The lack of respect shown to Jenni Hermoso reflects dismissive attitudes to female players in Europe and beyondI was totally aghast when Luis Rubiales grabbed Jenni Hermoso’s head and kissed her on the mouth as Spain collected their World Cup winners’ medals in Sydney. Yet if it was truly shocking to see such brazen behaviour unfold on the biggest stage, that moment was also, sadly, all too typical of the way women across the world are often treated in the game’s shadows.Far too many players can tell you stories of organisations, clubs and coaches with seedy undertones. Over the years, playing in different countries, I’ve seen, heard and experienced enough not to be surprised by Rubiales’s audacity in thinking he...
Leader of the game’s world governing body would be forced to rethink chasing votes and cash if Uefa and Conmebol uniteJesper Møller, it’s fair to say, is not a natural rebel. The Danish football federation is one of the more progressive authorities, but its president is a conservative with, and let’s be kind here, a healthy sense of his own interests. Last November, though, at the height of the World Cup’s rainbow armband affair, Møller did – briefly – hint at an unexpected radicalism.Might Denmark consider quitting Fifa, he was asked, and replied: “It is not a decision that has been made now … We have been discussing it in the Nordic region since August … I have to think...
Fifa has a point in asking broadcasters to pay more for the tournament but the game needs a quick solution If a tree falls in the woods, does it make a sound? If a World Cup kicks off on the other side of the world but no one can watch it, does it really happen?We are 43 days out from the Women’s World Cup starting in Australia and New Zealand but, with Fifa threatening a blackout because of low offers for the broadcast rights from the biggest European footballing countries, you wouldn’t know it. There are no adverts, no references to coverage and there is no buildup. Instead, prospective viewers and existing fans in those countries have been left in...
Gianni Infantino threatens a World Cup blackout yet Fifa is the architect of the chronic underfunding in the women’s gamePrepare the spandex: women’s football superman Gianni “I have four daughters” Infantino is here to save the day.The president of Fifa has threatened a broadcasting blackout of the Women’s World Cup in the “big five” European countries of England, Spain, Italy, Germany and France, blaming bids for the broadcast rights for the tournament that he said were a “slap in the face” to the players and “all women worldwide”. Continue reading...
From bloated World Cups to dull club competitions excess is everywhere, but who will stand up against the exploitation?It’s worth asking before launching into a jeremiad where you would have stood on major disruptions of the past. Have I become the old man who yells at clouds and is simply opposed to everything new? Would I have been against professionalism, the 1925 change in the offside law, the advent of European football, the foundation of the Premier League? Is this just the conservative creep of age? Perhaps. But, equally, it’s hard to look at football and where it may be headed and not feel fearful.In some ways, football has rarely had it so good. The Premier League this season offers...