The women's soccer World Cup has kicked off in France, in which Italy participates – without too many ambitions but with a good level of training – after a good 20 years of absence. The blues make their debut on Sunday at 13 against Australia and are inserted in group C together with Oceanica, Brazil and Jamaica: passing the shift should be within the reach of the girls led by Milena Bertolini. The novelty of this edition, in addition to the rediscovered presence of Italy, is that women's football has become a real trend.
For the first time, in Italy, the event is fully covered by Sky, which already from the beginning of this season has started to focus strongly on the "pink heels", broadcasting at least one women's Serie A championship game a week. However, there is not only the interest of TV, with ratings growing: the decisive match between Juventus and Fiorentina, last March, was played at the Allianz Stadium, which was sold out for the occasion, with 40.000 spectators (the previous record for a women's football match, dating back to 2008, was 14.000…).
The membership and investments of the Federation are also growing: the players today in the boot there are 23, double the number in five years it does even if still little in proportion to the European total, which sees 1,3 million members. In the 2017-2018 season, the FIGC invested 4,2 million euros: a figure still far from the 15,4 million of the British federation, just as the 30 million investment from FIFA remains far away - even if it is clearly increasing for the organization of the world exhibition, compared to the 400 million allocated for male colleagues in Russia 2018. One of the great themes of this World Cup, which turns the spotlight on a growing movement both in Italy and in the world, is precisely that of equality gender.
Women's football has recently entered the media limelight, but salaries are still very far from those of men. Brazil's number 10, Marta Vieira da Silva, is the highest paid soccer player with $500.000 a year (which becomes $1 million with sponsors). But all the others? A study published by FifPro, the world union of football players, has shown that one in three female footballers still has another job today and that the average salary, for 60% of them, does not exceed 600 dollars a month. Only 1% of female soccer players earn $8.000 a month or more.
