The Spanish fans rejoice with the victory in the World Cup

In the last seconds of the game, Ona Sánchez could not stay still. Then, when the referee finally blew the whistle to confirm that Spain had won the Women’s World Cup, she and the crowd around her: girls, boys, parents and other fans who had gathered to watch the match in Sant Pere de Ribes , near Barcelona. He burst into cheers.

“Champions! Champions! Ole Ole ole!” Ona and her friend Laura Solorzano, both 11 years old and dressed together in a Spanish flag, sang in the small town’s cobbled central plaza as other supporters threw water from a nearby fountain. The two friends, both players for a local soccer club, said they couldn’t hope for a better ending.

“It was the first time I saw a World Cup,” Ona said, emerging from a group of dancing children. “And we won! I’m so happy! It fills me with hope.”

Spain’s first Women’s World Cup victory and England’s run to the final were not only formidable achievements for teams that have become perennial title contenders in just a few years. They were also an empowering message to the many girls in both countries who are increasingly taking up the sport: women too can lift a nation to the top of world football.

The final has reflected the growing interest and investment in women’s football in Spain and England, with more and more girls joining clubs and leagues that are growing in size and professionalism, a profound change in countries where football was long the domain. exclusive to all-powerful men. teams, and one that is likely to pick up speed after this year’s World Cup.

“The perception of women’s football has changed,” said Dolors Ribalta Alcalde, a specialist in women’s sports at Barcelona’s Ramon Llull University. “Now it looks like a real and exciting opportunity for girls. This World Cup, with its high profile, will have an impact on how people view women’s football. It will help take a big step forward.”

In England, the mood was gloomier as the national team’s hopes of continuing their European Championship victory were dashed. Even so, professional and recreational leagues have seen an increase in interest from women and girls in recent years, in a nation that has been considered the spiritual home of the game. The Lionesses’ advancement to the final has only fueled that optimism.

“It’s a catalyst for change,” said Shani Glover, equal play ambassador for the London Football Association, which has pledged to encourage women and girls to play both professionally and recreationally. As an advocate for that change, Ms Glover said she had seen a growing interest in girls taking up the sport, particularly after England’s victory at the European Championships. “Having women center stage changes the mindset of the public,” she said.

“If it was like before, I wouldn’t feel motivated; it was quite isolated,” said Cerys Davies, 15, as she watched the final from an east London community center. Cerys trains several times a week at a soccer academy focused on giving underprivileged players a path to elite careers. “It’s good that women get the recognition and support they need,” she said, adding that she was encouraged to see the crowd in the stadium for the final. “It lets me know that I will receive support,” she said.

In Sant Pere de Ribes, the residents did not have to wait for this year’s World Cup to benefit from the new focus on women’s football.

Aitana Bonmatí, the Spanish star midfielder who was named the tournament’s best player, grew up in the city and played for the local youth soccer club for several years. As Ms. Bonmatí achieved success, many girls took up soccer in hopes of following in her footsteps.

“Our club has grown a lot,” said Tino Herrero Cervera, the club’s manager, noting that the number of girls’ teams has increased from one to 10 since 2014. Girls now make up a third of the club’s players.

“Seeing Aitana become a great player motivates me,” said Laura, who also wants to become a soccer professional. Her team won a junior league championship this year with a 14-point lead over the runner-up.

“They are the next Aitana,” Herrero said of Laura and Ona, smiling. He added that the high caliber of the girls’ play had helped the club move up the league table. “It’s simple,” he said, “we want more girls to play.”

That has not always been the case. Dr. Ribalta, the sports academic, also oversees women’s soccer at Espanyol, a professional club in Barcelona, ​​where she previously played for more than a decade. “A girl playing soccer used to be a trauma for the family,” she said.

He said that until recently, the players were sometimes insulted on the pitch and denied access to proper training equipment and professional coaches, and had to reconcile their sporting ambitions with the inability to earn a living from football.

And many Spaniards saw shades of the sexism that has plagued the women’s team when Spanish soccer federation president Luis Rubiales planted kisses—including one on the lips—forward Jennifer Hermoso during the medal ceremony. after the team’s win over England. .

Women’s football teams were long ignored, if not outright banned, as was the case in England in 1921. The country’s Football Association was alarmed at the popularity of the women’s games, which had gained a following while the men’s league was discontinued during World War I. The ban was in effect for 50 years.

In Spain, the women’s national team long lacked elite training facilities and even jerseys designed for women. It only reached its first Women’s World Cup in 2015, under a longtime coach infamous for dismissing players as “little girls” or immature children.

The change occurred only in recent years. England created a professional domestic league for women in 2018, and Spain followed suit three years later. Corporate sponsors flocked, and elite women’s clubs like Arsenal and Barcelona Femení began to attract more attention. The Barcelona team won two of the last three editions of the Women’s Champions League.

That trend is trickling down to smaller and amateur leagues, as well as younger players. In England, the number of teams playing in a women’s league at Hackney Marshes, a famous recreational football ground in east London, has increased from 26 to 44 teams in one season. In Spain, the number of registered players has more than doubled since 2015, reaching almost 90,000 today.

That’s still a long way off from the hundreds of thousands of men who play in both countries. But many are convinced that this year’s World Cup will inspire more girls to play soccer and join talented youth teams, a pathway to women’s national teams.

“Many girls have seen these players on giant screens for several weeks and have followed them on social media,” said Soraya Chaoui López, founder of the Women’s Soccer School in Barcelona, ​​an academy she started in 2017 to help girls to play soccer and promote the role of women in sport. “They are references that they will listen to and imitate. Now they can look forward to becoming professional players.”

Looking at the Lionesses’ faces on screen in London, 14-year-old Destiny Richardson said: “Even if we come in second, it’s still good.”

She added that she was inspired as a player, saying, “You want to be there one day.”

In London, a rare young player elated by victory was 9-year-old Mariam Vásquez, who cheered as Spain triumphed, in honor of her family’s Spanish team.

“I am so happy to be with her to see it,” said her mother, Hind Aisha, adding that the whole family was supporting Mariam’s football dreams. “I’m very proud, it’s a women’s game.”