EXCLUSIVE: Can women’s football match up with men’s football?

For much of its existence, football has been largely considered a man’s game. It might not be hard to see why considering tournaments that drew fans from cup competitions to league matches, European club matches and then continental tournaments involving national teams such as Copa America, European Championship, Africa Cup of Nations to intercontinental tournaments such as the World Cup, have all been in existence for more than 50 years.

The women’s game was under scrutiny for much of the 20th century following an FA ban from 1921-1971 which UEFA also upheld. Things started to change after the ban was lifted with tournaments such as the UEFA Women’s Euro coming to life in 1984 followed by a first Women’s World Cup in 1991, Africa Women’s Championship in 1991 and Olympic Games participation in 1996, while a host of league tournaments have become more active or rebranded since the 2000s and 2010s.

The continuous effort to elevate the women’s game has seen more attention especially in Europe with clubs such as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Arsenal, Liverpool, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Juventus, AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Olympique Lyon, Wolfsburg, CSKA Moscow, Levante, Real Sociedad and many others, establishing successful female sides. 

Social media has made it very easy to identify with these clubs and their players and the national teams as well. Indeed, the last Women’s World Cup held in France gathered a huge audience, with 1.12 billion viewers tuned across all broadcasting platforms, more than 260 million viewers watching the final between champions the United States and the Netherlands. There were also 47 million social media engagements on various topics surrounding the competition. 

One player whose profile has grown immensely in the women’s game is Asisat Oshoala. The four-time African Women’s Footballer of the Year has seen a meteoric rise in her career since leaving Rivers Angels in Nigeria to play for big sides such as Arsenal, Liverpool, Dalain Quanjian and presently FC Barcelona Femeni.

In an exclusive interview with Pulse, Oshoala does not buy the idea of pitching the women’s game beside the men even though there are efforts to do this to make way for a more level-playing field.

Oshoala insists that the women’s game has its own unique audience and if investments keep flowing in, the attention is only going to get bigger.

“I would love to say this for the record. I say this to even the CAF officials and FIFA officials at some point when they come with certain ideas like maybe if they play the men’s and women’s World Cup the same year, the Women’s World Cup will overshadow the men,” she said.

“See, in this life, everyone has their own customer. Women’s football, we have our own audience. We have people who literally have interest in just women’s football. They don’t care about men’s football and we have people who just love football generally and we have people who care about men’s football than women’s football. 

“So, I always say the competition in women’s football right now is on a top level and very soon you will start having investors coming in. They would willingly want to invest because they are seeing the competition, they are seeing the attention it’s getting around the world. 

“Look at the last Women’s World Cup, you know how many sold out stadiums US Women National Team had in their games? Almost all the games. Nike took their time to invest in the team and it was productive. The 2019 Women’s World Cup was a blast if not the best so far. Sold out stadiums left and right. 

“So, we have our own audience and definitely, it’s going to be at this level at some point. People will sit at home, different countries, watching it on TV. The only reason why most people in Africa don’t really have interest so far now is because it’s not on TV like SuperSport. 

“If they start showing it on SuperSport, deals start coming in, you’ll see a lot of people actually have interest in this thing. So, it just depends on how you project your work, that’s how people will take it from you. If you don’t invest in it, nobody is going to come and spend their own money too.”

Aside the Women’s World Cup, one competition getting attention in the women’s game is the Uefa Women’s Champions League. Oshoala’s Barcelona are the defending champions after seeing off Chelsea Ladies 4-0 in the final in Gothenburg. The competition is gathering interest as more teams qualify. Indeed, having the ladies of some of the previously mentioned clubs go against each other will definitely bring attention. What’s more is that some of Nigeria’s and Africa’s finest female players feature for these sides.

Due to these factors, Oshoala knows it will be difficult to defend the European crown they won for the first time in their 33-year history, but insists her team is ready for the task. They are already off to a good start in the ongoing campaign with two wins from two in Group C against Arsenal and HB Koge, Oshoala scoring against the former whom she played for in 2016.

“It’s called the Champions League for a reason. When you say the Champions League, it means the top side in every other league. It’s a champions tournament, so what makes the difference is the mentality, it’s how much you have to stay longer in the game, how you can switch and we know these teams are champions already,” she continued.

“We know they are good teams, we know they are the best in Europe, we know Lyon they’ve been winning back-to-back for like forever now, so of course we are not going out there to play like some mediocre team or some average mentality. 

“We’re going there with a top mentality, the best mentality and we have to be in the best shape as possible because we know it’s not going to be an easy game and Champions League this year is more difficult because it’s like you have tough games in the group stage and then qualifying for the next round, you can’t have a cheap opponent when you qualify to the round of 16 or quarter-finals. It’s really difficult. 

“Imagine playing Lyon twice then you qualify for the next round having to play Wolfsburg or Chelsea twice and qualify again having to play maybe Arsenal twice. It’s tough, it’s a long season to be honest but yeah, I’m sure we are going to be ready for it.”

Oshoala emphasized that the same mentality needed in retaining the Champions League is what they will use in the Primera Division Femenina where they lead by three points after seven games with a 100% record. They finished the previous campaign one point short of a 100, but were 25 points clear of their fierce rivals Real Madrid. Oshoala already has eight goals to her name in the current campaign having netted 18 times in 26 outings in the previous one.

“One thing I always say is as a team we need to have the same mentality, we need to have the same goal and that’s one beautiful thing about our team,” she stated.

“We know that these teams will come for us. We are champions of Europe now, we are champions of the Spanish league and we are champions of the [Spanish] cup. So of course, if anyone wants to play against Barca, we know they are going to come with extra effort. We know they want to play with five backs not four backs. Even if they play four backs with everyone against us, everyone comes with five backs.

“We know all of these things before, so it’s about the mentality, it’s about the goal of the team like ok, we know what you are coming with and we are ready for it as well so I just think as a team we keep working every day. We work hard as ever and also try to make sure when we go out there, we give 100% effort to make sure we win each game.”

The women’s game is getting a lot of attention in its own right and with superstars like Oshoala making headlines week in, week out with her sublime performances, it’s definitely going to get better and more interesting.

Whether the women’s game will be up there with the men some day will be a continuous discussion so long there’s constant improvement.

---

Kunle is an avid writer with interest in topics on sports, politics, health, lifestyle and more. His articles have featured in Goal.com, Opera News, Vanguard News and other platforms. He holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in International Relations and is an advocate for people living with Hydrocephalus and other neurological conditions.

Follow him on Twitter: @kfayiga

----

Pulse Contributors is an initiative to highlight diverse journalistic voices. Pulse Contributors do not represent the company Pulse and contribute on their own behalf.