Officially, the first Women's World Cup took place in 1991. However, this is a long-standing sporting event

The first women's soccer event known was in 1895, in London. The same was carried out despite being banned by the Football Association of that country. That competition was disputed between the teams of the north and south of the city, being victorious the British Ladies FC. According to UPN Virtual, two decades later, due to the development of the First World War, companies allowed activities for women as a distraction.

Leer en español: Mundial Femenino de Fútbol: un evento que se disputa hace tres décadas

That's how the Dick Kerr's Ladies FC women's soccer team was created in honor of the ammunition plant where they worked. The success that this club obtained by the innumerable victories attracted the attention of many followers and allowed the growth of the discipline. In 1969, the Women's Football Association was founded and in 1971 the ban on the practice of soccer for women was repealed.

Almost three decades of the Women's World Cup

The international organization Street Football World reviewed on its website how long it took FIFA to officially recognize women's soccer. The FIFA Women's Invitation Tournament, organized in China in 1988, was the test event for the Women's World Cup.

In 1991, highlighted Street Football World, the Women's World Cup held in China, called the "First World Championship for Women's Football for the M&M's Cup", was approved thanks to the approval and support of the then president of FIFA, Joao Havelange. But not everything was wonderful as we may think.

The Guardian described the development of the event with lack of sponsorship, there was no money in the award and the meetings lasted 80 minutes. However, thanks to this championship, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) included the discipline in the female branch for the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympic Games.

The following world cups are: Sweden 1995, that officialized the 90 minutes, as described by The Guardian; United States 1999, with a total of 90,185 people in the final U.S. vs. China; United States 2003; China 2007, in which money was introduced in the award for US $ 5.8 million, according to the same media; Germany 2011; Canada 2015; and France 2019.

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The average attendance figures per stadium in the Women's World Cup are low compared to the men's soccer event. According to the statistical portal Statista, in China '91 attended 19,615 people, in Sweden '95 attended 4,315 and in the USA '99 attended 37,319. Nonetheless, The Guardian highlighted the growing interest and investment in women's sport.

Latin America present

Among the Latin American teams that have participated in the editions of the Women's World Cup is Brazil, who has participated in all previous editions; Argentina, Colombia and Mexico that have participated in two editions; and Ecuador and Costa Rica that have participated in one. For the next Women's World Cup to be held in France in 2019, so far only the Brazil and Chile teams have classified, as reported by the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) on its web portal.

The Women's World Cup is currently underway in the Sub20 modality, being held in France until August 24, with the participation of 16 delegations, including three Latin American ones: Brazil, Mexico and Paraguay, who were unfortunately eliminated in the first phase.

The gender gap in soccer

Despite some successful cases of narrowing the gender gap regarding benefits, not all are positive. According to the newspaper La Vanguardia, the U.S. Senate approved a resolution, a non-binding resolution, which requested the country's sports federation so that the athletes received the same salary benefits.

For its part, in New Zealand the Football Federation decreed the equitable distribution of image rights and salary parity, as reported by Tele13 of Chile. However, the Argentine newspaper Infocielo reported the precarious situation of Argentina's women's team, who were given a diet for training and a per diem of 150 pesos paid by the Argentine Football Association, which is still owed by the organization.

LatinAmerican Post | Gabriel Moros

Translated from "Mundial Femenino de Fútbol: un evento que se disputa hace tres décadas"