The year 2019 saw women’s football receive a huge boost after a highly successful Fifa World Cup in France; the tournament brought the women’s game into the limelight and mainstream discussions.
The discussion around the sport is picking up in India as well. The Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup will be held in India in 2020 after the men’s version was held in 2017. Understandably, there is already a debate around whether it is good for the game in India.
Fifa’s chief women’s football officer Sarai Bareman feels the game still has a long way to go (globally, leave alone in India) before it is perceived as a sport which can benefit the administrators commercially.
“I think there’s a perception now that it’s (women’s football) only costing money. And the first step for me towards commercialisation [of women’s football] is about changing this mindset,” Bareman told Scroll.in ahead of the launch ceremony of the emblem of the 2020 Fifa U-17 Women’s World Cup that India is set to host in November next year.
“I think a lot of people who are involved in governing football, they look at women’s football and men’s football as the same. But there is a historical gap between the men’s and women’s game. You can’t expect the same returns in women’s football,” she added.
Greater involvement at school level in India
The Men’s U-17 World Cup in 2017 in India was a success in terms of organisation and attendance figures, but it can be argued that the tournament failed to generate a great deal of interest among locals.
Bareman suggested Fifa wants to improve on the impact of the 2017 U-17 World Cup in 2020 and have learned from their experience two years ago.
“I think it’s always good in any competition to learn from what went well, and also what we can improve on. I think something that we will focus a lot on in the upcoming competition is to do a lot more work at the school level leading into the competition,” she said.
“And not only to get the girls excited about the upcoming World Cup, but also to get them excited about our sport. To educate them, make them participate in it and then enjoy it. It’s the best time to do that because we can culminate at the World Cup,” Bareman added.
She also stressed on the need to help the All India Football Federation with building a stronger platform for women footballers, referees, coaches to showcase their talent.
As things stand, the Indian Women’s League, the primary national-level competition for women’s football in India, lasts just for three weeks. Although the number of teams participating in the division have increased it is a far cry from being a professional competition.
“It’s one thing to raise the popularity and make people excited. But if you don’t give them the platform to continue to play, you fail,” Bareman stated.
“So, we (Fifa) will be supporting (the AIFF) who are doing a lot of work in that area about boosting the current environment and also help them harness the positivity created by the World Cup,” she concluded.
Pay disparity
Bareman pointed to the 61-year gap between the first-ever men’s World Cup and the women’s event while also highlighting the difference of decades between several other competitions at club level in Europe as the reasons for the women’s game to be behind the men’s in various aspects.
Unlike the men’s Champions League that began in 1955, the women’s equivalent started only in 2001. To give more perspective, Manchester United, one of the biggest clubs in the world didn’t have a women’s team until 2018.
The difference in prize money of the men’s and women’s Champions League is huge. The winners of the women’s competition get just $22000 more than the teams that enter the preliminary qualifying round of the men’s Champions League, that is three stages before the group stage.
Even at the World Cup, the winner of the women’s edition took home $4 million while the champions of the men’s tournament received $38 million.
This disparity between men’s and women’s football was brought to light when the members of the US national team that won the World Cup for a record fourth time earlier this year protested against the discrepancy in the rewards.
The movement received widespread backing from across the globe, but it has helped little to change the scenario status quo.
According to Bareman, the focus has to be on the professionalisation of the women’s game in order for female players to bridge the pay disparity.
“We need to make sure that the structures around the game are professional. The administration is strong, the governance structures are strong, the decision-making processes are strong and clear,” the Fifa officer said.
“We also need to give players more opportunities to play. If you look at men’s football at the highest level, the best players in the world they have so many opportunities to play in national competitions, club competitions that the men’s calendar is completely saturated, so you can understand why they are paid so much because they’re playing so much,” she added.
Fifa is planning a Club World Cup and World League in the women’s game to increase the playing opportunities for the players and also help in the creation of a sustainable ecosystem.
“We have to invest properly and it has to be not just in terms of finance, but also human resource, the infrastructure around the game. It’s important to provide a pathway for those players, those referees, those coaches. The pathways have to be there for long-term sustainability and profitability of the sport,” she said.
