Women’s World Cup. The World Cup is a turning point

The FIFA Women’s World Cup wrapped up on a flamenco note on Sunday, as Spain were crowned queen ahead of England for the first time in their history. Like an unprecedented final bringing together two countries that have never reached this stage of the competition, this oceanarium edition, which was played in Australia and New Zealand, will mark the start of a new era in the women’s football landscape.

In reality, the level has never been so uniform, an observation that various players have been repeating and praising. Evidence for this is that countless “small countries” have achieved historic performance. Morocco, the first-time qualifier, is a perfect example of this: the Sharifian kingdom extended its singing career to the eighth round before its rise was halted by France. For only their second participation, Jamaica and South Africa were also invited to the final table.

As a corollary, some of the big nations experienced unexpected disappointments: Germany were knocked out by Colombia and Morocco in the group stage despite always reaching the quarter-finals; Brazil suffered the same fate when they finished behind Jamaica despite having always outperformed the pools since 1999; Finally, the American superstars came out on top in the eighth round when they were always medalists, often taking golds.

Popular success

The lead-up to the FIFA World Cup was tainted by huge difficulties finding broadcasters in many countries (France, Germany, Japan, England, Italy, Spain, etc.), but once it got underway, the competition experienced unprecedented grassroots momentum.

It’s simple: the stadium attendance record, dating back to the 2015 edition in Canada, was broken with more than 1.5 million tickets sold. On this point, Australia lived the action with much more passion than neighbors New Zealand and had Matilda’s best World Cup performance. In one month, the record attendance for a women’s football match in the Kangaroo Land increased from 30,000 to 75,784 people. The country’s audience record was also broken as 11.15 million viewers watched the semi-final loss to England on Channel 7 alone.

Les Bleues stays on the pier

France accompanied the general excitement without actually benefiting from it. If a group was born in the country of the Antipodes, under the leadership of Hervé Renard whose players adore him, there was nothing new in the sun. The French national team failed again at the gates of the semi-finals, as happened in 2015 and 2019. They witnessed the coronation of their Spanish neighbours, from afar, who saw it in the rear-view mirror a few years ago and who now seem to have achieved it. Inevitably escape.