Few things better sum up the essence of football than a packed stadium. The weekend showed this with the decisions of the state teams pulsing in the rhythm of the fans – after two years of empty stands due to the pandemic, stadiums like Maracanã, Allianz Parque, Mineirão, Arena do Grêmio and Castelão had beautiful parties that make us remember why football is so passionate.
Scenes like this are still a little rare in women’s football. These are spaces that have always been denied to them throughout history. It wasn’t just by law that women were barred from playing football. Over the decades without a ban, they’ve managed to undermine every way their game develops.
It was like that for a long time, until almost yesterday, I would say. But the women did not give up. And what was seen at the Camp Nou last week was the symbol of decades-old resistance to show that, yes, a stadium for almost 100,000 people could be theirs too.
Barcelona, which today is the best team in the world among women, has prepared the ground over the last few years to conquer the historic mark that came on the last March 30, 2022.
It was in this “El Clásico”, with a spot in the semi-finals of the women’s Champions League, that Barcelona understood they could make history. He announced that the match would take place at Camp Nou – the women’s team usually plays at Johan Cruyff, a stadium for 6,000 people – and sold all the tickets for the match in a few days.
The game against Real Madrid started electric in the stands. The crowd put on a show worthy of the Champions League (men’s). Everything they have in their game they have in this game. Mosaic, shouts of “Barça, Barça”, exaltation to the team (and especially to the main player, Alexia Putellas, who had her name shouted out a few times). Striker Jenni Hermoso summed it up: “I felt like a real player.”
There were 91,553 people that night at Camp Nou. The largest audience in the history of women’s football in matches held between clubs. And those who went to the stadium saw a game, which ended 5-2 for the hosts.
Best of all is knowing that this audience is no longer an isolated case. In games in England, teams like Chelsea, for example, have also been loyal to their fans in women’s games. Here in Brazil, unfortunately, there is still a need for stronger work by the shirt clubs to engage the fans with the women’s teams as well. Of all, Corinthians is the one that sets the best example – no wonder it is the team that holds the attendance records.
Of the nine clubs in the first division of the Brazilian women’s team, seven have already created exclusive social networks to disseminate information about the women’s team (only Grêmio and Flamengo are missing). Six have already sent women’s games at the club’s main stadium in the national competition (except for Grêmio, Flamengo and Cruzeiro).
These are silly examples, but they help fans get information about women’s football and attend games. You don’t have to send all the matches in the big stadiums, but creating a strategy to put some of the most important matches in them would help to engage the fans.
Corinthians does this very well. Galo set a good example by placing Atlético x Corinthians in Independência. This Monday (4th), for the first time there will be a classic from Minas Gerais in the women’s first division, but the game with Cruzeiro will be at Sesc Alterosas, much further away and difficult for fans to access.
Barcelona show that they can do better. The packed Camp Nou had football at its finest. This one has no gender.
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