Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
The 1971 tournament was organised by Mexican businessmen who wanted to make more money out of the new stadiums built for the men’s World Cup the previous year; but fans flocked to the games to passionately cheer on the players. The archive footage from the tournament is astonishing, but the most poignant moments of the film come at the end, showing the women who took part in 1971 watching women’s football games today, in stadiums and on TV. The catharsis is evident. When they arrived home from playing in front of thousands, they were greeted with nothing – no fanfare, no celebration, no prize money. Just silence, mockery and, in England’s case, handed suspensions for playing football altogether.
“Today women can have the space we didn’t have,” says Mexico’s Elvira Aracén, and women’s football has benefited greatly from that space. As we turn our attention to the new season, we should acknowledge the women who came before. They may not have been celebrated in their time, but as the growth of the game today shows, they certainly paved the way.
Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
The 1971 tournament was organised by Mexican businessmen who wanted to make more money out of the new stadiums built for the men’s World Cup the previous year; but fans flocked to the games to passionately cheer on the players. The archive footage from the tournament is astonishing, but the most poignant moments of the film come at the end, showing the women who took part in 1971 watching women’s football games today, in stadiums and on TV. The catharsis is evident. When they arrived home from playing in front of thousands, they were greeted with nothing – no fanfare, no celebration, no prize money. Just silence, mockery and, in England’s case, handed suspensions for playing football altogether.
“Today women can have the space we didn’t have,” says Mexico’s Elvira Aracén, and women’s football has benefited greatly from that space. As we turn our attention to the new season, we should acknowledge the women who came before. They may not have been celebrated in their time, but as the growth of the game today shows, they certainly paved the way.
Women’s football is the fastest-growing sport in the world, with attendances in the Women’s Champions League each year surpassing the previous. Since 2018/19, the average attendance at Women’s Champions League games has doubled, and last season there were more record crowds, including for the final between Barcelona and Lyon in Bilbao. Given this record growth, you can’t help but wonder where the sport would be today had it received the backing a group of pioneering players deserved following a groundbreaking tournament in Mexico 53 years ago.
Towards the end of the documentary Copa 71, Argentinian Elba Selva chokes up as she reflects on the direction modern women’s football has taken. “Nowadays, girls can play freely…” she remarks, before her voice trails off and her eyes fill with tears. Selva is one of the extraordinary women profiled in Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine’s 2023 documentary which tells the story of the 1971 unofficial Women’s World Cup held in Mexico. The event drew record crowds – the final between Denmark and Mexico, played at the iconic Azteca Stadium, is still the highest-attended women’s sporting event in history with 112,500 spectators – but was largely written out of the history books, as women’s football itself generally was at that time, for it was an era in which it was illegal in Italy and Brazil, and banned or actively discouraged in most other countries.
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