simply ban women’s football outright 19 days before Christmas in 1922. Belgium and later Germany followed suit.

Triumphant return Anyone wondering what women’s football will look like in ten years should first consider the game’s resurrection in the 1960s, when it pushed its way back into male consciousness through a mixture of courage and determination. Between 1969 and 1970 Germany, Sweden and France officially recognised women’s football as a sport again, but it was not until the 1990s that the major breakthrough arrived with the maiden Women’s World Cup in 1991 and the resounding success of the tournament in the USA eight years later. Today women’s football is perhaps in the most important stage of its development, enjoying widespread acceptance after enduring periods of difficulty. Technique, tactics and athleticism are the areas now being honed.

Playing fair Despite the game’s historical setbacks, women are nevertheless ahead of men in certain aspects of the sport. Women’s football is not only T H E F I FA W E E K LY

played at a high level, it is also done with fair play at the forefront of players’ minds. Spectators of the women’s game will know that time-wasting and over-the-top challenges are rare during the 90 minutes, while diving is taboo. “In women’s football fair play is not just an empty phrase,” says 2012 Women’s Coach of the Year Pia Sundhage in our interview on page 20.

Opinion is still divided about the true meaning of James Brown’s aforementioned single, but the song’s next line gives a strong indication: “It wouldn’t be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl.” Å

The weekly debate.

Any thing you want to get off your chest? Which topics do you want to discuss? Send your suggestions to: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

AFP

What will women’s football look like ten years from now? The game’s development is in its most exciting phase.

T HE DEBAT E

The world game will have female premier league coaches across the world because we know how to build a strong team. There will be female assistant coaches, female physios, female doctors, female sport scientists and female technical support because if it's broken we will fix it. There will be female directors, board members and female CEOs because we are intelligent, driven and have the best interests of the whole team at heart. There will be female referees officiating at all levels of the game because we will be trained by the females currently breaking down those barriers for us. The female players will have premier competitions and be seen as the integral building blocks to teach our children the true finesse and skill that is the beauty of our game.

Dawillos, Australia

There will be a lot more female footballers in ten years’ time - particularly in Africa and Asia, where there is a lot of untapped potential. If the number of players increases, so does the overall standard and performance level. Hopefully, the standard of coaching will continue to develop at the same rate. In order to achieve sustained improvement in the long-term, women have to become more involved in the technical side of the game.

Doris Dürr, Germany

A lot depends on media interest. Clubs will only jump on the bandwagon and start to invest more money in women’s football if TV companies are prepared to allocate more time to the women’s game.

Fernando Del Potre, Argentina

“Men and women in the same team.”

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

There is no question about the improvement of women’s soccer in the last years, however I do not believe that in 10 years it will grow a lot. My reasoning is that not many countries give much importance to women’s soccer, in consequence the competition is very limited and the progress is slow.

Acapulco, Mexiko

“Women's football will continue to improve.”

In 10 years women football has so much improved that Fifa will be thinking of organising mixed football. Men and women in the same team. Believe me it will come to that.

Like in lawn tennis, table tennis, wwf. I’m not a prophet but I foresee it happening.

Djeniko Esse, Nigeria

There’s no doubt that women’s football will continue to improve. In the past 40 years, the women’s game has transformed from a marginal sport to a top-class one. This upward trend will continue over the next ten years, both in the top divisions and at grass-roots level.

A. Strit, Denmark

10 years isn’t enough to change it all, but women’s football will continue to improve.

There will be more professional teams, players and coaches will be prepared almost like men, and the TV will follow them even more. Women’s football will improve on the field in every way, technical, tactical and physical. Stronger and faster. Meaning there will be less small teams and such incredible scores (8-0, 12-1...)

But no mistake, women’s football will never be at the same level as men.

Equality at every level

W

omen’s football has taken truly huge strides in the last 40 years. It was nothing more than a niche pastime until 1970 and was prohibited by national associations, in ­Germany and England for example. Nowadays 30 million girls and women around the world play football, in all cultural environments and in all 209 FIFA member associations.

FIFA sent out an important signal concerning the globalisation of the women’s game last December by awarding the U-17 Women’s World Cup 2016 to Jordan. The sport plays a crucial role in efforts to promote integration and equality for women, especially in the Arab world.

The International Football Association Board has also correctly read the signs of the times. A week ago the board ratified the wearing of head covers in official matches, thereby opening the door to football for millions of girls and women. Criticism that this cements the subjugation of women as symbolised by head covering defies logic. The precise opposite is the case. Football means hope and freedom.

This significant change to the Laws reflects that. No-one is obliged to wear a head cover.

Those who wish to may do so.

Without a doubt, one vital factor is the inclusion of women in key strategic and technical positions. Three women - Moya Dodd, Sonia Bien-Aime and Lydia Nsekera - sit on the FIFA Executive Committee. This is a first step.

Women should be taking on an even more important role in coaching and management.

Gender equality must be advanced in every area and at every level.

Julien Sorell, France

I hope that progress will continue to be made, particularly at youth level. Girls must be given the same opportunities as boys at junior level. Only thus can the grass-roots game continue to expand and improvements be made at the very top.

D. Boll, Austria T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Best wishes, Sepp Blatter 31

A FIFA World Cup in Brazil is just like Visa: everyone is welcome.

™

TM & © 2014 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved. Used Under Authorization.

FIFA WORLD R ANKING

→ http://www.fifa.com/womensworldcup/

Norway move higher up the top 10 FIFA introduced world rankings for women's football in 2003. While the men's rankings are updated monthly, the women's listing is updated four times a year with the next update due on 28 March. FIFA's 150 active member associations are ranked based on a number of factors including wins, home advantage, the strength of opponents and the significance of each match. The December rankings

Rank Team

Change in ranking

Points

1 USA

0 2228

2 Germany

0 2156

3 Japan

0 2071

4 Brazil

0 2031

5 France

1 2027

6 Sweden

-1 2021

7 Canada

0 1978

8 Norway

2 1973

9 Australia

-1 1957

10 Korea DPR

-2 1956

11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 29 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 42 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58

England Italy Denmark Netherlands Spain New Zealand Korea Republic China PR Iceland Scotland Russia Switzerland Finland Ukraine Mexico Czech Republic Belgium Vietnam Austria Colombia Poland Thailand Republic of Ireland Nigeria Romania Wales Hungary Belarus Chinese Taipei Costa Rica Portugal Myanmar Uzbekistan Serbia Slovakia Trinidad and Tobago Cameroon Ghana India South Africa Equatorial Guinea Jordan Iran Haiti Israel Bulgaria Northern Ireland Slovenia

0 0 -1 0 2 3 0 -2 -4 0 0 3 -1 -1 -1 0 0 0 4 0 -1 -1 1 -2 0 1 -1 0 0 0 1 1 3 -1 -4 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 3 6 -1 -3 1

1942 1892 1872 1868 1849 1834 1829 1826 1822 1820 1806 1794 1786 1772 1760 1696 1680 1661 1650 1650 1647 1639 1633 1623 1606 1601 1576 1565 1564 1561 1550 1548 1548 1531 1524 1509 1467 1459 1431 1430 1429 1415 1412 1397 1394 1393 1391 1387

were influenced by European qualifying matches for the Women's World Cup 2015 as well as numerous friendlies, particularly in Asia. The biggest winners in the top 10 were Norway (up 2 to 8th). Meanwhile, four teams from the Oceania region dropped out of the rankings due to inactivity, but Indonesia (68th) and Swaziland (112) returned to the list.

Rank Team 59 60 61 61 63 63 65 66 67 68 68 68 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 94 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 113 114 115 116 117

Albania Panama Croatia Hong Kong Turkey Kazakhstan Greece Côte d'Ivoire Faroe Islands Uruguay Indonesia Morocco Estonia Guatemala Bahrain Bosnia-Herzegovina Philippines Guam Laos Malaysia Senegal Montenegro Lithuania Zimbabwe Latvia Palestine Singapore El Salvador Malta Ethiopia Luxembourg Honduras Kyrgyzstan Congo DR Nicaragua Nepal Armenia Georgia Cyprus FYR Macedonia Namibia Bangladesh Sri Lanka Lebanon Maldives Tanzania Zambia Pakistan Dominica Afghanistan Mozambique Kuwait Qatar Swaziland Lesotho Belize Bhutan Antigua and Barbuda Botswana Argentina ** Chile ** Ecuador ** Papua New Guinea ** Peru ** Paraguay ** Azerbaijan ** Jamaica ** Venezuela **

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Change in ranking 1 2 2 3 2 3 -7 2 0 1 1 3 -1 0 4 0 0 0 1 2 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 2 5 3 2 4 2 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 4 4 1 2 2 2 2 2

Points 1379 1364 1361 1361 1358 1358 1352 1344 1338 1330 1330 1330 1321 1318 1314 1312 1311 1294 1293 1266 1247 1242 1241 1224 1192 1182 1177 1175 1166 1163 1156 1153 1136 1132 1111 1104 1104 1100 1087 1073 1015 979 965 955 942 941 938 937 906 899 873 870 867 860 837 827 785 757 708 1609 1544 1484 1476 1450 1430 1341 1339 1338

Rank Team

Change in ranking

Tunisia ** Algeria ** Tonga ** Fiji ** Egypt ** Guyana ** Congo ** Tahiti ** Bolivia ** Dominican Republic ** Mali ** Cuba ** Solomon Islands ** New Caledonia ** Benin ** Moldova ** Barbados ** Cook Islands ** Suriname ** Vanuatu ** Angola ** Sierra Leone ** Bahamas ** Samoa ** Puerto Rico ** American Samoa ** Guinea ** St. Lucia ** Eritrea ** Gabon ** Grenada ** St. Vincent and the Grenadines ** Burkina Faso ** St. Kitts and Nevis ** Uganda ** Turks and Caicos Islands ** Bermuda ** Guinea-Bissau ** Syria ** US Virgin Islands ** Iraq ** Liberia ** British Virgin Islands ** Cayman Islands ** Malawi ** Curaçao ** Aruba ** Comoros ** United Arab Emirates * Kenya *

Points 1325 1320 1316 1306 1289 1256 1238 1238 1236 1226 1204 1201 1195 1188 1187 1177 1173 1170 1159 1139 1134 1132 1111 1110 1108 1075 1063 1061 1060 1031 1029 1008 1003 974 965 963 950 927 927 885 882 877 867 847 840 831 803 534 1665 816

** Inactive for more than 18 months and therefore not ranked. * Provisionally listed due to not having played more than five matches against officially ranked teams.

33

THE INTERVIEW

“A long way to go” Isha Johansen, the President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA), is set to mark International Women’s Day by organising a football match against Liberia. She hopes that the sport will inject a new lease of life into a generation of young women whose lives have been torn apart by war.

Mrs Johansen, you’re involved in promoting women’s rights in lots of different ways.

Isha Johansen: Just 15 years ago, the most devastating and brutal of wars was raging in Sierra Leone, and in neighbouring Liberia too.

And just like in most wars, women and children bore the brunt of the suffering. So those of us involved in women’s international football don’t just deal with footballing matters, but with the consequences of those terrible wars too.

And you’re already tacking that issue in your role as President.

I regularly organise events to promote exchanges between women from all walks of life. We celebrate the lives of all women, including those who work at the markets and those who work in the fields. On 8 March, International Women’s Day, I want to place the focus on women who play football. Many of our players from the U17 and U20 categories have either been raped themselves or have witnessed their grandmothers, mothers and sisters being abused. They have to live with the mental and emotional scars this causes.

play the game too. This is exactly the right time to be getting involved in women’s football in Sierra Leone.

Just how difficult is it to organise a football match like this one?

The challenges associated with an event like this are always financial. The young women from Liberia will travel here by bus.

The short flight would cost $11,000 for 18 players and four staff members. The 11-hour bus journey is much more affordable. I’m delighted that the deputy US ambassaor in Sierra Leone has taken over the patronage of the event and is organising an evening for the young women, where they’ll be given prizes and awards. The Sierra Leone Football Association will cover the costs of board and lodgings for the young women, as well as providing them with an allowance.

Where will the match be played?

Yes, they’re now involved in many areas of society – including football – in which they’re trying to regain their self-confidence.

The match is taking place at our association headquarters in Freetown, on an artificial surface. The pitch was built by FIFA. We’ve provided chairs and seats for the spectators and we’re expecting women from the administrative sector, from the police corps and the military, and from the fields of politics and economics to attend. In addition, most of the girls’ schools in the area are attending.

And that applies to all young women in the region.

When did women’s football get going in your country?

The people of Liberia have endured similar experiences: civil war, abuse, and so on. They’ve suffered the same pain. We believe that these young women must be celebrated and it’s with this in mind that we’re organising a friendly match between Sierra Leone and Liberia.

Women’s football has never really found its feet in Sierra Leone. We need to start from scratch and go into schools, for example, where girls tend to play volleyball and other net sports. We’re currently in communication with the Ministry for School and Sport in an attempt to ensure that young women are at least offered the option to play football.

The young women need and seek acceptance.

How popular is women’s football in Sierra Leone?

Is women’s football accepted?

I’m particularly delighted that our young women are starting to realise that football isn’t just a sport for men and that they can

Women’s football hasn’t really gained acceptance here. It seemed to be more accepted when I was younger. Football is generally

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY

regarded as a men’s game. When a young woman in Sierra Leone wants to play football, she’s not exactly encouraged by society to do so. So we need to go back into schools and to reintroduce football there – as part of the curriculum.

And outside of the schools?

Young women in Sierra Leone can’t just go and play football once a week. We don’t have the infrastructure for this. The clubs are for the slightly older girls, those who are 18 or 19.

There’s still a long way to go. Å Interview by Perikles Monioudis

Name Isha Johansen, born Tejan-Cole Place of birth and residence Freetown, Sierra Leone

Andrew Esiebo/ Panos

Position President of the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA) since August 2013 Other activities CEO of FC Johansen in Freetown

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FREE KICK

W E E K LY T O P 11

The stars of women’s football

Men only Thomas Renggli

F

ootball can hardly be described as a pioneering force for emancipation. But our sport is far from alone in obliging women to dribble their way round misunderstandings and batter away at stereotypes propagated by men. The Ancient Greeks forbade women from even watching the Olympic Games on pain of death. The Ancients argued that competitive sport was unbecoming to women and a danger to their health. The 19th century 'father of German gymnastics’ Friedrich Ludwig Jahn held a similar opinion.

Sport, he claimed, caused women’s eyes to glaze over. A German manual for girls’ gymnastics dating from 1885 contains this advice: “It is sufficient that they learn to jump 50 cm hurdles.”

French Olympic patriarch Pierre de Coubertin similarly disapproved of women surmounting high obstacles. He was a vehement opponent of women competing at the Games, but even he was forced to capitulate. Females entered the Olympic fold at the 1900 Games in Paris which included women’s golf and tennis.

A Swiss publication discussing the London Games of 1948 included an urgent appeal: “The newly incorporated women’s 200m run should be withdrawn, because it is too much of a burden on the sex.” As late as 1959 renowned Vienna sports physician Ludwig Prokop still had grave reservations: “Long-distance running is entirely inappropriate for women.” The longest women’s race distance at the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico was the 800m. At the 1972 Munich Games four years later it was 1500m.

“If we’re now going to have women running the 1500m, we’ll have to look away for five minutes,” a critic proclaimed at the time. Nowadays he would not even need to avert his offended gaze for four minutes. The women’s world record for the longest of the middle distances stands at 3:50.46.

Prior to the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles the American Civil Liberties Union

brought a lawsuit seeking to force the inclusion of a women’s 5,000m and 10,000m, but the Union was rebuffed by a civil court. Paradoxically the same Olympics incorporated the inaugural women’s marathon. American winner Joan Benoit covered the 26 miles in 2:24.52, a time that would have won the men’s event in 1956. Nowadays, many sports medicine experts are convinced that talented female runners are better equipped for endurance racing than men.

Subterfuge was required before women and marathons became a topic worthy of widespread discussion. The pivotal evidence was produced by Roberta Gibb Bingay of the USA at the Boston Marathon in 1966.

The event was strictly “men only” at the time, so Gibb took her fate as a promising runner into her own hands, disguising herself in a baggy hooded sweatshirt and hiding in a bush near the starting line. She waited until the main body of runners had disappeared before setting off down the course. She was soon forced to discard her outer clothing due to the heat and ran through Boston in a black bathing costume and Bermuda shorts. There were no running shoes for women at the time so she wore standard issue white leather Red Cross nurses’ shoes. The crowds and the male runners gave her a rapturous reception and Gibb was hailed as a hero.

Will Cloney, the authoritarian race director, was not prepared to put up with this. He had flatly declined Gibb’s application to enter on the grounds women were not physiologically capable of running marathon distances, so he sent out chasers to trail the interloper. But Roberta simply skipped away from her pursuers.

She ran, ran and ran some more, all the way into the annals of sporting history. Å

1

K ristine Lilly, USA. 352 international caps, 30 World Cup appearances, a world record.

2

Marta, Brazil. The global symbol of the women’s game. She is the only woman to have been invited to leave a footprint in concrete at the Maracana Stadium.

3

Nadine Angerer, Germany. Her displays in 2013 helped her become the first goalkeeper to win the Ballon d’Or. In the same year she was key to Germany being crowned European champions.

4

Homare Sawa, Japan. Made her debut in the Japanese top flight aged 12, earned her first cap for Japan aged 15 and made her maiden World Cup appearance when she was 16.

5

Lotta Schelin, Sweden. The 30-year-old has won countless titles and awards over the years and currently cannot stop scoring for her club Olympique Lyon.

6

Abby Wambach, USA. The 2012 Ballon d’Or winner is astonishingly ruthless in front of goal. Her haul of 165 international goals is second to none across the globe.

7

Kelly Smith, England. The first Englishwoman to become a professional player, she is considered one of the greatest strikers in the history of the game.

8

Hege Riise, Norway. In her playing days she won the World Cup, the European Championship and Olympic gold. She is now aiming to replicate that success as assistant coach of the Norwegian national team.

9

Birgit Prinz, Germany. Came on as a 62nd minute substitute at EURO 95 and scored a game-changing goal after just 120 seconds on the pitch to help her country to the title.

Subsequently went on to forge a career of unprecedented success.

10

Mia Hamm, USA. In earning 275 international caps and scoring 158 goals, her popularity helped make women’s football one of the most played sports in America.

11

L ouisa Necib, France. One of her country's most talented players, frequently compared to the great Zinedine Zidane.

The weekly column by our staff writers T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Herne Hill, England

A peck on the cheek. Women’s football experienced a boom during the First World War, as large-scale army conscription made it impossible for many men’s leagues to stage regular matches. The wind soon changed after the end of the war, and on 5 December 1921, The Football Association showed women the red card, banning them from using the country’s stadiums.

England’s female footballers were not so easily discouraged, and in 1925 an international match took place between England and France in Herne Hill, London. Here, captains Florrie Redford (right) and Carmen Pomies greet each other warmly, but no further pleasantries were exchanged in a close match that France won on penalties.

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MacGregor / Getty Images

1925

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Newcastle upon Tyne, England

Robert Cianflone / FIFA via Getty Images

2012 Handshake. The gates to Britain’s greatest footballing arenas were thrown open to women’s football at the 2012 Olympic Games. Here, Canada’s captain Christine Sinclair and Swedish skipper Nilla Fischer fix each other with determined stares at Newcastle’s 52,400-seater St. James Park. The 2-2 result ended Canada’s medal hopes and secured Sweden’s passage to the quarter-final, where they were beaten by France. Gold went to the USA with a 2-1 victory over Japan in a final at Wembley witnessed by 80,203 fans - a record for a women’s match in Europe.

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HISTORY

“I’m proud to see a World Cup here in Costa Rica”

A pioneer of women’s football in Costa Rica, 86-year-old Maria Elena Valverde reflected on her longstanding relationship with the game. On the eve of the U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2014, she explains how the country’s first women’s team came into being and how they won acceptance within Costa Rica.

Memories Even now, Maria Elena Valverde struggles to conceal her emotions when looking at early pictures of women's football in Costa Rica.

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HISTORY

You were one of 30 young women to found the first female football team in Costa Rica on 19 March 1949. Can you tell us how it happened?

The idea of setting up a women’s football team came about when I went with an aunt of mine to pray at the house of a friend of hers who had just died. I remember there were some men there and they were having an argument about something or other. I didn’t know what they were talking about so I asked my aunt one day and she said it was all about football.

I told her it was a sport I liked very much so she went and told one of the men what I’d said. He told me that they were very interested in setting up a women’s team but that it was impossible.

When I asked him why he said it was because there weren’t enough women who wanted to play. I was so excited about the whole idea and I mentioned to him that I always played with six other girls in my neighbourhood and that they’d love to play in a team. So we agreed that each of us would invite friends to come along, the idea being to get a group of 30 girls together. We managed it, and split them up into two teams of 15 players so we could have a game.

We organised a training session on 19 March 1949. A bus picked us all up and took us to a farm called Las Delicias and that’s where we started to train. They showed us how to kick the ball properly and taught us the basic facets of the game.

When did you play your first match and what do you remember of it? What was the atmosphere like in those early days?

We played our first match on 27 March 1950 at the Estadio Nacional. Our team was called America and we played in red against a team called Costa Rica, who wore blue. The match was a big success. The stadium was absolutely packed and we got really good reports in the press, who said we played even better than the men. The kit we had was really lovely. We wore make-up and did our hair too and we really caught the eye.

Laura Rodríguez

What role did you play in Costa Rican society and did you gain acceptance?

Lots of people congratulated us and the fact is it wasn’t hard for us, though some people did say women’s football was dangerous and that we wouldn’t be able to have children, which scared a few people off. Then a doctor came along and explained that it wasn’t true, which reassured our parents and everyone else. Women’s football kept on growing and more and more teams started up, which has allowed us to keep on playing football right up to today.

A love of detail Maria Elena Valverde's photo album chronicles her life in football.

What kind of response did you get in Costa Rica? Was it hard for women’s football to find a place in a society where the men’s game was dominant?

Like I said, we were surprised at the level of acceptance we got. A lot of the girls had to lie and say that they were going to basketball training because they thought their parents wouldn’t let them play. It was after we started playing that they told them. They gave them their permission to carry on with football when they saw everyone playing and the press talking about it and how well we played.

How much influence did football have in changing the way women were seen in Costa Rica and in giving them more equality and opportunities?

the opportunity to play another sport and do things that people thought only men could do.

What would you say to the girls taking part in the U-17 Women’s World Cup Costa Rica 2014?

They’re going to do really well because they are very brave and they’re going to take a lot of pleasure from the chance they have to play football and continue on the path we started.

I’m sure they’ll make history at this World Cup, just as we did way back in our day.

I feel extremely proud to be here at the age of 86, having the chance to watch this Women’s World Cup. I hope they really enjoy it and that they pave the way for the growth of women’s football. Å Interview by Mariana Soto

I can’t honestly remember anyone ever trying to stop us playing football. In fact, we always got a very good response and what we did was important in ensuring that it wasn’t just men who played the game. That was the only change really – the fact that women had T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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THE INTERVIEW

“I was teased as a child” Capped 111 times by Germany, former international Steffi Jones is a director at the German Football Association (DFB). Ahead of International Women’s Day, Jones shares her thoughts on gender equality, racism and homophobia.

Is International Women’s Day really necessary?

Steffi Jones: For us women, it’s an important day – many strong women fought for emancipation. For this reason, and also because women still have to fight for their rights in many countries, I’m thankful for this day.

Do women have to suffer discrimination, both in football and in general?

Male domination – in all walks of life – makes it more difficult for women to get to the top, but recent years have seen more women go into politics, economics, sport, etc.

These are great role models for other women.

Any kind of discrimination is a no-go for me, and I’m really happy with the work done by associations and clubs; they have made their position perfectly clear and distanced themselves from xenophobia and discrimination. The DFB has published a brochure on homophobia that aims to support and educate footballers.

What do you tell parents who don’t let their daughters play football because of their own gender prejudices?

Football plays a big role in personality development and establishes values we should embrace in our everyday lives. In my opinion, respect and tolerance are the most important.

Do women have it harder in football than men?

I don’t differentiate between women’s and men’s football – ability is what’s important, not gender. I’m for equal opportunities.

What do you think about nations in which homosexuality is forbidden?

Why must women overcome so many obstacles before they are accepted into the corridors of power?

What does the future hold? Where will we stand on this subject in ten years’ time?

Stephanie Ann Jones

I hope we’ll no longer need a women’s quota and I want to see equal opportunities for men and women. Every girl should be allowed to play football in order to be able to fulfil her dreams. Å

22 December 1972, Frankfurt

That’s a matter for the politicians.

Name

It’s bound to be a number of years before women regularly assume positions of power, but many already occupy top positions in companies, associations and in politics.

They’re starting to assert themselves and are doing a great job. The women’s quota might help move things along a little quicker.

Interview by Ségolène Valentin

On the subject of discrimination, have you ever been the victim of racial slurs?

I was teased as a child because of the colour of my skin, but through football, we’re taught about values such as fair play, integration, respect and tolerance. I gained self-confidence and social skills through football and these things stand me in good stead today.

Date and place of birth Position Centre-back Clubs 1986–1991 SG Praunheim 1991–1992 FSV Frankfurt 1992–1993 SG Praunheim 1993–1994 TuS Niederkirchen 1994–1997 SG Praunheim 1997–1998 FSV Frankfurt 1998–2000 SC 07 Bad Neuenahr 2000–2002 1. FFC Frankfurt 2002–2003 Washington Freedom 2003–2007 1. FFC Frankfurt National team 111 appearances for Germany 1993–2007 Honours (selection) FIFA Women’s World Cup 2003 UEFA Women’s Euro 1997, 2001, 2005 Olympic bronze medal in 2000, 2004 UEFA Women’s Cup 2002, 2006 (1. FFC Frankfurt)

Homophobia seems to be more widespread in the men’s game than in the women’s. Why is that the case?

Current role Director at the German Football Association (DFB) since 2011 T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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NET ZER KNOWS!

THE OBJEC T

What do you make of women’s football?

Question from Juan Martinez, Stockholm (Sweden)

Perikles Monioudis

F

irst of all, you mustn’t compare women’s football with the men’s game - the comparison just doesn’t work. The contrast between the players’ physical attributes alone is too stark for a direct comparison to be fair. Former Germany national coach Sepp Herberger once claimed that football is not a sport that is suitable for women, mainly because it’s a combat sport - that is completely untrue. I was at Frankfurt’s ­stadium for the 2011 Women’s World Cup final and know how absorbing women’s football can be. USA’s match against Japan was a thriller worthy of the men’s game. There was excitement, pace, athleticism and four goals over the course of the 120 minutes, with Japan eventually winning 3-1 on penalties.

The development has been fantastic. ­Women’s football wasn’t rated at all in the 1970s. There was a certain amount of interest and many claimed to have heard of it, but ­privately, women’s football was derided. The fact that women were once forbidden from 44

playing football in countries like Germany and England shows what a long fight for recognition it has been.

Women’s football has established itself in recent decades and has greatly enriched the sporting world. Unfortunately, the clubs and national teams of many countries still lack support. The stadiums are only ever full d ­ uring major tournaments. I therefore recommend that all the doubters watch the 2011 World Cup final on DVD. Å

What have you always wanted to know about football? Ask Gunter Netzer: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Mauritius Images

Always the gentleman Günter Netzer during his time as HSV coach in the late 1970s.

This postcard from 1906 depicts a female footballer. She is wearing a red knee-length skirt and matching bobble hat. Her arms are folded behind her back, her slightly other-worldly yet candid gaze directed towards the stooping ­observer.

In this case, the ball serves less as a piece of sports equipment than as an ornament or, to be more precise, as a symbol of the sporting activity she likes to indulge in when it takes her fancy.

She is accustomed to playing football in more refined surroundings. That’s what the postcard implies, anyway. Isn’t that Caspar David Friedrich’s “Ships at the port in the evening (after sunset)” behind her? Or perhaps a William Turner? The reddish pastel tones of the sky are reminiscent of his two masterpieces “The Burning of the Houses of Lords and Commons”.

Either way, the dramatic nature of the background is in stark contrast to the apparent peace of mind of the young woman in the old-fashioned football kit. After all, 1906 was a year in which drama predominated. Alois Alzheimer first diagnosed the disease named after him, Robert Musil published his debut novel “The Confusions of Young Törless” and San Francisco was rocked to its foundations by an earthquake and subsequent devastating fires.

Nobody knows how many of these 1906 postcards were printed, or to whom they were sent, but women’s football has come on leaps and bounds over the course of time. Postcards such as these have been replaced by autograph cards, which are eagerly snatched from female footballers’ hands after training. The young lady with the black socks is probably holding a pile of them behind her back in readiness for future requirements. Å

TURNING POINT

“Football has broadened my horizons” Breaking into the world of football is often tough for African girls. Perpetua Nkwocha, 38, was beaten by her father in an attempt to stop her playing the game. But the Nigerian stuck to her guns - and ultimately found a new home in Sweden.

Name Perpetua Ijeoma Nkwocha Date of birth, place of birth 3 January 1976, Nigeria Current club Sunnana SK (SWE) Position Midfielder

Lars Baron / FIFA via Getty Images

T

he town of Skelleftea in northern Sweden couldn’t be more different to my Nigerian hometown. The sun hovers over the horizon for no more than an hour a day in December, and yet in the summer it ­simply never gets dark. The Arctic Circle is virtually on our doorstep and during the ­w inter period we only ever train in an indoor hall – even though we haven’t had all that much snow recently. I’ll admit that I do sometimes see the advantages of global warming.

I’ve been living in Sweden for seven years now and I can safely say that moving here was a huge turning point in my career, opening the door to a new life and financial independence.

My salary amounts to approximately €4,000 per month, a quarter of which goes to the Swedish tax office. But with my club taking care of my board and lodgings, I’m able to send a considerable part of my income back home to support my family – my parents, my five brothers and my two sisters. They live in a small place called Amankwu Umuhu. I really appreciate the reliability and the sense of order here in Sweden. That’s also in stark contrast to Nigeria, where many promises are made but very few are kept.

Football is almost revered like a religion in Nigeria – at least, the men’s game is. Breaking into the world of sport is difficult for ­A frican girls and women. At the outset my father refused to accept that I was out in the street with boys, running around after a football, and forbade me from playing the game.

International appearances 83 appearances, 41 goals

But I didn’t let that stop me – even if it did always earn me a beating.

The switch to Sweden came about thanks to an American agent in Ghana. A move to Malmo was initially on the cards, but the club lacked the financial means to complete the deal upon my arrival. Two weeks later an offer came through from Sunnana SK in Skelleftea, and so I moved there instead.

Football has broadened my horizons. My talent was spotted in primary school and carefully nurtured in comprehensive school. I was then given the chance to prove myself at Nigerian club Rivas. The highlights of my career were without doubt when I represented the ­Nigerian national team at the FIFA World Cup finals in 2003 and 2007 as well as the Olympics in 2000, 2004 and 2008.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

At the age of 38 I am in the twilight of my career. At this point I really don’t know whether I have a chance of going to the 2015 World Cup with Nigeria. But two things are for sure:­ I want to remain in Europe and continue to work in football. Because this sport means everything to me. Å Interview by Thomas Renggli

In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives.

45

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The FIFA Weekly Published weekly by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

FIFA QUIZ CUP

Internet: www.fifa.com/theweekly

A historic men's and women's double, one stadium for two world champions

Publisher: FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20, PO box, CH-8044 Zurich Tel. +41-(0)43-222 7777 Fax +41-(0)43-222 7878

and a team named after a flower – test your knowledge!

The name of this flower is the nickname of a previous Women's World Cup winning team, but which one?

1

President: Joseph S. Blatter

H Sweden P Norway

Secretary General: Jérôme Valcke Director of Communications and Public Affairs: Walter De Gregorio

2

Chief editor: Thomas Renggli

Where did men's and women's teams from the same club win their respective domestic trophies?

U

Art director: Markus Nowak

L China R Japan

O

I

A

Staff writers: Perikles Monioudis (Deputy Editor), Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner Contributors: Jordi Punti, Barcelona; David Winner, London; Hanspeter Kuenzler, London; Roland Zorn, Frankfurt/M.; Sven Goldmann, Berlin; Sergio Xavier Filho, Sao Paulo; Luigi Garlando, Milan

3

Picture editor: Peggy Knotz, Adam Schwarz Production: Hans-Peter Frei (head), Richie Krönert, Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Mirijam Ziegler, Susanne Egli, Peter Utz

This was the symbol for an international women's football championship held long before the official Women's World Cup. The final was held in front of a crowd of 100,000, but where?

C China S Mexico

G Italy T South Africa

Proof reader: Nena Morf Contributors to this issue: Dominik Petermann, Tatjana Haenni, Doris Ladstaetter, Ségolène Valentin, Mariana Soto, Andrea Grünenfelder, Xavier Breuil

4

At which World Cup was the women's final held in a stadium where a men's World Cup final had been hosted previously?

Editorial assistant: Honey Thaljieh Translation: Sportstranslations Limited www.sportstranslations.com

E

H

S

T

Project management: Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub Printer: Zofinger Tagblatt AG www.ztonline.ch

The answer to last week’s Quiz Cup was ROOM (detailed answers on www.fifa.com/theweekly).

Contact: feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

Please send your answers to the E-mail feedback-theweekly@fifa.org by 12 March 2014. Correct submissions for all quizzes received by 11 June 2014 will go into a draw to win two tickets to the FIFA World Cup Final on 13 July 2014.

Before sending in your answers, all participants must read and accept the competition terms and conditions and the rules, which can be found at http://en.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/the-fifa-weekly/rules.pdf

Reproduction of photos or articles in whole or in part is only permitted with prior editorial approval and if attributed “The FIFA Weekly, © FIFA 2014”.

The editor and staff are not obliged to publish unsolicited manuscripts and photos. FIFA and the FIFA logo are registered trademarks of FIFA. Made and printed in Switzerland.

Inspiration and implementation: cus

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ASK FIFA!

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Is there an alternative to penalty shoot-outs?

How did the Women’s World Cup come about?

Nina Meier, Düsseldorf (Germany) Answered by Thomas Renggli, chief editor: The tournament was first held in 1991 in China on the initiative of former FIFA President Joao Havelange.

Twelve teams took part in that first competition, a number that was increased to 16 in 1999. In Canada in 2015, 24 teams will vie for the trophy. The 1999 Women’s World Cup finals in the USA were a watershed moment, with 1.2 million people attending the 32 matches, and a record-breaking 90,185 fans present to watch the final between the hosts and China at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. The Women’s World Cup takes place every four years, one year after the men’s tournament.

Hope and pray. The 2011 Women’s World Cup Final between USA and Japan went all the way to penalties. The Americans look worried, and rightly so: Japan won 3-1. But is it right to settle important matches from the spot? Or is there a better way to determine the winners of a match still deadlocked after 120 minutes? Email your views to feedback-theweekly@fifa.org

1+14+85

L A S T W E E K’S P O L L R E S U LT S: What will women’s football look like ten years from now?

85 % In ten years women’s football will be much more professional than today.

14 % The game has peaked.

1 %

In ten years we’ll see mixed teams.

165 117 7 THE BAN

THE GLOBAL SPORT

THE REGULARS

Abby Wambach has scored

Just seven teams have

165 goals in 215 internationumber of international

There are 117 football

World Cup tournaments to

goals for any player, male or

associations included

date: USA, Germany,

female. The 33-year-old

in FIFA’s women’s world rankings, with some

Norway, Brazil, Japan,

American also has 67 assists

30 million women and girls now playing football

Nigeria and Sweden. USA and

to her name and an impres-

across the globe. FIFA is seeking to further

Germany have both won the

sive match record of 185

increase the popularity of women’s football ahead

competition twice, with

wins, 25 draws and just 8

of the 2015 Women’s World Cup with the “Live

Norway and Japan winning

defeats.

Your Goals” campaign.

one trophy apiece.

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Joern Pollex / Getty Images

featured at all six Women’s

nal appearances - a record