This week, we have a final review on the wonderful four weeks of the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup from Australia and New Zealand, including thoughts from two Haitian internationals who have returned to college in the U.S.—a number of teams used current American-based collegians (21 in total)—and we will be following their progress throughout the 2023 college season.
Of course, we must touch on the incredibly nauseous situation in Spain with their Federation President Luis Rubiales excusing his kiss on the lips of Jenni Hermoso after Spain won the Women's World Cup, with the 23 WWC winners and other national team pool members refusing to play any more games until he has left. The Spanish Federation has also no coaching staff—as 11 quit in support of the players—leaving the President's friend Jorge Vilda, who is loathed by a number of players. Spain and FIFA have an opportunity to gut their federation of this attitude towards women. The longer it drags on, the more it distracts from the women's play on the field. We also look at some national team coaching changes that have taken place with Brazil, Ireland and the Philippines.
WWC final thoughts
Some Coaching news, interviews with Haitian and New Zealand internationals who are back in college and the Turmoil with Spain's Football Federation and New Zealand's rationale for staying together for a few days after they were eliminated.
We present some final reflections on a tremendous—yet exhausting—four weeks for the 2023 WWC Finals, that undoubtedly will spur more growth in the game around the world. We also caught up with two Women's World Cup players from Haiti, who returned to their U.S. college teams for the fall season, as well as one from New Zealand who gave her perspective on why some of the Football Ferns sequestered in their hotel after their Group Stage elimination last month. We will periodically talk to some of the 21 college players who were on the 32 Final teams in AU/NZ and update readers on their progress this fall season.
The NCAA calculated that the 32 teams had 137 players who have (or currently) play with their colleges and universities, with Canada having more (22) than even the U.S. (20). Philippines had 18 Americans, with most having played in colleges, but England, Jamaica, Haiti and Nigeria also had key players who played collegiately in the States. We also have news on three coaching changes among the finals and reflect on the turmoil that Spain's WNT is undergoing, into the second week after their first WWC title win in tremendous style.
Note: On August 30, Pia Sundhage was fired from her position as the head coach of Brazil's WNT. Sundhage (63) took over in 2019 and still had one year left on her contract, through next summer's Paris Olympics. She compiled a record of 34 wins, 13 draws and 10 losses in 57 matches with Brazil.
Another positive of the 2023 finals is that Australian's government is investing AUD 200 million (U.S. $130 million) into grassroots women's sports for women's gear and facilities, including football. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said that the Matildas changed women's sport forever: "The Matildas have given us a moment of national inspiration. This is about seizing that opportunity for the next generation, investing in community sporting facilities for women and girls around Australia." Sport Minister Anika Wells added that the $200 million commitment would ensure women had their own facilities and gear, rather than having to borrow from men's teams: "Too often women and girls are changing in men's bathrooms, wearing hand-me-down boys' uniforms, playing with men's equipment on poor fields that boys' teams wouldn't train on."
The government has also proposed reforms to the rules on how sporting events are televised to increase the access of women's sports on free television. The government will consider preventing streaming services and broadcasters from acquiring broadcast rights before a free-to-air channel is given the right to broadcast. This could also include events in the Paralympic Games, the AFL [Aussie Rules] Women's Premiership, the NRL [National Rugby League] Women's Premiership and the NRL Women's State of Origin series.
The Australia-New Zealand tournament attracted a new record of 1,975 million to the 64 games, with an average of 30,911, a sizeable increase from the 21,756 average gate in France four years ago. Canada 2015 drew the previous record of 1,353,506 people while France 2019 drew a total of 1,131,312 supporters (but both previous events had 24 teams and 52 games). The final between Spain and England at Stadium Australia in Sydney drew a sell-out crowd of 75,784. A FIFA spokesperson explained that: "FIFA's original [ticket] sales target for Australia and New Zealand was 1.300,000. This was later adjusted to 1,500,000, which was surpassed [to just shy of 2 million].
Despite some severe worries on the part of FIFA and many observers as to how New Zealand would fare as the tournament went on and the Football Ferns were eliminated—yet again at the Group Stage, though they did better on the field than in past tournaments with four points from the Group Stage—the nation drew 700,000 fans for 29 World Cup games, for an average of 24,138, a quite nice total. Before the World Cup, the record crowd for a football match in New Zealand was 37,034 for a men's World Cup play-off against Peru in Wellington in 2017. Auckland's Eden Park broke that record six times during the tournament: 42,137 for New Zealand's opening 1-0 victory over Norway, 41,107 for the Group E opener between the Americans and Vietnam (3-0), the 42,948 crowd for the American's final Group E match against Portugal (0-0) and the new sellout record of 43,217 for Spain's 5-1 blasting of Switzerland in the Round of 16, which was also the total for Sweden's 2-1 win over Japan in the Quarterfinals and Spain's 2-1 Semifinal last minute win over Sweden.
Australia's 35 matches averaged 56,429 fans per game. Stadium Australia in Sydney was used five times and hosted an aggregate 378,920 fans, with sell-out crowds at all five games, for an average of 75,784.
Regarding television ratings for the 2023 WWC, Australia's semifinal against England became the most-watched program—sports or otherwise—at 11.5 million viewers in the co-host nation's history since the current ratings system was established in 2001. The U.K. drew a peak audience of 7.3 million on BBC, while an additional 3.8 million people streamed the game on BBC platforms. The Spain-Sweden semifinal drew a peak of 3.7 million viewers on Spain's RTVE's La 1 channel. At one point, 53.6% of all Spanish TV viewers were tuned into the game.
The British audience for the final on BBC and ITV peaked at more than 14 million viewers. BBC's 12 million viewers was the second-most viewed event of 2023, behind only King Charles III's coronation in May. The record for a women's soccer broadcast is a peak of 17.4 million for the prime-time coverage of the England-Germany final at Euro 2022, which England won 2-1 in overtime. In Spain, the final drew an average of 5.6 million viewers with a share of 65.7 percent on national network La 1, topped only by the medal ceremonies (6,226,000 viewers) as the most watched program of the day on Spanish television. That share segment included 71.6 percent of all males watching television.• NWSL teams were conspicuously absent among the starters of the semifinals—For the semifinal matches of England versus Australia and Spain versus Sweden, I thought that it was interesting that the NWSL—which always promotes itself as the best league in the world and certainly is the most competitive top to bottom—had no starters among the 44 players to start the two games. The WSL—grant it with England as one of the teams—had 21 members followed by Spain's Liga F with 12. Even the winter Australian A-League and Mexico's Liga MX Femenil (with Spain's WWC winner Jenni Hermoso at Pachuca) each had one but there was not a single player from the NWSL—they sent 57 players to the tournament across 15 teams (including 22 of 23 American WNT members and significant number of Canadians at nine)—but it is a sign that, outside of North America, the league is not yet competing for the top talent on the world stage, at least by this metric.
Of the 11 technical staff who resigned in solidarity with the players, included were both senior assistant managers, under-19s and under-20s coaches and the senior team physio. They issued a statement that said: "We want to state the uncomfortableness we felt having been obligated to assist the general assembly [of the Royal Spanish Football Federation or RFEF] five days after the WWC win, in which Rubiales insisted on his innocence and blamed the players for the crisis. Many of the women from the staff were obligated to sit in the front row, boosting their [RFEF] images and trying to portray to society and the players, that they agreed with everything the president said."
Even head coach Jorge Vilda later had to back off a little, "I deeply regret that Spanish women's football's triumph has been harmed by the improper behaviour of our leader Luis Rubiales, which he himself has acknowledged."
Note: On September 5, Vilda was fired as head coach and sporting director, replaced on an interim basis by current assistant Montse Tomé (41), who played with the national team and has been on the full national team staff since 2018, and coached at the youth national team level.
FIFA provisionally suspended Rubiales for 90 days, but then Zambia coach Bruce Mwape has been investigated since last fall for sexual assault against players and coached at the WWC Finals, so we should be happy by this move rather than feeling skeptical. Rubiales is not collecting any of his $600,000-plus annual paycheck. UEFA has been strangely quiet during the week-plus of this clown show, and some worry that if Rubiales was forced to resign by ministers in the Spanish government, that it would be a breach of UEFA and FIFA rules forbidding government interference with an independent football federation that is a FIFA/UEFA member.
This situation has gone way beyond that concern and has become a crucial moment in the women's game, not just in Spain but globally. It has become akin to the "Me Too Movement" that we saw in the U.S. and other countries starting about a decade ago, that emerged to protest sexual harassment and abuse in the film industry and quickly expanded into a broad society movement. If Rubiales and Vilda, who has been a lightning rod for player criticism over the years, particularly for those from Barcelona, are allowed to stay in their jobs, clearly many players won't play again for the national team and the successes of 2022-2023 at the national team level (as reigning world champions at the U-17, U-20 and senior level) will quickly fall apart like a cheap paper towel when it gets wet. If the Royal Spanish Football Federation continues to support Rubiales and Vilda, then it will set the game back decades and send a message to other federations that it is open season to mistreat women with little or no consequences—particularly in some countries in Europe.
Spain's terrific first WWC win has been overshadowed by this mess, particularly in the U.S., which had very little general news coverage of the game on August 20 (it was shown live between 3-6 am local time on a Sunday morning) but now the American media outlets can't get enough of this turmoil. I find that a little duplicitous after our own NWSL scandal with massive and continual sexual and emotional abuse of players by coaches, which was covered in depth (including in Tribal Football.com) by a few outlets or at a surface level with little analysis by many main media outlets.
Rubiales showed no intention of apologizing, never mind resigning, when speaking after the Final to Spanish radio station Cope, saying: "We do not pay any attention to idiots and stupid people. It was a peck between two friends celebrating something. (The criticism) is really all just nonsense, (from) d@#%heads and dumbasses. These are just losers who did not know how to see the positive side. Viva Espana. We have the best players in the world and that is what we should be talking about. With one friend I celebrate with a kiss, with another giving her a hug, and whatever else."
He shouldn't describe Hermoso as a "friend"—she is an employee and works for him, so the kiss was a clear breach of business harassment rules and protocols. This football "leader and ambassador," also, after the final whistle, grabbed his crotch in celebration while in the VVIP section next to Spain's Queen Letizia and her 16-year-old daughter Sofia.
Rubiales has shown a history of bad decisions regarding women's football and is the anthises of social enlightenment. In 2019, he wanted to take the first edition of the relaunched Supercopa de España Femenina or the Spanish Women's Super Cup—which previously had been played as a two team series from 1997 to 2000 between league and cup champions, but now includes the winners and runners-up of the Copa de la Reina and the remaining highest ranked teams from the Primera División that had not already qualified through the cup final, or the equivalent of the Community Shield in England but with double the sides—to Saudia Arabia but faced criticism at home, including from government officials, due to human rights issues.
Rubiales response was to refer to it as the: 'Equality Supercopa' and the 'Supercopa for Women." At this year's Supercopa in January—still held in Spain—instead of presenting medals to the winners Barcelona, he left them in a box by the touchline for the players to collect themselves, likely in protest at the number of Barcelona players who have been critical of Vilda and "his" federation over the past year.
When 15 players protested after the 2022 EUROS about coaching and other issues regarding federation support, Rubiales called them "extortioners" and "brats" and essentially replaced them with a "new national team." This drama needs to end—we talked a few weeks ago about the continuing stress in Ireland with Vera Pauw (see: The Week in Women's Football: World Cup Groups review; Marta class; Morocco inspire; Pauw must go - Tribal Football), who we touch on below. But this is another level and much more detrimental to the sport. FIFA, the Spanish government, UEFA—some organization needs to end Rubiales reign and clean house at the federation, naming an executive for the women's programs who is well respected, female and can be allowed to focus on the further development of their current three World champions teams (senior, U-20 and U-17). I think that former Spanish international Veronica Boquete would be an excellent choice (see more below) but the 36-year-old is still playing with Fiorentina, and in her second season with the club in 2022-23 scored 8 goals in 25 games. She was banished by the federation from the national team after leading a player effort to get the former national team coach fired.
There has been conflict between national team players and the federation and coaches for years; it didn't begin at the 2022 EUROS. Before Vidar was appointed by Rubiales after Spain's first WWC in 2015, the team had only two managers in 35 years, with Teodoro Nieto in charge from 1981 to mid-1988 and then Ignacio Quereda for 27 years from 1988 through 2015. After their group stage exit in Canada, the players released a joint statement after their disappointing group stage exit in Canada asking for Quereda to step down: "After finishing our participation in the World Cup, it is time to take stock and draw conclusions. Both individually and as a group, the 23 players have made self-criticism and we know that our performance could have been better. This generation has the talent and commitment to have gone much further… It is evident that the preparation for the World Cup has not been correct, the friendlies nonexistent, the acclimatization scant, the analysis of the rivals and the way to prepare for insufficient matches … and this has been the dynamic for a long time. We believe that a stage has ended and that we need a change… If trust is lost and you are not able to reach a group, it is difficult to achieve goals. There is still a long way to go and many doors to open. This is a great moment for our sport, with many challenges and dreams ahead and it is everyone's responsibility to set the path forward. See where we are going and how we do it."
A few days after the players' statement was released, Quereda resigned. WNT player at the time Veronica Boquette, who has played around the world and who we have interviewed exclusively on multiple occasions in the past, said: "This made people see what was happening for a long time. What we did was leave the federation with no choice because the media and social pressure was strong." Boquete paid the price as she was left off the 2017 Finals Team and never called into the side again, despite scoring 38 goals in 56 matches. She told the Daily Telegraph at the time: "I know my time with the national team is over, and I know it's not because of my football."
We do think that Rubiales will be gone soon permanently—following Vilda—but this chaos has to be ended quickly and radical changes made at the Federation to ensure that this never happens again, which will be another legacy of Spain's 2023 WWC Championship side.
I have followed the Republic of Ireland's national team for years and this was the right decision, even though there have been some cries of anguish by fans about the decision to not retain Pauw based mainly on her record and the team's historic first WWC qualification and tournament, with two narrow losses to Canada (2-1) and co-host Australia (1-0) and a scoreless tie with Round of 16 qualifiers Nigeria (0-0), it was all the drama off the field that was distracting and becoming too much of a burden for the FAI.
Last year, the NWSL's investigation into rampant player abuse in the league over the years brought out allegations that Pauw was verbally abusive and controlling during her one season coaching the Houston Dash in 2018; she has threatened legal action against the Dash and the NWSL and, of her own volution, turned it into the media topic when the Irish played in the U.S. in April, with her emotional and disjointed discussion of the situation, positioning herself as the victim. She has also been criticized for her seemingly unexplainable at times roster decisions, her spat with captain Katie McCabe during the Canada match—after McCabe made some in game substitution suggestions—and Pauw went on the "it's my town and I'm sheriff" rant. McCabe responded on social media wittingly and sarcastically with a zipped mouth emoji.
Pauw has made it well known—to the point of distraction—that she wanted to stay on as Irish head coach and sign a new contract when her current deal expired at the end of August. She and the FAI had been talking about an extension earlier this year but talks went dark this summer. There were also reports of player dissatisfaction in Australia beyond the Katie McCabe incident. Players complained about her heavily defensive style of play, roster selection and overall preparations in Australia. We wrote previously about the friendly against Colombia in Brisbane just before the tournament when she thought they played too physically (see: The Week in Women's Football: Review World Cup week I; chat with NZ star Rennie; Nigeria's 'blabbermouth'? - Tribal Football. Her comment that the players had "fear in their eyes" was seen as a huge insult to the players.
The FAI's head of women and girls' football, Eileen Gleeson, will lead the team on an interim basis for September's Nations League openers against Northern Ireland and Hungary and could be considered for a longer-term role. Gleeson won two local league titles as manager of Peamount United in 2010 and 2011 and Glasgow City won a Scottish league title in her second season in 2022-23, though she had left the side early to return to Ireland. Other initial names brought up for consideration for the job were Liverpool [and former Boston Breaker head coach] Matt Beard and Casey Stoney, the current manager of the San Diego Wave. Tom Elmes is also highly regarded and a member of the current coaching staff—he is also the current U-16 WNT coach and won locally at Wexford Youths.
Since taking the job in September of 2019, Pauw had a 15-5-14 (W-T-L) record in 34 games and a 9-4-6 record in 19 competitive games. This was definitely a situation when Pauw's drama and intensity overshadowed her very good record and work on the field; she will be remembered by fans for what she helped the team achieve, as well as their competitive showing in Australia. They were ultimately undone there in the group stage but their lack of scoring (one goal with three against in three games) was always their Achilles heel. It is time for a fresh perspective and less turmoil off the field but she should find another high profile position in the near future.
Pierre-Jerome discussed what the feedback has been from government leaders and fans in Haiti since the tournament ended; she said that she has heard: "How proud everyone is of us and how proud they were of how strong we came out and played as a team [and telling us] 'Thank you for putting us out in the world. Thank you for representing the country in such a positive light.' There were a lot of thank you's." The last time she was in the country was 2019 for a camp. Her message for moving ahead is: "Continue supporting us—help us accomplish our goals," which she felt should include more games in Haiti.
Pierre-Jerone has two more years of college eligibility at George Mason and then wants to play professionally but is not sure where, though a number of her teammates play in France, but she could play in the NWSL with no visa issues as she was born in Southern Florida. This season, George Mason is struggling with six losses from six games, with three 3-0 defeats and three by a 4-0 scoreline.
Haiti and Mississippi State's Ruthyn Mathurin in action against Grand Canyon University in Phoenix on August 17, after playing in the 2023 Women's World Cup this summer. Mississippi State won 2-1. Photo credit: Arianna Grainey.
Ruthyn Mathurin, who played 143 minutes of a possible 270 minutes for Haiti at the Women's World Cup, including starting and playing 81 minutes against China in their game two 1-0 defeat, said: "It was a pleasure for Haiti, for us and our family. It helped me develop skills and meet other big players, flying home through Dubai, Paris and Miami." Mississippi State is off to a 4-1-1 (W-D-L) start to the season. Mathurin has started all six games and has one assist from her defensive position.
Haiti and Mississippi State's Ruthyn Mathurin was part of the side that defeated Grand Canyon University in Phoenix on August 17 and tied 2023 NCAA playoff side Arizona State University (0-0) on August 20. Photo credit: Arianna Grainey.
We then asked Gabi Rennie why some team members and coaches decided to stay in their hotel for a few days after their side were eliminated following their last group match against Switzerland, when the team's target was always to advance to the Round of 16, rather than dispersing back home or to their club sides as many teams did. Some reports were critical of the practice, feeling that the team was 'hiding out,' even though fan support was high and they had achieved a record four points in the group stage, and started the tournament off with a bang with their 1-0 win over Norway, which was completed deserved on merit.
Jitka Klimkova told the New Zealand Herald: "I was not ready to go home, so we stayed there [team hotel], just recovering, a lot of the players and staff. We were walking with our New Zealand football gear, we didn't have any other clothes, and people just loved us. Not just at the stadium, but in the city, everywhere. I was going grocery shopping and people were stopping me and they are saying, 'Oh my gosh, guys, you've done so well, you guys are awesome' and I was like 'Wow, thank you.' We were so close and our performance was actually still inspiring." Rennie explained the benefits of what they did:
"Being that the World Cup is a 2-3 year preparation process and we were in camp [for] about three months before [the tournament's start on July 20] and it was a short, quick ending after the game against Switzerland. So, a few of us decided to stay and spend some more time together as a team and kind of digest the emotional ups and downs of what just happened in a safe space and I think that helped. No one really understands except those who went through what we did and it was good to reflect and help us move on from it."
That's good that the team had the time to do that break for their mental health and that might be a best practice for teams to consider for future tournaments.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham is on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey