This is why the United States is so good at women’s football

7 July 2019 Since the start of the Women’s World Cup in 1991, the United States has always been on the stage. America has never been lower than second in the women’s soccer world rankings. The American Women’s Team is a big team, but success did not come from a vacuum. On the day of the World Cup Final against Orange, FCUpdate.nl gets a look at the development of women’s football in the United States.

consequences Team USA Fantastic. Three of the seven World Cups were won and the country never finished outside the top three at the World Championships. Since 1996, four of the five Olympic Games have won gold medals. Jill Ellis’ team started this World Cup with a 13-0 victory over Thailand, which shocked the whole world. It indicates the quality that Team USA Homes. But how can the US women’s team be this quality when the men barely impress?

special law
One of the main reasons for American women’s success is a special law enacted in the United States in 1972. Title IX, as the law is called, guarantees that gender discrimination in education is not allowed. Concretely, this meant that schools and universities had to invest a lot of money in women’s sports such as sports. Equal Opportunity and Equal Budget for American Women’s Sports. It is not without reason that the United States became one of the first countries in which women’s football achieved a prominent place in society.

The role of schools

The main training centers for athletes are universities. They award talent grants, participate in National Competitions (NCAA) and submit players to national teams. While in the Netherlands seen as a right to study, Americans consider it a privilege. Moreover, there is no university sports competition in the Netherlands, which means that a scholarship cannot be obtained by excelling in sports. Sports and education are completely separate from each other, while in America they go hand in hand. American universities focus more on sports. Tuition fees in the United States range from $ 26,000 to $ 50,000, while in the Netherlands it is around € 2,000 per year. By excelling in sports, American students can get a huge discount.

Merrill Van Dongen knows the situation: She played for the University of Alabama team for 2.5 years. So Orange’s left-back knows how to operate in the United States. She told me, “By age 22, nearly all American girls play in college teams. There are at least 4,000 of them.” ANP. “But then it stops for almost everyone. There are only eight or nine professional teams in the MLS. And the few players chosen are really very good. Because the clubs don’t have a pool to fish from, but they collect perfectly.” This is also evident from the current selection, which consists entirely of players playing in their country. They sometimes take trips to Europe, but they are often short-lived.

In 2018, America had about 1.5 million young footballers. After basketball and volleyball, football has become the most popular high school sport. About half of the young soccer players are girls. It’s different for boys, they usually prefer American classics like American football and baseball.

Success fosters success
In the Netherlands, women’s football took off after winning the European Championship in 2017. A similar development happened in America before. In 1971, the state only had 700 female high school footballers. After the first World Cup title in 1991, that number increased to 121,722, an increase of 17,000 per cent. In 2018 there were 390,482.

The greatest euphoria surrounding women’s football was in 1999, when America became the world champion again. The final against China won a penalty shootout and is considered the greatest moment in American women’s sport. Almost every American girl has wanted to become a football player after such success. Thus the recruitment increased even more. Another factor is that the American men’s team is not very successful. In 2018, the country was missing out in the World Cup Finals, and aside from the quarter-finals in 2002, the United States weren’t too far behind in the World Cup for years. It was even absent between 1954 and 1986. It ensures that football in America is increasingly seen as a women’s sport.

Because the women’s team, unlike the men, is ranked first in the world. Tonight, the Oranges must be won in the final. If not, the sofa is great. Certainly also because America wants to be the world champion twice in a row for the first time, something that only Germany has succeeded previously. It is not without reason that Ellis’ team is full of confidence. Defender Ali Krieger expressed it aptly early in the World Cup Finals, when she was asked her opinion on the fact that so many stars were on the bench. “We have the best team and the second best team in the world.”

Written by: Remco Jacoby