Womens Soccer

The game of soccer is known to be played by women as early as the men do. In the Chinese Han Dynasty, which is the rightful owner of the invention of the game of soccer, there is a record of women too playing this game. Even the modern day soccer has documented facts which show that women are playing soccer in Europe as far back as 12th century AD. The French women played soccer as a part of the era’s folk games. In 1863, when the first standardized rules for the modern day soccer banned the violence off the pitch, soccer became more socially acceptable for women of that time. The game saw many hardships in Europe, especially in England and Scotland where it was banned for women to play on the official men’s pitch, on the pretext of it being distasteful. The women soccer however, is becoming more and more popular every day. At the beginning of the 21st century this sport for women saw a lot of advancement, helping it grow, both in popularity and participation. The game has now become much more professional than before.

The first ever professional women team was recorded in 1984, and it took merely seven more years for the years for the first ever FIFA Women World Cup to be held in 1991 in China. This was won by USA. However, the FIFA Women World Cup gained its due popularity in 1999. It was held in USA where more than 90,000 fans watched the home team lifting the cup again. The popularity of the game increased ever since. So much so that the women soccer is now the third most popular sport in the world.

The brief history of Women soccer has also produced many well known players across the globe. Marta Vieira de Silva, Brazilian by nationality, became the world’s best known woman player at the tender age of twenty one years. She played in the Swedish league as a midfielder, while remain as a forward for the Brazilian women national team. She became the 2006 FIFA Women’s World Player of the Year.

Mia Hamm is the most recognized soccer player in the world. She broke the record of scoring most goals, for both men and women, on May16, 1999, against Brazil in Orlando, Fla. with her 108th career goal. There are many other famous names like Julie Foudy and Michelle Akers of USA. The FIFA women soccer rankings are published four times a year. They are usually published in March, June, September and December. These rankings are based on all the matches played since 1971, the first ever FIFA approved match between France and Netherlands. According to the last rankings published in December, 2007 the top five women soccer teams are, Germany, USA, Sweden, Brazil and Norway respectively. German and Americans are leading the table since 2003.

Almost all the nations who have the men’s national soccer teams also have the women national soccer teams. The players of the American women national soccer team were the first ever women team to be paid on full time professional basis. Many soccer associations also sprouted in America since then which are parts of the USA soccer association. Some of them are the California women soccer association, North Texas women soccer association etc. A professional league was set up in Japan for the first time for women in 1992. The women soccer has come a long way in a very short period of time, standing right beside men’s. We need to leave all our biases behind and support the women’s sports as we support the men’s.