Original title: Record-setting fiery and free cold and cheerless after the China Women’s World Cup debacle.
BEIJING, Beijing, August 22 (Reporter Bian Liqun) The 2023 ANZ Women’s World Cup has come to an end. Spain beat England 1-0 and won the first Women’s World Cup.
In the last World Cup, China women’s football team was able to barely draw 0-0 against Spain in the same group.
However, in this World Cup, in the midst of great changes in the world women’s football pattern, the women’s football team in China, which was eliminated after a 1-6 defeat in the group stage, seemed to be at a loss, and even felt more and more powerless when China men’s football team fought in international competitions.
A female football practitioner told reporters frankly that the development trend of women’s football in China is not as good as that of men’s football.
"The world men’s soccer team has entered a period of stable development, and there will not be much pattern change. At most, people will take five steps and we will take two steps. However, the world women’s football team is developing rapidly. Now foreign countries are making 10 steps forward, and we are only making one step forward. "
Hot & cold
After the China Women’s Football World Cup group match, the Women’s Super League has been played for two rounds. Wang Shanshan, Zhang Xin and other international players have already appeared on the field, and China women’s football coach Shui Qingxia has also started a new round of player inspection.
International players Li Mengwen and Tang Jiali will start another journey to study abroad: the former will move from Ligue 1 to the Premier League with more intense competition and join the Brighton women’s football team; The latter re-entered La Liga and joined the women’s football team in Las pallas, levante.
It is understood that there will be several women’s football players studying in overseas leagues in the future, including many international players.
In this World Cup, England and Spain in the finals and the domestic women’s football league have developed rapidly.
The La Liga, where Tang Jiali, a player studying abroad, is located, has contributed as many as 74 international players to this women’s World Cup. She has made more contributions to the Premier League before studying abroad, with nearly 100 people.
In terms of the number of spectators, the average number of women’s football players in the Premier League last season was 5,099. The North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur attracted as many as 47,367 people to watch the game.
In the women’s Champions League quarter-final held in March last year, the "national derby" between Barcelona women’s football team and Real Madrid women’s football team flooded into as many as 91,553 spectators.
At home, the attention of all parties to women’s football still mostly stays at the level of the national team.
According to the data from FIFA, the life-and-death battle between China women’s football team and English women’s football team broke the single country’s viewing record in the history of the Women’s World Cup with 59.3 million viewers.
On the day before the Women’s World Cup final, Beijing Women’s Football Team and Henan Zhongyuan Women’s Football Team fought a relegation battle. In the end, the Beijing women’s football team won 1-0, fled the relegation zone after two consecutive victories and climbed to the seventh place in the league. However, only 688 people watched the key battle.
The threshold for watching the Beijing women’s football match at home is very low, and the audience can enter the stadium for free by scanning the code at the door. Even so, the audience can barely support the three stands of Xiannongtan Stadium.
"The first home fans this season were the most (1995), and then they were less. However, after the Women’s World Cup, I feel that there are obviously more fans at home. To be honest, one-third of our audience at home are family members or friends, and there are very few fans who really come to watch the ball. " Beijing women’s football coach Yu Yun told reporters.
It is worth mentioning that on the same night of the women’s football match in Beijing, the Super League Beijing Guoan and Shanghai Shenhua started a focus battle, and the workers poured into 52,500 spectators, setting a record for domestic football matches this year.
At the Beijing women’s football scene, many fans wore Beijing Guoan jerseys to watch the game. After watching the women’s super match in the afternoon, they switched to the Super League in the evening.
A fan told reporters with emotion: "Fortunately, the time of the two games did not coincide, otherwise there would be fewer fans at home for the Beijing Women’s Football Team …"
Not only Beijing, but also Shanghai, Jinan and Wuhan, where the football atmosphere is relatively strong, are facing the same situation.
As of the 12th round, the average audience at home of the Women’s Super League was only 1273. In the most deserted sixth round, the average audience was only 672.
sparks of fire
The coldness of the women’s super league is not only due to the lack of attention from "competition fans", but also due to the lack of attention from all parties, competition promotion and competition quality.
Some fans said with emotion: "There is really too little publicity for the Women’s Super League. Sometimes I want to go to the scene to watch the Women’s Super League. I don’t know when there will be a competition or how to buy tickets."
Some fans also suggested: "The women’s super competition should be held in the stadium of the super team in the same city. On the one hand, the hardware conditions of the game are better, and more importantly, there are relatively many fans around the stadium, which can let more people know that there are women’s football teams and women’s super leagues in this city. "
At present, the female super league teams are seriously polarized. Wuhan Women’s Football Team, Shanghai Women’s Football Team, Changchun Women’s Football Team and Jiangsu Women’s Football Team, with the blessing of the national team players, formed a championship-fighting group with a fault advantage, and the other eight teams formed a relegation group.
As of the 12th round, the 5th Shandong women’s football team is 11 points away from the 4th Jiangsu women’s football team, but only 8 points higher than the bottom Henan women’s football team. As for the quality of league matches, it is uneven and generally slow.
Although the development of women’s super is not satisfactory, there are still persistent fans.
This season, Meng Xiang, born after 1980s, took his wife and daughter to watch most of the home games of Beijing women’s football team.
"There are more young players in the team this year. When I come to watch the game, I actually look at their growth and hard work on the court, not winning or losing. I think football in China is less utilitarian, and so are fans. Don’t just watch losing and winning. " Meng Xiang said.
Liu Han, born in the 1990s, entered the women’s super stadium for the first time after the Women’s World Cup. "The atmosphere was better than expected, the game was friendly and the players focused on playing football. Even if the game is not smooth, they will not send their grievances to teammates, opponents or referees. "
"I feel a little distressed, too. The players came by themselves to carry water and collect the ball. The team didn’t do these team tasks, and even the big screen on the spot was broken, but they deserved better conditions." She said.
The unique "sense of ceremony" of the women’s super stadium also made Liu Han very touched. After the game, the players will collectively bow to the coaches, referees and spectators in each stand and interact with the fans. These make her feel that she has no sense of distance from the players and is very grounded.
When talking about the persistence and support of the fans, Beijing women’s football coach Yu Yun was very moved.
"I think Beijing fans are really good. They don’t support if they win, but they don’t support if they lose. The team lost five consecutive games at home and didn’t score a goal. The pressure was very great, but I didn’t hear fans swearing at the players and calling me’ class’. They really supported the team from the heart. "
Do your own thing.
Although it is an old-fashioned women’s football club, the survival situation of Beijing women’s football is not optimistic. This season is their third season without sponsors. Yu Yun admits that at present, the living conditions of many women’s super teams are worse than theirs.
Faced with all kinds of difficulties, Beijing women’s football team has never given up "survival" in recent years. Yu Yun revealed that in the future, it may cooperate with a sports industry company, and the other party will conduct business development for the club.
On the competitive level, the Beijing women’s football team with low investment this season is mainly young players. Fortunately, due to the backing of Xiannongtan Sports School, the relatively complete women’s football youth training system here can provide talent support for the team.
Through competition opportunities, many players have grown. For example, Pan Hongyan, who is only 18 years old, was selected as the third goalkeeper in China Women’s World Cup. Wang Yanwen, who was selected for the China Women’s Football Team, recently returned from injury and has scored goals to help the Beijing Women’s Football Team win in two consecutive games.
"Like the men’s soccer team in China, we still want to do a good job in the league, and we still hope to take measures to make our league more exciting and of higher quality, and at the same time, we should better combine it with youth training and campus football. The national team is a face, but it is impossible to talk about it without the support of a high-level league. "
"Nowadays, many players are studying abroad to improve themselves on a high-level platform. Players studying abroad like Zhang Linyan, Shen Mengyu and Yang Lina have really improved significantly. This is the role of the league. Of course, we still have to walk on multiple legs. We can’t just rely on the women’s super league, nor can we all go overseas to study abroad, or we must combine the specific circumstances. " Yu Yun appealed.
Yuan Hang (a pseudonym), a domestic female football practitioner, told reporters that the operating cost of domestic women’s super clubs is not high at present. A strong team with 2-3 international players and foreign aid, the cost of the whole season is about 20-25 million. If you want to maintain a basic state of existence, it is enough to invest 10 million yuan every year.
China women’s football team stood at the forefront after the 1-6 defeat in England, which led to the elimination of the World Cup group stage. However, the foundation of domestic women’s football development is such that China women’s football is doomed to be at a loss in the great changes of the world women’s football pattern.
Yu Yun said frankly that the gap between all parties is obvious now. No matter who plays or coaches, it will not change much.
"Players, coaches, everyone still do their own thing, and the football decision-making level should also have a clear idea. Whether we walk fast or slow, we must always walk on the right path. Maybe there will be some deviations in the process, which can be corrected, but you can’t walk and start to go back. "
"The German women’s football team didn’t do well in this World Cup, and there may be a problem of concept, or we should develop football according to the original old ideas. But I believe that they will adjust, and then they will soon become the world’s top teams. I hope that we are the same. We can’t deny something right because of a game or one thing of the national team, or look farther. " Yu Yun said.
Regarding the development of women’s football in China, Yuan Hang said: "Now men’s football and women’s football in the world are becoming more and more assimilated. Not to mention England and Spain, many people may have disdained Portuguese women’s football in the past, but this time they participated in the World Cup for the first time and almost forced the traditional strong team American women’s football out in the group stage."
"So in the context of the changes in the world women’s football pattern, we can’t always emphasize the spirit and environment. Practitioners should first think about whether they have done professional things."
(Some interviewees are pseudonyms)
