The phrase ‘bigger and better’ has become a bit of a cliche, but it is still perhaps the most authentic way of describing the ninth edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup at a moment of reckoning in women’s football.
Australia and New Zealand are co-hosting the 2023 edition, which for the first time will feature 32 nations, 20 more than the inaugural 12-team tournament held in China in 1991.
Eight teams – the Republic of Ireland, Vietnam, Zambia, Haiti, Morocco, Panama, the Philippines and Portugal – are making their debuts in a World Cup organisers are hoping will attract a record two billion viewers.
The overall performance-based fund for the finals has skyrocketed to 110 million US dollars (£84.2m), more than three times what was on offer at the 2019 World Cup in France, with the players sharing more than 44 per cent of that between them.
Previously, there was no requirement for national associations to distribute a minimum amount of World Cup prize money to participating players.
Also, for the first time, FIFA will be directly paying all athletes for their participation in the tournament, with amounts increasing the deeper teams get, ranging from USD 30,000 (£22,964) per player for the group stage to USD 270,000 (£206,678) allotted to each champion.
It is a significant sum at a time when the average salary in the women’s game worldwide is USD 14,000 (£11,000), according to last year’s FIFA benchmarking report, although the improved pot still remains well short of the USD 440m (£337m) distributed after the 2022 men’s World Cup in Qatar.
FIFA has outlined ambitions for parity by the respective 2026 and 2027 tournaments.
The increased fund did not emerge out of thin air. A group of 150 players from 25 national teams, including England, Scotland, Wales and the Republic of Ireland, wrote to FIFA in October last year calling for equal conditions and for a guarantee that at least 30 per cent of prize money would be allocated to players.
Indeed, this World Cup arrives during what feels like the dawn of a paradigm shift in the women’s game. For much of its existence, players have often felt obligated to express gratitude for anything they were given, from meagre mentions in the media to ill-fitting equipment not designed for women’s unique needs.
They are beginning to demand more. In February, Olympic champions Canada played the SheBelieves Cup under protest as part of an ongoing dispute with their national federation over pay and working conditions, while other nations, including England, wore purple wristbands in a show of collective solidarity and desire for progress.
That same month, France captain Wendie Renard and two team-mates announced they were pausing their international careers over “conditions” in camp, part of a so-called ‘revolt’ that led to the sacking of head coach Corinne Diacre just four months before the World Cup. Renard and others have since returned to the French fold after former Saudi Arabia men’s boss Herve Renard took over the team.
Players from numerous other countries, including Spain and Jamaica – and even Nigeria’s head coach – have taken action or called out their federations over issues such as pay, resources and personnel, while the Lionesses’ open letter to the then-Conservative leadership candidates following their Euro 2022 triumph led to the announcement of a £600m Government package to improve the PE provision in schools and grant girls equal access to school sports.
There have also been calls from all corners of the globe for more funding and research into women’s health.
The World Cup will be deprived of top talents like England’s Beth Mead and Leah Williamson, the Netherlands’ Vivianne Miedema, Canada’s Janine Beckie, the USA’s Catarina Macario and Christen Press, New Zealand’s Katie Rood and Zambia goalkeeper Hazel Nali, all of whom are on an exhaustive list of players whose dreams of representing their countries were dashed by anterior cruciate ligament injuries, for which women are at a three-to-six times higher risk than men.
As England’s Lucy Bronze told Sky Sports during an open training session in Queensland: “It’s a shame that women in sport in general have to (fight for change), but I think it’s a role that many athletes, many women, take on in society and in sport.”
Nevertheless, they will persist long after the trophy is lifted in Sydney.
'I will keep fighting' - Ten Hag adamant he is the right manager for Man Utd
Erik ten Hag insists that he is the right man for the job at Manchester United despite their 4-0 thrashing at the hands of Crystal Palace on Monday.
Michael Olise netted twice against a sorry United team at Selhurst Park, with Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also getting on the scoresheet.
It is the first time that Palace have done the double over the Red Devils in the Premier League, as United extended their winless run on the road to five games.
There has been a lot of speculation over Ten Hag’s future following a disappointing second campaign in charge, with just one year left on his contract.
Asked if he was the right manager for United, he told Sky Sports: "Absolutely. If the right players are there and available, we have a good squad, but are missing the whole backline – we had problems.
"I will keep fighting. I prepared the team in the best way I could do. It was not good enough, by far – I have to take responsibility for that. But I will find energy and prepare them for Sunday’s game.
"At the end of the day, I have to do it with the players who are available. All season, we have huge [injury] problems. Many times we have sorted it out. Today we didn’t."
United have struggled with injury problems all season, with Harry Maguire and club captain Bruno Fernandes joining the lengthy list of players missing against Palace.
Ten Hag highlighted the lack of defensive options at his disposal but did not make excuses for the poor performance, adding: "It’s clear and obvious – this is underperforming. It’s not good enough. We are very disappointed in this. Our fans were behind us all the way – we should have kept fighting like the fans did.
"There are always reasons. Everyone sees our backline, we have huge problems, but at the end of the day we have to deal with it – we should have done better than we did.
"We know [how damaging it could be], but we have nine points to play, so we have to fight for the nine points."
Man Utd thrashing a 'big statement' but Palace are not surprised, says Eze
Eberechi Eze says Crystal Palace's 4-0 thrashing of Manchester United is a "big statement" but insists there should be little surprise that it happened.
Micheal Olise scored twice as Palace ran riot against the sorry Red Devils at Selhurst Park on Monday.
Jean-Philippe Mateta and Tyrick Mitchell also got in on the act as Palace sealed their first league double over United.
Palace have now won four of their last five Premier League games, with Oliver Glasner having turned the tide in the past few weeks.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Eze said: "It says a lot, it's a big statement, but we're not surprised.
"We know what we're capable of, we know what we can do. The quality we've got in the dressing room is high – we don't see it as a surprise. We know what we came here to do today, it worked.
"You can see we’re creating chances, we're not worried about what's going on behind us. We're attacking, pressing, we're aggressive – we're going to continue to create chances for sure."
Also speaking to Sky Sports, Glasner said: "Congratulations to the team. I think in the first half, we didn't play as well as we could, but we were very efficient and scored very nice goals.
"At half-time, we made some adaptations, and the second half was much better. We created a lot of chances, scored some nice goals, and it's a great win.
"We know we have quality when we get our players in situations to score a goal.
"Good players, a good team spirit, but we must always stay humble. It's not so long ago we were struggling [in a relegation battle]. We are doing well, but we have a lot to improve."
This was Palace's biggest Premier League win since beating Leeds United 5-1 in April 2023, while it also marked their biggest on home soil in the competition since a 5-0 victory over Leicester City in April 2018.
Udinese 1-1 Napoli: Struggling Bianconeri grab last-gasp home draw
Napoli were held to a 1-1 draw at relegation-battling Udinese in Serie A on Monday after a stoppage-time goal by forward Isaac Success cancelled out a Victor Osimhen header.
Osimhen nodded home to give Napoli the lead in the 51st minute after Matteo Politano sent a lofted cross from the right into the middle of the box, and the Nigerian striker headed the ball in off the left post.
The Nigerian thought he doubled their advantage in the 80th minute, but his effort was ruled out for offside, before Success bundled in the leveller in stoppage time, netting from a Thomas Kristensen header.
Napoli moved up to eighth on 51 points from 35 games and are nine points behind both fifth-placed Atalanta and Roma, in sixth.
Data Debrief:
Osimhen is the third Napoli player to score in six matches in a row against a single team in Serie A in the three-points-for-a-win era, after Gonzalo Higuain against Lazio between 2013 and 2016 and Dries Mertens against Bologna between 2016 and 2019.
Despite fighting back to earn a point, Udinese have now failed to win three games under a new manager for the first time since August-September 2010 under Francesco Guidolin.
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