Women's soccer is enjoying a historic moment. But progress is uneven

CNN

6 days ago

Soccer
UK
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Sport is all about history, about legacy, about storylines emerging over years of competition. Each major soccer tournament, then, is a marker that helps fans to track the progression of players, of teams and of the game in general.
Until recently, women's soccer outside the United States had a relatively short history which, at least in the popular imagination, was defined as much by the fight for equality off the pitch as any match on it.
But in the last few years, the sport has exploded in popularity around the globe. Women's soccer is still growing, but it isn't new anymore. The US Women's National Team (USWNT) and its stars aren't the sport's sole figureheads. Even casual fans know the game's history now.
So, on Sunday, when England's Chloe Kelly confidently walked up to take the decisive penalty in the women's Euro final shootout against Spain, an entire nation understood the moment. It knew she had scored the winning goal in the final three years ago and had cheered with her at the time as she famously waved her shirt above her head in celebration.
Knowing the history also makes watching a penalty shootout all the more difficult. Fans fell silent across England, including in London's Boxpark Wembley, where 1,200 people had gathered for the spectacle. Kelly still had to convert the penalty.
She did, of course – smashing her shot into the back of the net with both power and precision. Fans exploded with more than two hours of coiled tension, hugging each other, screaming at each other, screaming at the TV, screaming at the ceiling.
'It was unreal. After all the extra-time, all the penalties, everything that we've done throughout this entire tournament, to get to there and for Chloe Kelly to be able to score the winning goal after everything she's done for England … incredible,' England fan Hayley Wade told CNN Sports at Wembley as ABBA's 'Dancing Queen' blared from the speakers around her.
The DJ queued up all the hits – including multiple rounds of England's unofficial soccer anthem, 'Three Lions (Football's Coming Home)' – as groups started dancing and stayed to celebrate long after the final whistle.
The Lionesses, England's national women's soccer team, celebrated their second consecutive victory in London with scores of fans lining the streets for a jubilant parade. The women's team came from behind in the UEFA European Women's Championship to beat Spain 3-1 on penalties and retain the title. #cnn #lionesses #euros #england An open-top bus parade in central London then took place on Tuesday to celebrate the Lionesses, a positive development from the lack of victory parade after their 2022 victory.
But even as the wins in the fight for soccer equity accumulate, the fact remains that disparities persist globally.
Once again, the Women's Euros witnessed record crowds. Even in the US, viewing figures at the quarterfinal and semifinal stage almost quadrupled compared to the 2022 tournament, according to broadcaster Fox Sports.
And in person, a total of 657,291 spectators attended matches in Switzerland, surpassing the previous record set in 2022. All except two of the tournament's 31 matches were sold out, though admittedly they were held in relatively small soccer stadiums.
England fans Sam Meah and Terri Palmer, who were at Wembley when the Lionesses won in 2022, had planned to be at the final in Basel but were unable to get tickets. So, instead, they made for Wembley, the next best place to watch, with their seven-year-old nephew in tow who proudly named England's teenage star Michelle Agyemang as his favorite player.
'When we were younger, women still had to do a normal job,' lifelong Arsenal and Lionesses fans Meah and Palmer told CNN Sports. 'Now, they can just play football like the men, so that's brilliant. That's the difference, it's now a profession rather than just a hobby. It's only going to get bigger. It's only going to get better. I think we will be equal with the men at some point.'
Such large audiences have made stars out of the European soccer players, like the USWNT before them. The Lionesses had a small following even in England before their 2022 Euros triumph. 'Within six weeks, they became famous people,' manager Sarina Wiegman noted at the time, per BBC Sport. 'Some players can't walk down the street anymore without being (recognized).'
This time around, some of them were already national household names. Fans walked around London wearing their Alessia Russo jerseys, Lucy Bronze jerseys, Leah Williamson jerseys.
Russo has been on magazine covers and her face seems to be everywhere on Adidas adverts, alongside Spain's superstar Aitana Bonmatí. Williamson and Lauren James have featured in Walkers (Lays) potato chips commercials throughout the summer.
The total prize pot available at the Women's Euros rose to €41 million ($48 million), a 156% increase compared to 2022's total of €16 million ($19 million), but still a tiny fraction compared to the men's prize pot of €331 million ($386 million).
As women's soccer becomes more established, so too do the rivalries within it.
Rather than dynasties like the USWNT at the Women's World Cup or Germany at the Euros developing, tournaments are becoming more competitive. And as these European countries invest in and embrace women's soccer, they have wrestled back the USA's previous grip over the sport.
Spain is widely considered to be the best team in the world now, even following this defeat. Since La Roja's 2023 World Cup victory – and subsequent fallout from then-Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) chief executive Luis Rubiales kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the on-field ceremony – women's soccer has changed in the Iberian nation, too. RFEF improved conditions for its women's side after the players demanded change for years, and 15 of Spain's best players even resigned from the national team in 2022 in protest.
While the disappointment and shock from Sunday's loss remains fresh, the return of Laia Aleixandri, Lucía García, Patri Guijarro, Leila Ouahabi and Clàudia Pina from the exiled 'Las 15' is a symbol of the improved state of today's Spanish team.
But still inequalities remain. Soccer's authorities have a tendency to dismiss, or at least appear to dismiss, the women's game. UEFA President Aleksander Čeferin only attended the opening game and final of Euro 2025, compared to at least nine games of the men's tournament last year, per the Associated Press.
CNN Sports has reached out to UEFA for comment.
And while the European tournament was breaking record upon record, it's been a different story for the South American teams playing in the 2025 Copa América Femenina in front of swaths of empty seats in Quito, Ecuador.
Everything from the lack of marketing, inadequate pre-match warm-up conditions, pitch quality, and the absence of Video Assistant Referees (VAR) during the group stage has been condemned by players, managers and fans.
'There wasn't enough space. I don't understand why we can't warm up on the pitch. We hope that CONMEBOL (the South American Football Confederation) will address some of these issues and take steps to improve. Is this professional football?' Brazil legend Marta said about the conditions at the tournament, per AP.
Current Brazilian star Ary Borges, meanwhile, said that 'even amateur tournaments are better organized than this.'
'Why do things like this only happen in women's football?' she added, per AP.
CNN Sports has reached out to CONMEBOL for comment.
The complaints by players and managers forced CONMEBOL to allow outfield players to warm up on the pitch for 15 minutes ahead of matches, rather than in enclosed rooms together, but it is indicative of structural inequalities which still exist in the women's game.
'It's just not isolated in CONMEBOL, it's a global issue,' Alex Culvin, FIFPRO's director of global policy for women's football told AP.
The Women's Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON), which concluded on Saturday, had a delay of a year and a half between its qualifiers and main tournament after being postponed due to a clash with the Olympics, causing an uproar among coaches and officials.
CNN Sports has reached out to the Confederation of African Football for comment on the rationale and controversy surrounding the postponement.
And though winner Nigeria picked up the tournament's biggest ever prize of $1 million (part of a $3.475 million prize pot), that still represents only 11% of the men's AFCON total prize pot.
Much has changed since the 2022 European Championship and 2023 World Cup. Yet with the next major tournament less than two years away – as the 2027 Women's World Cup heads to Brazil – it's now time to see what further changes are in store.