The Official History of the FIFA Women's World Cup: The story of women's football from 1881 to the present

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Arsenal striker Russo, who had only scored once in four World Cup matches prior to Saturday's quarter-final, worked tirelessly out of possession, earning her opportunity when she pounced on a kind deflection to drill in England's second. Ahead of the final, several digital milestones were reached. Content views hit 3.2 billion on Fifa’s social and digital platforms. Fifa.com, FIFA+ and FIFA+’s free ad-supported streaming TV (FAST) Channels received 50 million visitors, representing a 130 per cent increase on France 2019. Greeting Spain's players as they received their World Cup winners' medals, he grabbed Jenni Hermoso by the head before forcibly planting a kiss on her lips, surrounded by cameras, the eyes of millions watching on. It could be seen as a missed commercial opportunity for the brand, given replicas of Earps' Manchester United kit, produced by Adidas, sold out last season.

Rapinoe, speaking to American magazine The Atlantic, said Rubiales' actions "signals such a deep level of misogyny and sexism in that federation", adding: "It made me think about how much we are required to endure. It was a similar story in other markets, such as co-host New Zealand, where betting brand TAB found that almost 15 per cent of bets were placed by women, compared to nine per cent in 2019. In the end, fans took matters in to their own hands, getting the fabric pens out and fashioning their own versions. They got through it really well and got the win over the line. That was what we were trying to do and fortunately we did that."

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The fact that the total attendance was up should come as no surprise given that this year’s Women’s World Cup was the first to be expanded from 24 to 32 teams, meaning there were an additional 12 matches.

Lionesses being ✨iconic✨ during the group stages 😂 #england #lionesses #FIFAWWC ♬ original sound – England It was another speech for which Infantino was criticised, with The Guardian columnist Marina Hyde external-link calling his words "patronising women beyond belief", BBC presenter Gabby Logan said the comments were "ridiculous and reductive", while commentator Jacqui Oatley called it "nonsense". external-link On the athlete front, Switzerland’s Alisha Lehmann topped Redtorch’s list with 18.9 million more engagements than the next closest player. Ahead of the Women’s World Cup, SponsorUnited had already ranked the 24-year-old as the most engaging women’s soccer player at the tournament. @england

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Two weeks before the 2011 World Cup began, Fifa issued its current gender recognition policies, which require teams to sign a declaration guaranteeing that players chosen for the World Cup are “of an appropriate gender”. Those rules state that: “It lies with each participating member association to … ensure the correct gender of all players by actively investigating any perceived deviation in secondary sex characteristic.” It will be the Lionesses' third straight World Cup semi-final after defeats by the USA in 2019 and Japan in 2015. Asked how it felt, Fischer said: “We had a very safe environment in the team. So it was probably the best environment to do it in. But it’s an extremely strange situation and overall not a comfortable way to do it.” This book offers a critical examination of the 2023 Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) Women’s World Cup, being held in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. Drawing on perspectives from sociology, history, political science, and management, it sheds new light on the development of women’s soccer and on women’s sport more broadly. Spain's tournament build-up was marked by unrest in the camp and player revolts but, despite a deserved maiden World Cup win, further negative attention came the nation's way because of the actions of the man at the top of their federation.

Obviously, there was no point at all in Spain winning the World Cup and England would have been far better at winning, had they actually won. But, the thing I have always found hard about English football is that English journalists are such poor losers. The minute an England team doesn’t win the World Cup, all of the superlatives which were heaped upon them in the early stages of the competition are rescinded and they become virtual pariahs. Let’s make an exception this time. All told, Fifa’s Women’s World Cup accounts now have a cumulative 8.3 million followers, which the governing body claims is the largest global community for women’s soccer and sport.

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While the Football Ferns exited at the group stages, the Matildas’ run to the last four fuelled bumper viewership in Australia, peaking at 11.15 million viewers for the semi-final defeat to England. The game drew an average audience of 7.2 million for FTA broadcaster Seven, which saw 18.6 million Australians watch its coverage of the tournament. In addition to being the most-watched TV programme in more than two decades, the semi-final was the most-streamed event ever in Australia with 957,000 viewers on the 7Plus streaming service. Spain are an excellent team. They quite evidently remained an excellent team even after they had been defeated by Japan. England are also an excellent team. They did something no other England team has done since 1966. Both of these statements can be true at the same time, because, unlike football, life is not a zero sum game.” For all the above, this was a tournament that brought an immense amount of hope and confidence that respect for women's football is actually headed in the right direction. Interestingly, the Women’s World Cup seemed to drive a significant increase in the number of female punters betting on women’s soccer. What kind of upside-down world are we in? On the biggest stage, where you should be celebrating, Jenni [Hermoso] has to be physically assaulted by this guy." The shirt saga and support for players Fans resorted to makeshift versions of Earps' shirt

But as Dr Ali Bowes - a lecturer in the sociology of women's sport at Nottingham Trent University - recently told BBC News , "sport is a microcosm of society". All-in-all, it was a positive performance to match a result which ensures England are just two matches away from glory. Sunak and Prince William's absences from Sunday's final were also notable. Climate impact explanations were raised, but many questioned external-link if the British Prime Minister and president of the Football Association would have missed a World Cup final if it had featured Gareth Southgate's men? Spain's kiss-gate and unwanted attention Pay-TV provider Optus Sport also reported the semi-final game was the fourth-highest rating programme ever on its streaming platform, just behind the Matildas’ quarter-final encounter against France in third.England have had to battle their way through the competition, needing 1-0 wins to creep past Haiti and Denmark in the group stages, before a penalty shootout victory over Nigeria in the last 16. Colombia, ranked 21 places lower than England, had already proven their worth in Australia, seeing off Euro 2022 finalists Germany in the group stages and progressing in style.