editor584, Author at CaliforniaQuakeFootball

Women’s American Football is growing worldwide

From June 24 to 30, in Langley, BC in Canada, a total of 270 women in six teams came together for the IFAF Women’s European Championship. They were all seeking to be crowned as the global top women’s football team. As expected, The United States team won the tournament, defeating Canada in the final.

In fact, out of the six teams, only Canada and the United States had realistic shots of being in the final game. Two more teams had considerable international experience which are Britain and Finland. In the 2015 IFAF European Championship The British had finished to them second while in the two previous Women’s World Championship the Finns had Australia finished third. The final two were unknown quantities for playing in their first international championship include Mexico and Australia which had garnered considerable publicity by securing the first woman to coach with an NFL team, Dr. Jenn Welter as their head coach, but Mexico was a total cipher.

United States has advantage in numbers

The USA also had advantage in home rules. The games were played under NCAA rules with 11-women-a-side. Many Canadian teams play with 12-women-a-side pre-snap motion allowed and a larger field, using CFL rules. DL Jasmin Collins, who on day 1 of the championship played her first football game against Canada, was the Player of the Game for the team’s last game against Finland. For the Australian teams, they have only nine teams with 7 or 9 players, that have been playing for just five years. Depending on where a woman plays for 19 British teams, 7-a-side teams played the regular season, 11-a-side teams drafted from the regular teams with the final Diamond Series contested. The Finnish women play more effectively internationally have transitioned from 7 or 9 players to 11-a-side despite having begun playing football in 2008.The Mexicans have only recently started play for women, but many of Mexican women play with 8 women teams in arenas.

Recruitment of the North Korea from the East Asia Football League

The world sports community was buzzed again after the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea decided to withdraw from an international women’s soccer tournament in December in South Korea.

The information was released by the Korea Football Association (KFA) on October 29, two weeks after Pyongyang hosted the second World Cup 2022 qualifier in an almost empty stadium and separated from the afterlife. Accordingly, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea decided to withdraw from the Women’s Football Championship of the East Asia Football Federation (EAFF) because it was held in the port city of Busan, South Korea.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was once a major force in women’s football in the region when it won the last 3 tournaments and currently ranks 9th in the world. “We have been informed by EAFF that North Korea will not be coming to Korea for the tournament. We do not know at this time why North Korea made that decision”, the KFA representative told AFP. This person also revealed that a similar notice was sent by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in September. Accordingly, the Taiwanese female recruit will replace the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to compete together with China, Japan and host South Korea.

The latest decision made by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea after a historic match with South Korea in Pyongyang in the second round of the 2022 World Cup on October 15 became a controversial topic. This is the first time that two men’s soccer teams from the two nations have met in Pyongyang due to the fact that the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and South Korea are still in a state of technical war.

In the match, Pyongyang did not allow home fans or visitors, nor foreign media to attend. The match was also not broadcast live despite the presence of FIFA President Gianni Infantino, one of the few spectators on the field of Kim Il-sung. After the match, Infantino said he was disappointed at the match and surprised because there were no fans and a lack of media coverage.

Facing fears of being separated from the outside world, the Asian Football Federation has also decided to transfer the AFC Cup 2019 final between Club 4.25 (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and Al Ahed (Lebanon) from Pyongyang to Malaysia takes place on January 4.

Earlier, Pyongyang’s nuclear talks with Washington were at a standstill and increased tensions on the Korean peninsula. However, public opinion in the world still hopes that the sports diplomacy between the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and South Korea can ease tensions between the two countries after the actions of establishing joint sports, together with marching under the uniform flag in the Winter Olympics, ASIAD last year.

FIFA decided to spend heavily on women’s football

FIFA has announced it will spend heavily when it decides to double the sponsorship for women’s football to $ 1 billion in the next 4 years after being approved by the council.

The decision was announced by FIFA President Gianni Infantino after a board meeting held in Shanghai (China) on October 24. This is seen as fulfilling the promise of the head of FIFA when he declared in June: “We need to be a little brave and a little daring if we want to take women’s football to a higher level”.

FIFA’s move has received a great response from world fans amid gender equality disputes in men’s and women’s football. The latest is a lawsuit by the American girls that require the federation to pay the income and meet the same training conditions as the male players. On October 23, nearly 200 Spanish women’s football players also announced they would strike to demand a raise and competition conditions. Therefore, with this investment, FIFA will need member federations and continental federations to address issues that may affect women’s football at the national level.

This “bold spending” of FIFA this time in the Forward 2.0 program aims at criteria such as organizing national women’s football tournament, regularly, lasting for 6 months and must have at least 10 teams competing. and played at least 90 matches; a national women’s team playing at least 4 official matches or friendlies in a calendar year; organize tournaments for women across the country, ensure standards, often at least two years old for women…

In fact, the decision was announced after the unexpected success of the 2019 women’s football World Cup in France in July. “More than a sports event, the FIFA World Cup 2019 is a cultural phenomenon that attracts many people. The media attention is bigger than ever and provides a platform for flourishing women’s football. Our breaking the goal of 1 billion viewers (across all platforms) shows the appeal of women’s matches and, in fact, if we promote and broadcast world-class football, even if played by men or women, fans will always want to watch”, FIFA President Infantino said about the success of this year’s women’s football World Cup.

The success that led to a major investment in FIFA women’s football will surely bring a lot of results when the salary, bonus, facilities, competition conditions will definitely be improved. The stature of the women’s soccer World Cup was also expanded when FIFA decided to increase from 24 to 32 competing teams at the event in 2023.

On this occasion, FIFA also approved that China will host the Club World Cup for the first time expanded to 24 teams from 2021. According to AFP, this is considered a push to help China towards its ambition to host the 2030 World Cup finals.

Great Britain Women’s American Football team hope for gold at the European Championship

The Great Britain Women’s American Football team is searching for a gold at this year’s European Championship next week in Leeds. Can Great Britain go one better than 2015 and gain a home-field victory with the home-field advantage?

When did the journey start?

The Great Britain Women’s American Football Team was formed at the early inception of Women’s American Football in the UK in 2013. The British Women took to the game quickly and came out on top against experienced opposition Sweden with a success in a 5-a-side international.

In 2014, the British women faced Sweden again in a full 11-a-side game this time and also get a win. Women’s Football in the UK was growing very quickly.

In 2015, they join the first time in International Tournament Football. The team went into the Tournament as the absolute underdogs inspite of putting in an impressive performance in winning their qualify over Russia.

In their first game of WEC 2015, Great Britain beat previous European Champions Germany, earned a Silver Medal and claimed second place behind a very dominant Finland side.

In the summer of 2017A they continued to finish second-place in the qualification of World Championship, and took a trip to Vancouver, Canada. They would be facing Finland in their very first game of the Tournament. Head Coach, Jim Messenger, and Great Britain Women make them the Number One Seeds in Europe by defeating the Fins at the very top of their game.

Sadly, in their match against Mexico, Great Britain fell short of securing a Bronze Medal and had to settle behind the North American teams for 4thplace.

At this year’s European Championship, Coach Messenger and his team will attempt to make up for the pain of missing out on a World Championship Medal and hope to convert Silver into Gold.

Lingerie Football League – the sexiest sport on the planet

Only launched in 2009 but “Lingerie Football League” (LFL), also known as the rugby league (American football) for women, promises to cover the globe as much as football and basketball.

This young sport has a very attractive feature to attract the audience that athletes will wear underwear when competing instead of bulky costumes. LFL is a strange sport, attractive from the way it was born.

From entertainment to sport

In America, baseball thrives. Super Bowl, the final of this sport annually brings the city hosting revenue to more than 500 million USD. Besides, it also attracts more than 100 million viewers (about 1/3 of the US population) sitting in front of television and is broadcast to more than 85 countries around the world.

LFL got the idea and came out of the Super Bowl. During the break during the Super Bowl matches, the girls dressed up as sexy, cheerleading girls playing with baseball balls caused a fever for TV viewers. That is one of the main reasons why the baseball game has a large number of viewers on the US television system.

LFL is a sport with a very special starting point

Mitch Mortaza – a person who has a great influence on American sports has just come up with the idea of turning this form of entertainment into a real sport. Instead of bulky clothes like male colleagues, female athletes will wear underwear when competing with protective equipment at the head, elbows, elbows …

Initially, the LFL had only 10 teams participating, but currently, there are 12 teams participating in the US tournament. Each team will have 14 athletes, including 7 defending players and 7 others attacking. The matches will take place in 2 halves of 17 minutes each. Unlike other tournaments, the LFL mostly takes place in the fall and winter. The teams will be divided into two areas, East and West, to compete with each other. The top two teams of the region will compete in the playoffs to win the championship. In the last two seasons, the champion team has been the Los Angeles Temptation.

Most of the LFL teams are led by famous former American baseball players. Most female athletes have solid athletic foundations. Many of them have experience playing professional or semi-professional sports at universities, mainly in baseball, basketball, softball, volleyball, tennis, and athletics.

Legend Football League – the hot tournament made men fascinated

Hot, strong and excited, these are the words used to describe the Legend Football League – a women’s football league.

The Legend Football League, formerly Lingerie Football League (LFL), is a women’s football tournament with a 7v7 format. This tournament was founded in 2009 by Mitchell S.Mitch Mortaza.

The matches are 35 minutes in length, inspired by the “Lingerie Bowl” – a match between fiery cheerleading cheerleaders, taking place during the halftime break of Super Bowl (American football championship match).

American football is seen as a cross between sport and entertainment. In the LFL, wearing undergarments is a must. Even the BTC tournament will be fined if the athlete wears discreet costumes when competing. However, to ensure the safety of the athletes, the protectors at the head, elbows, legs… are still necessary tools.

Initially, the tournament gathered 12 teams, but now it is reduced to only 7. In addition, the tournament is also held in Canada and Australia. In 2015, LFL Europe will be born with teams from Barcelona, Manchester, Frankfurt, Rhein and Dublin.

Having been born nearly 7 years but since then, Legend Football League has caused mixed reactions of public opinion. Many people think that the matches that bring women to the pastime of the Legend Football League are too sexy and vulgar, while the loyal fans of this tournament, mostly men, especially love the resolution.

In the Football league matches, the girls are not only tasked with dressing sexy standing burning eyes audience. They also rushed to each other to compete, fight and curse like male colleagues. Tactics such as swearing at referees, throwing beer in the middle of a match or tearing pants, taking off shirts are also included in the maximum level of nothing but the purpose to customers.

According to statistics in the US, there are no less than 1 million paid subscribers to watch the matches of the Legend Football League. Meanwhile, the number of spectators coming to the stadium to watch the football matches is always very high.

Many girls look forward to playing in the Legend Football League, but not everyone has that luck. The selection criteria of the clubs are clear, fast, strong and hot but must be amateur. The reason is that the Legend Football League does not allow clubs to recruit professional players who are playing in the American professional football league for women.

The best female football player in the world

It is true that when it comes to football in America, there is no man comparable to Mia Hamm.

The former 1972-born player holds the record for the most goals scored for the national team with 158 goals in 257 matches. Mia’s goals helped the US national team to win 2 world championships and 2 Olympic gold medals.

Football is not the King sport in America. In the 1990s, football was even lower in the land of the Goddess of Freedom, although in 1994, the United States was the host of the World Cup finals. But Mia Hamm has always been a hot spot for American media, both on and off the pitch.

In 1997, International Soccer Business voted Mia into the Top 40 most influential people in world football, Esquire Magazine put Mia in the Top 100 influential people in the world. Along with teammate Michelle Akers, Mia Hamm was also the only two female players Pele was voted into the list of “125 Greatest Players alive”. Even People in 1997 voted Mia Hamm into the Top 50 most beautiful beauties on the planet. People ‘s coercive and ridiculous vote also partly reflects Mia’ s great influence on football and, more broadly, in American society.

But Phil Knight’s evaluation of Mia Hamm is more than the same. Nike president Mia Hamm is on par with Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods, because they are both legendary icons, who opened a new trend in their sport.

Knight is not exaggerating, because since the mid-1990s, Mia has become the model of millions of young girls who love football and want to follow, including the famous junior like Alex Morgan, Hope Solo or Abby Wambach. The number of girls in American high schools playing soccer increased to nearly 10 million, exceeding the number of boys. Europe, where the most developed football in the world can not get the percentage of women playing football than men like in the United States.

Mia’s role in American football is like Michael Jordan of basketball and Tiger Woods of golf. But like other countries in the world, female players have not been recognized and invested on par with their male counterparts. So in every participating forum, Mia has always raised the flag of gender equality to fight for the rights of women in football and sports.

But not only exhortation but from the time of competition, namely in 1999, the American long-haired football legend founded a non-profit fund called the Mia Hamm Foundation. The purpose of this fund is to call for the whole society to help victims of marrow transplantation and invest, support young women to participate in training and sports.

Wang Shan story of Chinese women’s football queen (Part 5)

After the match, I signed with Gumi Sportstoto. In my first season playing in Korea, I was selected as the best player and also the soccer betting websites predicted so. At that time, I played for three teams at the same time: Chinese women’s team, Chinese youth team and Gumi club in Korea. I traveled endlessly between the two countries, participating in many trainings. At that time, I was so happy. I’m so busy that I forget all my past sorrows. I feel recognized, respected. Maybe I have some talent.

It is not good to wear a three-team shirt. The intensity of the competition made my body unbearable. I have left ankle fracture. I told the club not to operate because I didn’t want to recover alone for a long time. I couldn’t live in Korea for too long, while not knowing Korean. But Gumi signed me one more season and wanted me to go to the operating table. I have to accept, then spend time recovering alone. I felt so lonely and had to make important decisions on my own. The pictures at that time showed how sad I was.

Playing abroad is not easy, so I soon returned to China to play Dalian Quyen Kien. But playing football in Korea is not as difficult as moving to Europe. It happened when I joined Paris Saint-Germain in 2018. Arriving in France, I felt like a kid, starting to learn everything again. The whole world is upside down. Once again I have to leave home, say goodbye again.

China and France differ a lot, not only in food and language. In China, we do everything together. I always have family or teammates around to help. In Paris, after going to the training ground, I went home. It was like I went to work. People live much more independently.

Wang Shan story of Chinese women’s football queen (Part 4)

In January 2013, I was first called up to the national team, at the age of 17. I went to the training team to prepare for the Big Four tournament. At that time, I didn’t have any confidence. But, the coach still trusted me and said that the team needed a player like me.

I trained pretty well until the tournament. In the first match against Canada, I was a substitute. When the game had 30 minutes left and the score was 0-0, the coach told me to change into the pitch. I was so worried I almost resisted the order. “Don’t let me in the yard,” I thought. I bring anxiety to the field. I could only run and chase the ball, I couldn’t think of anything. I almost never touched the ball. 20 minutes later, I was replaced.

In football, being substituted and replaced is rare. That usually means the player has been a major disappointment. We lost 0-1. After the battle, I went back to the hotel to take a shower and take a nap. I was too ashamed. The only positive thing was that I didn’t have to tell my family about the match. But the whole family knew, when the match was broadcast on national radio. With a country as densely populated as China, many people will definitely see my performance.

But this time, no one criticized me. Actually everyone said to me that I should not worry because this is just the first match. The coach said he still trust me. A few months later, I and the Wuhan Club members were trained in Korea, preparing for the Chinese Games. I played so well that I caught the eye of a coach there. He wanted to sign contract with me. It is so interesting to be concerned by a foreign team.

Wang Shan story of Chinese women’s football queen (Part 3)

The timetable is terrible. We were awakened at 7 o’clock, had breakfast at 7:30 and started school at 8:00. After lunch and lunch break, we practiced until dinner. From 19:30 to 21:00, I only study. For six months, I repeated the schedule like that. Six months may not sound like a long time, but for me it’s a period.

I just want to play ball with a smile on my face. But that is not simple. Somehow, there are people who want to immerse me, saying that I can’t afford and smash my desire. Even the coaches do that. “That girl is unwise. She has no sense of position. She doesn’t even care about the ball,” they often say. They said I had no soccer talent, which made me almost believe that it was true.

Those words are not common in China. Parents and teachers often expect too much from children, but they never treat them like that. I think they only have an aversion to me. Even the two most important coaches thought I was like that, even though our relationship is now better. There was a teacher who discovered my gift when I was playing with the boys. But he always said that I didn’t know how to use my mind when playing football.

The other one is the teacher who coaches my second level team. He was the most demanding. When I was 13, I played a pretty good game and hoped to be praised when I left the field. But, he repeatedly criticized, making me unjust. That night, I could only cry because of hurt. A teammate spotted my mood and told the teacher. He seemed anxious and looked for me shortly afterwards and said: “It’s really nice to play that game.”

I always have to think about negative comments, and doubt myself. But they just want me to continue to strive and prove my ability.