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Is there political support for Women's Football which corresponds chronologically to the 2022 World Cup?

Since FIFA started holding a Women's World Cup tournament in 1990 the United States team has never finished out of the top 4 countries. They have also won the tournament outright in 4 of the 9 contests and are the only team which has won the contest more than twice.

In 2023 the U.S. Women failed to place into the top 16 teams. Being defeated by Sweden who finished 3rd in the tournament and also tied to the Netherlands and Portugal who did not place in the top 4.

How this question is different than the previous one

The first question:

Does the 2023 world cup results mean there is more political support for women's athletics Internationally?

This Question:

Is there political support for Women's Football which corresponds chronologically to the 2022 World Cup?

Are different question. In the first question I asked a yes or no question assuming political support was responsible for increased on field performance, hoping folks would document their boolean answer. That turned out to be controversial and was responsible for garnering most of the negative comments. It was the stated reason the question was closed. In this question I ask for examples of corresponding changing political support chronologically relevent to the 2023 Womans World Cup. In this quesiton I did not assuming causality. Here I’m asking only for instances of changes in political support towards woman’s football in the countries which did so well in 2023. Which to my mind is fact based, purely political in nature and doesn’t claim what the folks found controversial in the previous question. That political support equates to financial support which equates to better on field performance. That equivalence is not found in this question.

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  • You shouldn't ask a question again after it has been closed.
    – Joe W
    Commented Sep 16, 2023 at 3:10
  • @JJJ, I think they are different questions. In the first question I drew a dependency between political support, financial support, and on field performance. Which I presented as an obvious given. That turned out to be controversial and garnered most of the negative comments. In this question I ask for corresponding changing political support and did not claim a dependence. Just asking for examples of whether political support has changed for woman’s football in the countries which did so well in 2023. And I found some, still looking for more though.
    – user47010
    Commented Sep 16, 2023 at 16:19
  • The same points about the quality of athletes not being related to politics that got brought up in the other question also apply to this one.
    – Joe W
    Commented Sep 16, 2023 at 19:40

1 Answer 1

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Question: Is there political support for Women's Football which corresponds chronologically to the 2022 World Cup results?

The Final Four for the 2023 women's football World Cup.

  1. Spain

Women were forbidden from playing football under the Franco regime ending in 1975. The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) did not recognize women's football until 1980. Women did not have a national league in Spain until 1988. The Spanish Football Authority is subsidized by public funds. In 2019 the Spanish Football Authority committed to spending $20 million in improving women's football. This permitted Spanish woman's domestic league, Primera Federación teams to became full time professionals in 2020.

  1. England

England's Football Authority became involvement with women's football in 1993. Most Professional Men's teams adopted an affiliate women's team. In 2011 the top 8 women's teams reorganized into a Super league began playing matches. In 2014 the woman's super league was expanded to 20 teams. 2018 that the Women's Super League become fully professional. In 2022 the British government pledged £600 million ($1.2 billion) for women’s football development over multiple years, making women's football equally available in it's schools to men's football. The Lionesses have placed in the final four of the WWC in the last 2 tournaments 2019, 2023.

  1. Sweden

The Swedish women's professional league Damallsvenskan began playing in 2013 and is said to be the oldest woman's professional league. In 2017 Swedish professional football players signed a new contract and their per game salary jump from $238 per game or $27 per day, to a salary more in line with what the Swedish men make. Damallsvenskan games have been televised since 2022.

  1. Australia

Established a national amateur woman's league in 1974, followed by a woman's junior division in 1983 and a youth division in 1985. In 1996 Women's football was introduced at the Atlanta Olympics, which brought Australia players increased fundraising and scholarships opportunities. In 2003 the Australian Women's Soccer Association was absorbed into the Football Federation Australia. Prior to 2023 the Australian government sponsored Woman's Football with $56 million for hosting the World Cup, building the Matildas a new training facility and for grassroot player development. In 2023 the Australian government announced an addition A$200 million ($128 US) support package for women's football. The Australian woman's team seems deeply aware of funding disparity with the teams they still need to overcome.


  • Netherlands (who tied the U.S. Woman's Team)

In 2017 the dutch minister for sports pushed the Royal Dutch Football Association for equal pay between the men and women; in order for the woman's league to become professional.

  • Portugal (who tied the U.S. Woman's Team)

2005, the Campeonato Nacional II Divisão was created, their top woman's professional league. 2009–10 the league was expanded to 10 teams. In 2015 they started a woman's super cup tournament. In 2020 a Woman's super league was created.


A major event for International Woman's Football was being introduced in the 1996 Olympics. I know personally when men's Rugby was announced for the 2008 Olympics (7's), The budget for USA Rugby jumped x10. USA Rugby was permitted to fundraise with the Olympic rings, which helped tremendously bring in corporate sponsors. I image a similar fundraising transformation began with Women's Football beginning in the 1990's and building with government political support through the 2023 games for each club listed.

As pointed out in the comments, The U.S. women's game has a little bit of a head start on political support with regard to the rest of the world. In 1972, the 1964 landmark civil rights bill was extended with Title IX, creating a funding equivalence between men and women's sports at the University level in the US. Early and significant political support for all women's sports in the U.S.

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  • Good answer +1. Just one point, there is no such thing as an "English Government" - it is the British Government. (Scotland and Wales - both part of Great Britain, have devolved governments). The reason the USA won on four occasions was fundamentally because they got started earlier with women's football. European countries are now taking it more seriously and the USA is unlikely to have such an easy run in future. You haven't said anything about Australia - the other semi-finalists.
    – WS2
    Commented Sep 16, 2023 at 20:52
  • @WS2, thank you for the correction. I have to tell you my face was a little red on that one. I should know better. Agreed on the USA and agreed on European countries although that’s kind of talk is what got my first question closed so I intentionally didn’t bring up how important support is to successfully competing. As for Australia I will be reading up on them. Perhaps you could write up your own answer. Thank you for the thoughtful comment and the +1.
    – user47010
    Commented Sep 16, 2023 at 22:54

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