A Woman’s Game

A decline in prestige in the women’s game in the US has coincided neatly with an upturn in the women’s game in Europe, writes Ryan Keaney:

Women’s football in America is forced to live with a rather depressing notion. Rather than being able to look forward towards the future with hope and dreams leading the way, it is instead stuck knowing that it may never be as popular as it once was. The phrase “is more popular in America than men’s football” is seriously unlikely to ever again follow any mention of the women’s game in conversation.

Women’s soccer will probably never recapture its former glories. The circumstances are unlikely to occur when 90,185 fans will fill the Rose Bowl in California or any other stadium across the world for that matter, to watch 22 ladies play any football match. The incredible spectacle which was the 1999 World Cup final surely can’t be replicated.

The final itself was far from a classic but nobody really cared. The lack of goals and the tense stalemate that was played out probably means it has never been used as an advert for the women’s version of the game; except maybe Brandi’s celebrations after scoring the winning penalty kick but that didn’t matter either. The crowd was just four thousand light on the attendance that had turned up in 1994 for the men’s final between Brazil and Italy. It should have been a “big bang” moment for women’s football across the globe and especially for the American scene.

Five years earlier, the 1994 World Cup proved to be the catalyst men’s football needed for growth in North America and they didn’t even win the ruddy thing. They only reached the first knockout phase before being eliminated by Brazil, the eventual winners. As part of the promises made by the successful bid team, Major League Soccer was launched in the U.S. in 1993 and has gone from strength-to-strength following its inaugural season three years later.

Nowadays the MLS gets move coverage and column inches across the globe than the quality of football probably merits. The hash tag #MLSSuperDraft trended worldwide on Twitter for a prolonged period during the criminally uneventful ceremony, proving that it draws interest from football fans across the globe. Especially when you consider that the “SuperDraft” is completely unlike its counterparts in the NBA and NFL.

The more traditional American sports tend to boast the hottest talents in the world in their draft pool whereas the MLS could only boast a player that can’t make his debut until September in Omar Salgado and Wayne Rooney’s little brother John as their headline makers.

The women’s game unfortunately failed to kick on in a similar manner and in 2003; the incredible bubble of optimism created by the World Cup win in 1999 was well and truly popped. The Women’s United Soccer Association had been built and formed by the 1999 winning squad and kicked in 2001.

The WUSA survived for just three seasons before folding and the 2003 World Cup final, once again held in America, was only watched by a live crowd of 26,137. The highest attended match of the entire 2003 tournament was the opening contest between the USA and Sweden which could only attract 34,144.

That left America without a marquee league for five seasons before the WPS played its inaugural season in 2009. Set-up to replace WUSA but with an eye on making sure the same mistakes weren’t made again, Women’s Professional Soccer expected to go from strength-to-strength and constantly expand. The original seven franchises that took part in the first season were supposed to be joined by expansion teams year-on-year.

The third season of the WPS will take off in just over one month’s time with just six teams on the starting grid. There is an ever increasing danger that for the second time in just eight years, the top flight of the American domestic game could cease to exist. The 2010 season had seen the field expand to eight teams but Saint Louis Athletica folded just seven games into the regular season and was then followed out of business by the Chicago Red Stars and the all-conquering FC Gold Pride.

Gold Pride, the dominating Champions of 2010 wrapped up regular season and play-off victories in one incredible year. Over the 24 game league season, FC Gold Pride built up a lead of 17 points over the second-place Boston Breakers. The gap between the Breakers and bottom side Atlanta Beat was just 15 points. Gold Pride were simply too good for the rest of the league yet were unable to attract sufficient investment to keep going into 2011.

Their squad boasted the French captain and top European midfielder Camille Abily, arguably the best women’s goalkeeper on the planet Nicole Barnhart, the break-out left-sided player of the year Ali Riley and the five time FIFA Women’s Player of the Year Marta amongst multiple other international players. Their failure is the equivalent of a men’s team boasting Bastian Schweinsteiger, Iker Casillas, Gareth Bale and Lionel Messi on their books and still going out of business. It’s so ridiculous to consider because it just wouldn’t happen.

The Western New York Flash are a new team into the WPS and have made hay thanks to the closures of Gold Pride and the Red Stars. Their squad for their first season has got a sprinkling of their talent infused in it although some players are starting to turn their back on the WPS. England’s Karen Carney had a strong year for the Chicago Red Star in 2010 but has returned to Europe and joined Birmingham City in time for the FA Women’s Super League.

Camille Abily, the French captain, was a big part of FC Gold Pride’s success and was nominated for the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year in 2010. She has also seen fit to return to her native land and joined Lyon. It could be argued that both moves were motivated by the 2011 World Cup, happening later this year in Germany but it is not only the European players that are moving across the Atlantic.

In the downtime between the WUSA and the WPS, Ali Krieger, a member of the United States squad, moved to Germany and joined 1. FFC Frankfurt. She has remained with the Frauen-Bundesliga side despite offers from a few of the WPS clubs and she could be followed there by some of national team-mates who have been left without a club.

Women’s football in Europe is quickly growing. The first UEFA Women’s Champions League was very successful following the rebranding of the UEFA Women’s Cup and the women’s game is starting to fall into a similar line as the men’s game. Germany, the hosts of this year’s World Cup, has won the last two tournaments and their league continues to grow.

Not only may women’s football never be as famous and followed as it once was when compared to other sports, but the American league may soon not even be able to call itself the most popular in the game.

You can read more from Ryan Keaney over at his sports blog The First Eleven.

(photo via americanistadechiapas on Flickr)

Major League Soccer, Marta, MLS, Womens Champions League, Womens Professional Soccer