high-level football is no longer the prerogative of men – Liberation

Alexandra Schwartzbrod’s editorial

2023 Women’s Football World CupfileThe enthusiasm aroused by this competition proves that something important is happening in the kingdom of football: the players are finally being taken for high-level athletes, capable of appearing in the big leagues( e)s.

This is the great news of the summer, the one that will make us want to jump out of bed on Saturday morning to square in front of the TV, mug of coffee in hand: the Blue find themselves in the quarter-finals of the World Cup women’s football and they have a chance to beat their Australian counterparts to qualify for the semi-finals next week. It will not be easy because the Matildas will play at home, carried by an entire country. But, even if a disappointment happened on Saturday, the enthusiasm aroused by this competition, in France and in Australia, proves that something important is happening in the kingdom of football: we finally take the players for high-level athletes, fit to appear in the big leagues.

They have come a long way and there is still a lot to be done for them to eventually reach the same conditions as the players. We ourselves underlined, on the eve of this world event, the flagrant injustice of these women’s competitions, recalling for example that many of these sportswomen had to take vacation or unpaid leave to be able to join Australia and New Zealand. But there may be a before and an after. Trained by a Hervé Renard on the job who not only managed to make people forget the bad memories left by Corinne Deacon, the one who preceded him, but also to build a real collective carried by the formidable duo Wendie Renard and Eugénie Le Sommer, the Bleues have finished the group stage with a TV audience record. Proof that they are taken seriously and that high-level football is no longer the prerogative of men. It was about time, this sport is one of the bastions where women are much less considered than men. So let’s not sulk the pleasure of the matches to come. The opportunities for collective rejoicing are too few these days for us to miss this one.