I do not follow women's soccer/football so I was wondering if the UEFA will eventually come to dominate the women's game also. UEFA women champion league has bigger prize money than Copa Libertadores Feminina. UEFA winning team gets $250,000 pounds while Libertadores gets US $ 30,000 (2016 figure). I think it's just a question of time until the best players move to UEFA. Copa Libertadora Feminia has 12 teams. UEFA women champion league 59. I understand that US is the most accomplish team but are the US club teams the best? Concacaf doesn't have a women club competition so how can US fight against UEFA financial might? Just for comparison, CL winner gets 15.5 million euros and Libertadores (2018) will pay a cool US$ 6 million. There is no doubt that UEFA has the best team is male soccer. Can US keep this from happening in the women game? Would the rise of women club soccer signal the decline for USWNT (as the rest caches up and eventually surpasses the US due to more investment in development)
I'd say from looking on huge amounts of money invested now in Asia WoSo, it's more than possible that AFC will steal the show in few years time.
interesting, Asia wasn't in my radar at all. could you tell if they a regional club league/cup is in the works and if prize money is expected?
Take a look here Nothing for sure yet but seeing how effcient and active AFC is considering WoSo lately, my guess would be that this pilot competition will start within one year. No word on prize money for now.
Thanks for the link Hope they make a AFC women CL. But I still think UEFA might out spend and out invest the rest of the world combined... UEFA W CL has 59 teams in it and it is in a soccer heavy region if they make a cross sell between CL and W CL they can really up the investment in the women game. This should be very exciting time for the women game. The quality IMHO improved a lot and with regional club competition we should see more outstanding players being discovered and developed. Good time to be a fan of the game
Your original question comes with a lot of assumptions that probably aren't correct... as well as asks about something that doesn't make much sense to ask. What are you even defining "domination" to mean? If you're talking about USWNT vs other national teams, the question is a little skewed to begin with. You end the post asking if the "rise" in club soccer elsewhere means the end of seeing the USWNT at or near the top - expect that women's club soccer existed in UEFA for quite a long time, several league systems existing even before the USWNT program started up. UEFA being the top club scene in WoSo since ever hasn't stopped the USWNT from being a top national team. (Side note: UEFA doesn't "without question" have the best men's team in the world. CONMEBOL has something to say about that. Heck, Brazil is leading the men's Elo ratings right now.) In terms of the club scene, the US has always been playing catch-up to other nations in most senses. That said, for the decade of so of years that the US even had a professional club league, the US has generally been miles ahead of the majority of UEFA clubs financially. Yes, there are a handful of UEFA superclubs that can outspend NWSL teams, but that's a handful of clubs across many nations. Even as other clubs may start ramping up their programs, that ramp up is also happening in the US. On a per-club basis, I would be surprised if many leagues outstrip NWSL. And that's completley ignoring the larger budgets of NWSL's predecessors, WPS and especially WUSA. It's definitely hard to answer if the NWSL team are "the best" in the world thanks to the lack of international competition for them. However, just looking at rosters, it's safe to say that WUSA and WPS teams could fairly easily stake that claim. NWSL faces lower budgets than those other leagues and recently-bigger budgets from the likes of Lyon and Man City, but it's certainly possible to argue that the best NWSL clubs would be among the top ten globally. You're also conflating having a big international club competition with having financial might... the two are loosely related but don't immediately follow from each other. Yes, UEFA has a 59-team competition. That by itself hasn't helped to cause growth among the majority of UEFA leagues. Also, your first question of UEFA "coming to dominate" the women's game is a little off-kilter since UEFA already dominates the women's game. UEFA consistently has half of the Top Ten teams in the FIFA women's ranking. Aside from the US, UEFA has the next three top team in terms of performance at the WWC and at the OG. It's just that, in the women's game, there's only been one strong CONMEBOL nation, so instead of having a UEFA/CONMEBOL split at the top, you have a UEFA/USA-Brazil-AFC split
I believe club success do translate into national team success. Rich Clubs can maintain a world-class training, recruiting and development program. Brazilian clubs are struggling in this aspect due to our financial constrains. UEFA WCL started paying prize money in 2010 but it is still quite small compared to UEFA CL. My point was trying to understand what could happen in the women's game for both clubs and national teams if UEFA decides to invest in women soccer (really invest in prize money, TV deals etc). "(Side note: UEFA doesn't "without question" have the best men's team in the world. CONMEBOL has something to say about that. Heck, Brazil is leading the men's Elo ratings right now.)" I wish. When it comes to club soccer Conmebol can't compete with UEFA and this is impacting players development also. IMHO the world is financing Spanish, Germany, French and Italian development programs - We do not have anything close to the top European academies here in South America. We can still produce quality players because of culture, know-how and population but I really believe that in 10 years European system will leave us behind for good. "the US has always been playing catch-up to other nations in most senses." The secret of USWNT success, IMHO, was college soccer. College soccer is an organized large competition that develops quality players and since the global women's game wasn't professional you were head and shoulder in front of everyone else. But professional >>>>> amateur (that why the college connection don't don't work for USMNT) thus the recent development will have a huge impact in the future of the game. "It's definitely hard to answer if the NWSL team are "the best" in the world thanks to the lack of international competition for them. However, just looking at rosters, it's safe to say that WUSA and WPS teams could fairly easily stake that claim." Today, yes top 5 easily. But my point was to understand the forces in play today that will shape the game 10/15 years down the road. In the 80's and 90's Conmebol was on par, if not better, with UEFA. But UEFA was able to leave behind Conmebol financially. We were left behind. We went from rivals to a feeder league, in less than 10 years. Now days we just develop good players for Europe. We do not have the capacity to retain out best players. I was wondering if EUFA can do this to the women's game also. Regarding USWNT, i am a little bearish because: 1) can't rely any more on college soccer to develop or scout new players. 2) Lack of meaning full regional competition. - Anyway, we would be able to see if my fears regarding the women's game will pan out as I see it. It is a nice time to be a fan of the game.