Opinião – O Mundo É a Bola: Gender equality in football is something for generations

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One of the news that stood out (not very much) in the sports media in the run-up to the 2022 World Cup was the record breaking value of a transfer in women’s football.

To remove Keira Walsh, 25, from Manchester City, from the English national team, Barcelona paid £ 350,000 (R$ 2.21 million).

The fact, while registering a huge leap in the biggest transaction in women’s football – the previous one was £ 250,000, in 2020, when Chelsea bought Danish attacking midfielder Pernille Harder, now 30, from Wolfsburg – , again exposed the size of his abyss for men’s football, in financial terms.

With the £350,000 it paid to have the talented England midfielder in last year’s squad, Barcelona could afford just one week’s salary for Mohamed Salah, 30, Liverpool’s Egyptian striker. Seven days.

And Salah is not even the highest paid footballer. They earn more than him, for example, Haaland (Manchester City), De Gea (Manchester United) and the trio Neymar, Messi and Mbappé, all from Paris Saint-Germain.

Neymar, to remember, is still the holder of the highest value of a negotiation in football. In 2017, PSG paid €222 million (1.24 billion in current exchange rates) for him to leave Barcelona.

The difference is abysmal. With the amount paid by Neymar, it would be possible to buy Keira Walsh 560 times.

It is a difference that tends to be reduced, but very little by little, drop by drop, since women’s football is far too far from men’s football in terms of interest, sponsorship, ticket sales, merchandising, exposure in the media. .

Stars among them are not lacking, but they lack showcases, prestige, recognition, attention, investment, fame.

Did you know there’s a Women’s World Cup this year? (Yes, it does.) Do you know who the current champion is? And the biggest champion? (USA and USA.) Do you know any players from the Brazilian national team besides Marta? (There’s Debinha, who’s great.) Do you know how many times Marta was voted the best in the world? (Six, a record.)

The vast majority of people, even those who like football, cannot answer these questions, which are not that difficult.

Maybe when they find out who Keira Walsh is (did you know until you read this text?), her nationality, her position, which team she played for and started playing for, her achievements, and that she owns a little terrier dog, women’s football galgue a few steps faster.

Neymar, Messi, Haaland, Salah and other popular figures in men’s football… almost everyone knows where they play or played, how they play, what country they were born in, whether there will be a game in the local championship or in the Champions League to see them in action.

Everyone knows when there is a men’s Cup, who is the current champion, who has won the most times, who are the main players in the Brazilian team.

They know because it has always been talked about, and it is talked about regularly and frequently.

Gender equality is desirable and a goal to be achieved in all areas.

In football, however, it is a goal that appears to be unattainable in the short and even the medium term. Thing for some, perhaps many, generations.

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