Buenos Aires, July 7 (BUS): The Copa America women’s soccer tournament kicks off Friday in Colombia at a time when the sport is clearly developing in South America but with dramatically different speeds and opportunities for players.
Ten teams are divided into two groups, with two nations from each group advancing to the playoffs. The final will be played on July 30th at the Alfonso Lopez Stadium in the Colombian city of Bucaramanga, the Associated Press reported.
The Brazilian defending champion developed her own women’s soccer organization on her own. Elsewhere, most players in the region have struggled to secure professional contracts, and even when they do, there is still a huge gap compared to the money paid to men’s teams and their players.
Four years ago at the Copa America Women’s Cup in Chile, veteran goalkeeper Fanina Correa organized a protest with other Argentina players. As they gathered for a photo before the match, they put their hands arched behind their right ears, in a sign to protest and to show that they wanted the Argentine Football Association to hear them.
“Many things have changed, they listened to us,” Correa said after training with Argentina at the Ezeiza complex outside Buenos Aires where soccer star Lionel Messi trained while performing his national duty.
In the tournament being held in Colombia, Argentina hopes to secure one of the three direct places available for the Women’s World Cup in New Zealand and Australia in 2023.
Much has changed in the game. Young female soccer players in Argentina have earned a minimum wage. Players like the 38-year-old Correa have faced a more hostile and sexist environment for most of their careers, in which women are often criticized for simply wanting to play football. Clubs do not have locker rooms or groups for teams. Signing the contract was just a dream.
“We always think we can add many more things, but we achieve our goals and then we ask for something extra,” Correa said.
The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) said the winner of the tournament, which was first held in 1991, would earn a record $1.5 million. From this edition onwards, the tournament will be played once every two years.
“Women’s football has a short trajectory in South America, only 31, we are accelerating our operations,” said Fabimar Franchi, who directs women’s football development at CONMEBOL. “The Copa America will be historic, different, and you will see on and off the field. The preparations, the presentation, the organization. Women’s football continues to grow.”
Argentina this year started a system for licensing women’s football clubs that requires them to have two women on its coaching staff, pay for players’ health insurance, provide training grounds and social media profiles, along with a protocol to deal with cases of violence. and discrimination.
2018 runners-up Chile, whose captain Christian Endler recently won the Women’s Champions League with Lyon, started their professional league this year.
“There is very good work at the national level, but we still need more in the domestic leagues, not enough has been done,” Endler said. “The professionalization of women’s football is undoubtedly a great move, but it is important that the clubs work more.”
Chile’s rules require clubs to award contracts to half of their players in the first year, then 75% in the second, and 100% in the third year.
In Colombia, women’s football is also considered professional, but the season is short and the players do not get an income for months. But fans are clearly interested, as about 40,000 are watching the last Colombian championship between Deportivo Cali and America Cali.
CONMEBOL has been organizing women’s youth team tournaments since 2018. Men’s clubs wishing to participate in the prestigious Copa Libertadores must have two categories of women’s teams – senior and youth.
“Some of these guys at the age of 17 and 18 are already professionals. Those girls who have been given new opportunities are going to be at the Women’s Copa América,” said Franchi.
Brazil has led the region in women’s football developments, and more so since its football body in 2019 required that every club in the Brazilian men’s championship have a women’s team.
Corinthians and Ferrovia have won continental and national championships in recent years – with occasional crowds of more than 40,000 fans. Other big clubs such as Palmeiras and Flamengo have also invested in women’s football.
The Brazilian Football Confederation paid $54,000 to Corinthians’ women’s team to win their third consecutive Brazilian title in 2021 – less than 1% of the amount earned by Atlético Mineiro, the men’s champion.
Brazilian media reports earlier this year said the monthly salaries of the Corinthians women’s team are around $73,000, while the men’s team tops out at $2.7 million.
Brazilian soccer authorities said most of the country’s professional soccer players are charging about $920 a month, similar to five years ago, although some benefits have improved and there is growing interest from fans.
All this is still far from strong women’s football centers such as the United States and Spain, but many South American footballers say progress is possible.
“Sponsors and the media should be interested in going to the stadium to watch women’s football,” said Argentine defender Aldana Cometi. “When this happens, everyone will grow up.”