What does women’s football need to do to continue to grow at the pace it has in recent years?
Rachel Yankey, an undisputed England legend with 129 caps for the Lionesses, answers without a shred of doubt: England need to win a major tournament.
The national team’s staggering progress and rapid rise through the ranks has rightfully brought more investment, as well interest, to the women’s game. Reaching the semi-finals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015 and 2019 generated waves of support and enthusiasm, while establishing a professional, high-quality domestic game in the Women’s Super League (WSL) has bolstered the game further.
Speaking exclusively to UCFB as part of the LMA Insight Series, Yankey said: “It’s a big credit to how far we’ve come that teams are looking at us and saying ‘Do you know what? This England team, we want to keep playing against them because it’s some of the world’s best there.’”
England’s status amongst the global powers in women’s football may be well established, but in order to get more of the nation behind them they must fulfil one very simple, yet difficult, task – win a major trophy. The ultimate prize of world or European glory would, Yankey says, revolutionise the women’s game, and so victory would be of far greater importance than it ever could be for their male counterparts.
At age 8, Rachel Yankey began playing soccer on a boys team by shaving her head and pretending to be a boy named Ray. pic.twitter.com/SCHTO5l2t0
— Women's Soccer News (@wsoccernewss) August 4, 2015
Yankey said: “They have to win! Everybody who watches football might want to see a beautiful style of play, but people just remember you for winning. It’s got to the stage where you have to go on and win a tournament. I think they know that; we knew that when we were playing. We knew if we could win a tournament it would change so many people’s opinions, it would change the attention that the team would get, it would be easier to attract players.”
The 41-year-old added: “Unfortunately we didn’t manage to do that, but we all understood we had a part to play.”
With the UEFA Women’s European Championships set to take place next year, and the final being held at Wembley Stadium, the home of not just English football, but football itself, the tournament perhaps provides the perfect opportunity for the Lionesses to take advantage of home soil and strive to win a trophy that would, irrevocably, change the game in England forever.
