For the fourth time, the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) are World Cup Champions. They completed the tourney undefeated and conceded a total of three goals throughout their championship journey. Plain and simple they dominated the competition. So, it may sound outlandish to suggest that the U.S. Women’s National Team is facing a crisis.
First, let us all be honest with ourselves, America’s dominance in women’s soccer is very much attributed to the simple fact that for a long time the United States was the only country providing resources to grow and develop women’s soccer. This in no way discredits the achievements of the USWNT. You play who’s in front of you. However, it would be very naïve to think that when it comes to women’s soccer, everyone is playing on an equal playing field. The fact of the matter is compared to many countries the USWNT has had many head starts.
An example of a head start is the passing of Title IX in 1972. The civil rights law outlawed gender-based discrimination for federally funded education programs and subsequently spearheaded the creation of female college soccer teams around the country. This, in turn, created a deeper player pool than most countries had at the time. Along with that, came the very famous 1999 World Cup Final victory over China in which the legend of Brandi
Chastain was born. That moment and that image changed the trajectory of the women’s game in the United States forever as it influenced many girls to play soccer. However, the USWNT would not lift another World Cup trophy until 2015. The United States was still dominating even during their World Cup trophy drought. Their Olympic success is evidence of that. Out of the six Olympics that have included women’s soccer, the United States has won gold in four of them. In fact, the United States is not only the first country to be crowned back to back gold medal champions but also the first to three-peat with gold victories in 2004, 2008, and 2012. The Olympics in the women’s game is basically another World Cup. Every country brings the same level of intensity and skill to the Olympics as they would the World Cup.
Simply put the USWNT is the best team in the world but as stated before this dominance is very much attributed to the fact that they are also one the most resourced teams in the world. Americans care about their women’s national team. A lot of other countries sadly do not care and because of that, they face challenges and situations that the USWNT just doesn’t face. Challenges such as only having one jersey for a whole World Cup or having little to no financial support from their soccer federations. This does not mean that the USWNT is well supported financially or anything like that. There’s still room for improvement but let’s be real, the challenges that teams like Italy, Thailand, Chile, and Nigeria faced from World Cup qualification to playing in the World Cup are inherently different from the obstacles the USWNT faces.
Nonetheless, things are changing for the better globally. The biggest changes are occurring in Europe. UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, launched a 5-year plan, Time for Action, that aims to double the number of women and girls playing the game. The plan wants the fifty-five nations in UEFA to have 2.5 million registered female players by 2024. Famous football clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Lyon, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea and Paris Saint Germain (PSG) all have a women’s team. And yes, there’s a UEFA Women’s Champions League. And yes, Real Madrid is trying to spend a lot of money on their team and sign all the big-name players. Paris Saint Germain spent $7.4 million on their team alone. Manchester United’s team had a budget of $6.3 million. Lyon, the best club team, spent about $8.5 million.
The domestic league of the United States, the National Women’s Soccer League (NSWL), spends a little under $7 million. An entire league of nine teams spends less than an individual team in Europe. Players in Europe get paid more too. The maximum salary in the NSWL is $46,200 while in Europe some players earn six-figure salaries. There’s even transfer fees in Europe. So much for the United States being the leader of women empowerment.
We all know economics runs the world and at the end of the day, you have put your money where your mouth is. And top European clubs and leagues are putting their money where their mouths are and it’s working. Seven out of the eight Quarter Finalist were European teams and soon enough they’ll dominate.
Outside of the European pressures, the USWNT is facing are the internal issues that will soon impede on future success. The most pressing issue is the United States’ unique model of development called pay-for-play and how the lack of diversity in women’s soccer is a byproduct of it.
Globally, youth soccer is practically free but here in America? It’s incredibly expensive. A sport that requires nothing, but a ball and a patch of grass can cost a family well over $7,000 per season. And that’s just a conservative estimate. Some spend $30,000 in a year on their child’s development.
Unfortunately, unlike the men’s side, the women’s game is very much embedded in the culture of pay-for-play. This model inhibits talented players from reaching their potential as many can not afford the fees associated with playing travel soccer. In addition, the model skews the racial composition of the USWNT. This model of girls’ soccer in America is costly and institutionally discriminatory.
I try to stay away from comparing the men’s team from the women’s team but the difference between the diversity of the teams is too obvious to ignore. The USMNT team is a perfect representation of the racial makeup of America. The women’s team? Yeah, not so much. Just look at the starting eleven from the recent Gold Cup final compared to the starting eleven for the Women’s World Cup Final. Five people of color for the men’s team while the women’s side had one person of color.
Girls’ soccer in the US is a rich white girls sport. That’s just the blunt and honest truth. It has always been marketed to a very white and suburban audience. This is not to suggest that U.S. soccer is purposely racist, but the fact the matter is, women of color are systematically excluded from soccer. Many families of color simply can not afford to develop their young star and fall right through the cracks. These approaches shrink the talent pool for the national team as those with money are really the only ones that stand a chance of representing the United States.
This is not the case in many other countries. Their youth development system deepens their player pool and affords young girls living in urban areas the opportunity to represent their nation. This, subsequentially, also raises their talent level and makes breaking the dominance of the USWNT closer to reality.
The World Cup win in France is masking a lot of underlying challenges within the USWNT. One of those challenges that are being discussed more often in the mainstream is equal pay. Although that is an important issue, issues such as the need for World Cup fans to transition into NSWL fans, the pay-for-play development model, and the lack of diversity in U.S. women’s soccer are matters that will fundamentally hinder the future success of the USWNT.
Adedayo Adeniyi 