Soccer: Ada Hagerberg will not play the Women’s World Cup France 2019

Listen this article

Norwegian soccer player and the first woman to win the Golden Ball will not participate in the women's event organized by FIFA

Ada Hegerberg, the first woman to win the Golden Ball in 2018, awarded by the magazine France Football, announced that she would not be part of the Norwegian football team in the Women's World Cup to be played in France between the months of June and July 2019. This was after the failure of the Norwegian women's team at Euro 2017 where they failed to win any of the three matches and be eliminated in the group stage, according to US AS.

Leer en español: Fútbol: Ada Hagerberg no jugará el Mundial Femenino Francia 2019

Why does she not participate in the Women's World Cup France 2019?

According to the portal The18, one of the main reasons for renouncing the national team is that 'she does not think the way they treat women's soccer in her native country, Norway, is appropriate. In addition, according to US AS, the decision is also due to "the lack of planning on the part of its federation".

In 2017, a few months after her decision to lead the national team, according to a BBC publication, the Norwegian Soccer Federation and the Soccer Players' Union reached a historic agreement, in which equal pay was established between feminine and masculine soccer players. Even, according to the Mediotiempo portal, male players gave part of their income for advertising and profits to match the female players' roster with theirs.

Read also: Women's Soccer World Cup: the most important sporting event of 2019

However, the measures adopted by the Norwegian Soccer Federation were not enough for Ada, who demands "full equality", according to the same media. In an interview with The Players Tribune website, in which she recounts her experience receiving the Golden Ball, Ada declared: "Every female player deserves the same opportunity to develop. There is so much talent all over the world that it deserves the opportunity to shine."

She also expressed his satisfaction and comfort to belong to the French club Olympique de Lyon, since they give the opportunity to develop professionally at the same level of men, as there are no distinctions and are treated as colleagues: "I was lucky to sign with Olympique Lyonnais, who is the model for this level of respect. In Lyon, men and women's teams are treated as equals. We need more people in the game with the vision of Jean-Michel Aulas, who knows that investing in the game of women is beneficial for the club, the city, and the players. "

In her opinion, the most important thing is respect. In the same statements given to The Players Tribune, she said that "I could talk for hours about equality and what should change in soccer and in society in general. But in the end, everything comes back to respect".

In the France Football Golden Ball's delivery gala an "incident" took place that generated controversy. The animator of the gala, DJ Martin Solveig, asked the soccer player "Do you know how to twerk?", according to a BBC publication, which is a dance characterized by the hips movement. This generated rejection on the part of the spectators of the gala as it was considered a sexist commentary, to which Ada responded a resounding "No". Later the DJ apologized for his comment, as he had not done so with the intention and that it was misinterpreted. The player declared that "I knew it was a joke and I did not consider it as any type of harassment", so it ended there.

Achievements (Source: El Informador from Mexico)

• Champion in three consecutive UEFA Champions League games with Olympique Lyonnais.
• Player of the year in the 2016-2017 UEFA season after scoring 14 goals.
• Champion in the 2017-2018 season of the French League.
• Runner-up in the 2017-2018 season of the Cup of France.

LatinAmerican Post | Daniela Escalante

Translated from "Fútbol: Ada Hagerberg no jugará el Mundial Femenino Francia 2019"