68 Soccer Nations Where the Women are on Top
The World Cup will kick off in Russia on 14th June, with the hosts facing Saudi Arabia in the opening game, which will be viewed by a global audience of over 100 million viewers. The Sports Techie global community supports the growth of soccer worldwide as long as the playing field of sports technology is as even as can be. Over the following month you will see a parade of international superstars and football tested countries battling it out for the coveted FIFA World Cup Trophy, presented to the winners in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium on 15th July.
The Numbers
But men, aren’t the only ones involved in this beautiful game and women now make up 10% of the playing population with over 27 million players registered worldwide, and in some countries they are performing a lot better than their male counterparts.
Take the Russian team for instance… the men’s team are 37 places below the women’s team in 63rd place, and I can’t imagine that sits particularly well in the male dominated Russian culture. It’s a similar story with some of the major Asian teams as well with the Japanese national men’s team being 44 places worse off than their female friends who are in 11th position and the South Korean men’s team are also 43 places behind their female counterparts. The numbers do not lie.
Recently this soccer blog did a comparison across all of the competing FIFA nations, so you can see how the battle of the sexes is playing out in your country in the infographic below:
Women’s soccer is rising in popularity with more women participating and a larger global audience tuning into the game. In the last women’s World Cup in 2015 over 764 million viewers tuned into the final to watch Team USA beat Japan 5 – 2 in Canada, a game which became the most watched soccer match – men’s or women’s – in American broadcast history.
However, despite the rising popularity of the game, there is still a huge pay gap between the sexes with 35% of women receiving no remuneration at all to play for their national team and a meager $600 per month being the average salary of the global female soccer player.
Change has taken time and has come a long way since Sepp Blatter suggested that female soccer players should “wear tighter shorts and low cut shirts… to create a more female aesthetic”. Last year there was a famous strike by the Brazilian women’s national team, which was followed up by the Norwegian Football Association agreeing to pay both the men’s and the women’s teams equal pay conditions… not surprising really, as the women’s team are performing a whole lot better than the men’s.
Sports Techie, the data in this infographic speaks volumes. Women are playing soccer all over the world and often performing better overall than the men’s team as has been obvious here in the United States.
The United States Women’s National Team (UWWNT) is much better than our U.S. Soccer Men’s National Team (USMNT) in terms of representing our country in the FIFA World Cup and beyond. The fact that the US men’s team did not qualify for Russia 18 marks their current state-of-affairs while the women’s squad is ranking number one in the world per FIFA.com.
We’d love to hear your opinion on the progress of women’s soccer in the comments below:
- Do you think women soccer players should be paid equally?
- Is more investment needed in the women’s game?
- Would you play under a female soccer coach?
The upcoming World Cup is a showcase for the sport of soccer (and sports tech) but remember the truth about the rise of women’s soccer and respective national teams when compared to men’s as France 2019 fast approaches.
After yesterday’s landmark Supreme Court decision to allow states the right to decide whether to allow sports betting, you will soon be able to legally bet on tournaments such as the World Cup. The hold Las Vegas had on sports betting is over.
Odds are the USWNT wins France 2019 and you will soon to able to wager on it and collect the winnings.
Women’s soccer is indeed poised to continue exploding across the globe well into the future, bet on that.
See ya later sportstechie in Seattle, Atlanta and around the world!
Sports Techie Social Media Networks
Sports Techie Twitter: @SportsTechieNET: http://twitter.com/SportsTechieNET
THE #SportsTechie Twitter: @THESportsTechie: https://twitter.com/THESportsTechie
Sports Techie Facebook Fan Page: http://www.facebook.com/SportsTechie
Sports Techie YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/sportstechie
Sports Techie Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/108376451503395073827/
Sports Techie Google+ Community: https://plus.google.com/u/0/communities/103708211458464405078
Sports Techie (Robert Roble) Google+: https://plus.google.com/+RobertRoble
Sports Techie LinkedIn Group: http://www.linkedin.com/groups/Sports-Techie-2958439
Sports Techie LinkedIn (Robert Roble): https://www.linkedin.com/in/robertroble
Sports Techie Instagram: http://instagram.com/sportstechie
Sports Techie Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/SportsTechie/
Sports Techie Moby Picture: http://www.mobypicture.com/user/sportstechieNET
Sports Techie Myspace (Bob Roble): http://www.myspace.com/549000677
Sports Techie Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/86791607@N04/
Sports Techie Vine: https://vine.co/u/906354614369136640
Sports Techie Quora: https://www.quora.com/Bob-Roble
Sports Techie Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/user36773456
Sports Techie Skyword: http://robertroble.skyword.com/
Sports Techie Skype: sportstechie
Sports Techie Periscope: Sports Techie
Sports Techie Snapchat: sportstechie
AND
Sports Techie Guy: https://twitter.com/sportstechieguy