Women's Football?

Source: http://www.2.bp.blogspot.com/

Although day one of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was marked by lacking advertising campaigns and a general state of indifference in most parts of Germany, many people watched – at least in part – the opening game between Germany and Canada. Even Chancellor Merkel showed her support.  That's not bad for women's football.

Flashback to the final game of the 1999 Women's World Cup between the USA and China: the 90,000 plus fans at the California Rose Bowl Stadium remains the largest crowd in the world to ever support a women's sporting event.  At that time, the world’s best player, Mia Hamm, was plastered over every television screen and billboard nationwide. But that seemed to be the beginning of the end.  What happened to women's football?

Don't get me wrong.  Women's football remains visible.  Before US team Los Angelos de Sol ran out of cash, Marta Vieira da Silva otherwise known as “Pele in a skirt”, was earning an annual salary in excess of $1 million (although she took a sharp pay cut when she eventually transferred to a New York team).  In 2001, Mia Hamm only earned $85,000 as a forward for U.S. team Washington Freedom.

But women’s football always comes second to men’s football.    Yes, after watching the first game of the 2011 World Cup, people were shocked to find that women's football is strikingly similar to men's football (after all, it's the same sport).  In fact, the only real difference is that men play better.  If that's the case, why shouldn't World Player of the Year Lionel Messi get a higher salary than his female counterpart? To be blunt, why should Marta deserve the same paycheck in a market where she is average at best?

And yet female athletes in other sports seem to have a better shot at success.  Tennis player Maria Sharapova is the highest paid female athlete (according to Forbes.com 05/2011) with an income of $24.2 million.  To add perspective, she is ranked number 29 among all athletes in terms of yearly earnings. 

In contrast, Marta doesn’t even earn a fraction of the income of her male counterparts, despite her uncanny ability to leave fans mesmerized.  Unlike many female athletes, she is perhaps at the pinnacle of transforming women’s soccer both in terms of skill level and innovation.  Nevertheless, her five year streak as World Female Player of the Year barely ensures a spot on any pro club team.  After moving from one bankrupt team to another, she recently joined the Western New York Flash. However, this move could also be temporary if the team suffers financially.

Maybe the 2011 World Cup is the platform for change and the end of a very long struggle for women's football.  The opening game in Berlin on Sunday attracted a crowd of 74,000 fans.  While ticket prices remain relatively low, ranging between €10  and €50 for normal scheduled games (quarter, semi and final rounds are more expensive), German news providers are providing full coverage of all games. But the question of whether women have a sustainable future in professional football remains to be answered.

-To all the dedicated pro women football players, Dried Tomatoes salutes you!