As the women’s game grows and professionalism increases, so does that technical ability and pace – which we will be able to see in the Netherlands The Women’s European Championship finals got under way on Sunday. Holland beat Norway 1-0 after a beautiful swerving cross from Barcelona’s newly signed Lieke Martens was powered in by the stooping head of Liverpool’s Shanice van de Sanden. And it always promised to be an exciting match. Norway possess some of the most exciting attacking talent in Europe, which was excellently nullified by the Dutch, while the rapid growth of women’s football in the Netherlands is showing on the pitch. The Stadion Galgenwaard in Utrecht was rocking with 21,732 fans, a record crowd for...
Players use strong hand heading into the European Championship to step up their complaint in the face of a seemingly intransigent governing bodyEqual pay for equal work. It sounds simple enough. Yet it was enshrined in law only in 2010. However, pay parity wasn’t achieved when pen hit paper on the Equality Act. Just as it wasn’t when the women machinist strike at Ford Dagenham in 1968 forced the Equal Pay Act. Though the gender pay gap has been shrinking, in 2017 it stands at 9.4% in Britain.What has sport got to do with it? So stark is the pay disparity between sportsmen and sportswomen that it has become a hotbed of action. Wave after wave of teams and players...
In the first of a weekly series on women’s football Suzanne Wrack explains the significance for the English game of possible success in the NetherlandsThe 2015 Women’s World Cup felt like a turning point. Women’s football was suddenly in the spotlight. As England battled back from defeat by France in their first group game to reach the semi-finals, the country rallied behind them. Millions tuned in to watch.Not saddled with the weight of expectation, Mark Sampson’s side beat the hosts, Canada, and European champions, Germany, on their way to a historic third-place finish. Only an agonising Laura Bassett own-goal in the second minute of extra-time against Japan ended the Lionesses’ chance of a place in the final. But they had...
Players such as Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan have chosen to pursue spells in Europe. But it’s not just money that proves an attractionWomen’s soccer players might be lured to Europe by money or the occasional tweet by Lyon’s Jean-Michel Aulas, who has signed athletes such as USA striker Alex Morgan (on loan) and young Canadian defender Kadeisha Buchanan.But most of the players who head to Europe or Australia for all or part of the year are doing so for a much simpler reason. They want to get better. Related: Alex Morgan: ‘If Fifa start respecting the women’s game more, others will follow’ | Donald McRae Related: Manchester City sign Carli Lloyd, two-times world player of the year Continue reading...
The six-week competition aims to smooth the transition to a winter season but the early announcement of England’s Euro 2017 squad lessens its usefulnessBridges can be things of beauty and architectural brilliance or a little bit rickety and, sometimes, downright makeshift. They can connect communities, spark relationships and facilitate economic growth or serve as strictly temporary crossings, only to be used in emergencies.To Women’s Super League aficionados, the new first division Spring Series, which kicks off this weekend, falls into the latter category. The bridging planks used to span the awkward transition involved in moving the WSL from a summer to a winter competition are firm enough but the lack of relegation and the brevity of a campaign concluding in...