The Challenges of a Football Player in the world of Women's Football

Join us to discover what are some of the challenges football players face today and the impact these challenges have on women's soccer.

Yesterday I had the amazing opportunity to be present in the webinar called "Los Retos del Futbolista" (The Challenges of a Football Player), part of the "Leadership Football Series" array of webinars offered by Leadership Woman Football and Sports Business Institute Barcelona. What topics did they talk about? What main takeaways did it leave us with?

Leadership Woman Football (LWF) is a platform that seeks to promote the visualization and leadership of women in sports- specifically in women’s football- through congresses, coaching, leadership, among others.

On the other hand, Sports Business Institute Barcelona is an education entity dedicated to offer academic programs to sports professionals seeking to focus on football in the areas of management, marketing, finance, etc.

The conversation mainly revolved around testimonies and opinions of Aitor Ocio- former professional football player and current LWF ambassador- and Maria Pry- also former professional football player and current coach of Liga Iberdrola team Levante U.D. It was very interesting to explore different subjects from the player and coach points of view.

How did you know you wanted to dedicate your professional life to football?

Aitor started by saying that, when he was younger, he didn’t play football because he had the goal of becoming a professional player, but because he was passionate about it and enjoyed how it made him feel. He compared it to youngsters nowadays that play driven by the desire to reach the highest level and achieve a certain status. “The effect media has had in football has affected its purity,” he said.

Additionally, Maria told us how she used to be a swimmer before switching to football at 15 years old and the values she learned from this sport: resilience and sacrifice. She also kept studying (she has a Sports Science degree) because becoming a professional football player was not a possibility for women back then. She misses “street football” but is thankful for the opportunities girls have nowadays to play in teams and academies from a young age.

Leadership: What are the necessary qualities to lead a women’s football locker room?

“I am not going to do to my players the same that was done to me- which damaged me- when I played” said Maria. For her, coaches need to have 3 main qualities: capacity to communicate, leadership, and empathy. Respect is earned, not imposed. All of this is done through professionalism and commitment.

She then added that “the idiosyncrasy of football remains the same for a women’s team than for a men’s team” and that gender is irrelevant when talking about the qualities of a good coach. It’s all about the values and attitudes.

What is missing for us to see a woman coach a Spanish football team at the elite level?

Aitor began by saying that “all the great coaches are those that are excellent at managing the locker room and the talent”. He then added that gender doesn’t matter: “it depends on the person and the way that person sees and understands things.” It is a matter of time until we can see a woman coach a men’s team at the highest level. He concluded by saying there is a clear development happening and that, even though it will take time, “there will be a first time and a person that is up to the challenge.”

What is women’s football missing to be more professional? What does it take to remove the difference between men and women from the conversation?

“We need to normalize it and remove labels,” said Maria. The change also has to happen in society.

Aitor wrapped up by saying that, in comparison to previous generations, girls nowadays start playing a lot earlier and that he sees a very high level of competition in women’s football, both at the grassroots level and the professional level.

After the evident rise in women’s football at a global level with events like the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, what will it take for clubs, federations and confederations to get involved and continue this growth?

Maria started by saying that “we need to be professional in every aspect.” Things like the salary agreement signed for Spanish footballers last month helps a whole lot, but we also need to see some advancements in terms of facilities, club services, media broadcasting, etc.

Aitor added that everything is tied and brands will invest more in women’s football if they see there will be a positive impact and economic return on investment. International tournaments like World Cups and Euro cups will generate an important push that directors and people in positions of power must prolong.

They also provided us with very interesting data:

Percentage of women executives, women coaches, and women referees worldwide, respectively.

Information about the relationship between the media impact women’s football can have and the investment of important companies and brands.

• Television audience of 1.1 billion people worldwide during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

• The television audience of the semifinal between England and USA was higher than the one between Liverpool and Tottenham in the UEFA Champions League final on British network BBC.

• The country with the most number of spectators was Brazil, being the first time they had a women’s World Cup game on over-the-air TV.

• ESPN closed a worldwide broadcasting deal with the National Women’s Soccer League (NWSL).

• Visa secured a 7-year contract with UEFA exclusively for women’s football.

• The Alibaba Group invested 100 million euros in the formation and development of the Chinese women’s national team.

• Budweiser included the US women’s national team and World Cup champions on their main Superbowl ad for 2020.

• Nike saw an increase of 150% in sales of their women’s sportswear line and 200% in sales of the women’s national team jerseys in comparison to 2015.

After listening to all of this valuable information, these are my main takeaways:

• Women’s professional development is important: having more prepared women getting involved in the growth of the sport both inside and out of the pitch is crucial.

• We need to accept and understand women’s football reality and act based on that. There’s a need to design a creative and different strategy customized to each club, competition and federation. This will aid the development of the industry mid and long term. 

• These strategies must include all essential departments: marketing, finance, human resources, etc.

• Talent and knowledge are not based on gender.

• We need to work hard to normalize the participation of women in football.

• Women’s empowerment might be a trend now, but it is an important factor in which big companies and brands are willing to invest, along with the impact and reach that women’s football is capable of having.

If you missed it, you can watch it here (audio in Spanish):

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