Les finales de la NBA sont l’apéritif – The NBA finals are the appetizer.
Yep…I said it. The NBA finals will be the perfect appetizer for the main course. I’m talking about the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup which kicks off Friday in France. If you didn’t know, now you know. Spread the word. Tell a friend.
Twenty four nations from around the globe will compete in nine cities across France, all with one goal in mind – to be crowned 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup Champions.
I will be leaving to France on Monday and will have the chance to watch nine live games, including teams from thirteen countries and five different continents. I will hit the road in France, circling approximately 2000 kilometers from stadium to stadium to watch the top female players and teams from around the globe compete. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you.
Seeing these live games, interacting with fans from across the globe, and learning more about the structure and philosophies of French soccer will be an amazing professional development opportunity. My plan is to immerse myself in all aspects of the Women’s World Cup, with the goal of better understanding the growth, opportunities and challenges within women’s soccer across the world. It is a chance to learn.
I will be there to support the US Women’s National team and see all three of their group games, but also to enjoy all of the female athletes and teams which hopefully make this one of the best sporting events ever!
I have always celebrated and will always continue to celebrate women’s soccer in the same way that I have celebrated men’s soccer. Talent is talent. Hard work is hard work. Excellence is excellence. And world class is world class.
There will be plenty of world class on display, with the list of teams that can realistically talk about competing for the title, as many as six or seven. That isn’t always the case. The number of players who can mesmerize us for 90 minutes with their skill, athleticism, soccer IQ and intensity is at an all-time high as well. The quality of play will capture and hold our attention for the entire month.
While the quality of the play on the field is expected to be the best ever, the off-the-field storylines are likely to get equal billing in the 8th edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup. You may have heard that the US team will attempt to capture their record fourth Women’s World Cup title, which has been named by some as the “Tour de Four”. What might have slipped through the hype was that they will do this while embroiled in a lawsuit against their employer for gender discrimination. Norway’s Ada Hegerberg, considered by many the top player in the world, decided to opt out of the tournament to fight for equality, choosing not to represent Norway. Just last year Norway signed an equal pay agreement for the men’s and women’s national teams, which is the first of it’s kind but Hegenberg informed the Norwegian soccer federation that she would not play for her Norway until she saw continued progress toward equal working conditions and overall support for the women’s program.
Yep…it’s complicated. The underlying theme seems to be that while investment, opportunity and support has improved in the women’s game in many parts of the world, it is not enough, fair or equal.
A few encouraging signs of support and change are in the works, with Adidas announcing that it will pay players it sponsors on the winning women’s team the same performance bonus that it pays male champions. LUNA Bar quickly stepped up as well to give each of the US Women’s Soccer players on the roster $31,250, making their roster bonus equal to the men’s bonus.
Normally, professional athletes (outside of Kevin Durant apparently) try to keep outside distractions to a minimum around major sporting events. I get the feeling that the Women’s World Cup athletes and teams aren’t shying away from potential distractions. They understand anything outside of the normal preparation runs the risk of sidetracking the players and teams from possible glory and success, but my sense is these struggles have united the players and teams more than it has separated them. As Ada Hegerberg said when asked about the US team’s lawsuit in a recent ESPN article, “They’ve got the guts, and they’re together about it.”
So, while last summer the buzz heading into the 2018 FIFA Men’s World Cup in Russia, was whether Spain and Germany were too old to compete for the title or Putin was going to bribe the referees, the storylines this summer will hopefully bring both sporting and social progress.
No pressure Women’s World Cup…you got this!
Friday will be a big day, with the month-long event kicking off at noon when host France takes on South Korea. I will watch the first game on delay as we prepare to celebrate our Class of 2019 at Sonoma Academy, where I serve as Athletic Director and girls soccer coach. It’s wheels up on Monday and upon my arrival in Paris on Tuesday I will head straight to Reims to watch the US take on Thailand.
The 2019 tournament comes at a time when I am especially grateful for all of the amazing girls and women in my life. The list is long, it includes my wife, my daughters, my mom, my sister, my boss, my family and my colleagues at Sonoma Academy and in the soccer community, as well as all of the girls I have coached in the past and all that I will enjoy sharing the field with in the future.
Please don’t get me wrong, I enjoy and respect my son, brothers, male colleagues, athletes and teams equally. In fact, last summer I immersed myself into a month-long cocoon for the Men’s World Cup in Russia. That tournament and experience is over and it is time to give the same attention and focus to the Women’s World Cup.
