How many times have you encountered advertising spots about soccer directed to men only? It’s not just the ads; it’s the relegation of women to a second position in sports. Most women featured in Sports Illustrated don’t really make it because of their epic achievement of titles, medals and so on. Yet, men are portrayed as Olympic heroes with superhuman qualities, never-ending records and balances in their accounts that easily surpass that of the average person. Women, in contrast, are the pretty, flawless individuals with highly-valued modeling careers, but little sports experience, beside that of the eternal gym sessions.
Women can be as knowledgeable and skillful in sports as men. Just because these facts are not communicated in media very often doesn’t make them nonexistent. UNC’s Women’s Soccer Team has accumulated a very important collection of titles over the last couple of years; yet, it’s not advertised like UNC Men’s Basketball.
And it’s not true that women only watch soccer to admire the idealistic, athletic features of players like Cristiano Ronaldo or Fernando Torres. It’s hard not to admit that soccer players tend to be very handsome individuals, but it would be harder not to admit that what they do on the field resembles a kind of dynamic art, that may as well be accomplished by women if they are given the opportunity.
Women are highly misrepresented in sports; their leagues are not as widely known, supported or advertised as that of men’s. Even sports experts tend to be associated with the masculine gender. Sports’ anchors are also disproportionately represented by men.
It’s for this reason and many others that women’s knowledge of sports needs to be valued by the media. But, for women who find it hard to understand soccer, here is a quick how-to guide.
Leagues: The most popular, and highly competitive, soccer leagues in the world can be found in Europe. Among the most important are the leagues from Spain, Italy, Germany, France and, of course, England.
Although South Americans leagues are important, they are not as widely televised around the world. Yet, these leagues have provided many well-known soccer stars like Pele, Ronaldo (Not Cristiano Ronaldo), Maradona, Batistuta, etc.
The major soccer competition is the World Cup. It takes place every four years. The last World Cup took place last summer, and the hosting nation was South Africa. This was a very important event because it was the first time an African nation was selected to host the competition. Spain won the 2010 World Cup, and this was the first time that the Spanish team had won the title. The next World Cup will take place in Brazil, and many people already believe the Brazilian team will win the title.
Brazil is the country with the greatest number of World Cup titles, and its players are highly valued around the world. They are not only valued emotionally, but also economically because many of them get to sign multimillionaire contracts like Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, commonly known as Kaká, who according to www.goal.com was the third highest-paid footballer during the 2009-2010 season.
Although there are many leagues for women, they are not widely advertised. It’s important for women to demonstrate that they can become not only as knowledgeable as men in sports, but more so. This could result in widespread support for women athletes that would advance the development and recognition of women not only in soccer, but in other sports as well.
It is important for female athletes to become as recognized and valued as male athletes. Information about women’s leagues is scarce, which demonstrates that women are unable to compete with men in every single aspect, such as support, recognition, salary and prestige.