History of women's soccer

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Unfortunately I can't start a discussion with you about the history of women's soccer without relating it to men's soccer. When thinking about soccer, our first thought rushes towards, let's face it, men's soccer.

Women's soccer, although having a huge popularity in the last decades of the 20th century and today, was always shadowed by the men's soccer, but the ladies are determined to change this and come to equal standards with the boys.

The way things are moving currently, it's not impossible that this will someday happen as it's already close to happening in other sports such as handball, volleyball and tennis.

But before going into details on what's currently happening in women's soccer and what's going to happen in the near future, let's take a look inside the history of women's soccer and find out where and when it was born as well as meeting some of the legendary ladies.

The first written document related to the history of soccer can be found in a 300 BC Chinese war manual, used by men to familiarize themselves with their ancient version of the sport, which included kicking a ball (made out of pig bladders or stuffed leather) through a hole in a cloth tied up between two poles.

Although there's no proof that women played this sport as well, there is a clear reference to this that is often used as the start-point of the history of women's soccer.

The reference is depicted in a Han Dynasty fresco believed to be created around 200 CE, which clearly shows two female figures playing with what is believed to be a leather ball.

Reports of women playing soccer during the Middle Ages are not as common as those referring to men; however there are a few famous examples in the history of women's soccer: French women of the 12th century are believed to having played kicking games relating to soccer side by side with their husbands and Scottish women even had an annual competition going around in Mid-Lothian, Scotland.

The USA women's soccer Team 2007 © Photo by wjarrettc-flickr.comOne of the biggest problems in the history of women's soccer was that the sport was often violent, especially when played without a clear set of rules. Even today, with all the rulings and fair-play agreements going around, soccer is still not a sport for the weak.

This often made it difficult for women to play, as men would "protect" them by not allowing them to get involved.

It changed in 1863, when the English Football Association standardized a set of rules that prohibited violence on the pitch, making it easier for women to get into soccer.

With the dust settling after the Football Association's decision, women's soccer became more and more popular and at some point, it was closing in to reaching the same level as men's soccer in England.

One women's soccer match drew a crowd of 53,000, which sparked the hurt egos of the men-driven Football Association, banning women's soccer from their pitches (and since most of the pitches in England were under the FA's watch at that time, this basically meant Hasta la vista to women's soccer).

Shortly after, the Scottish Football Association did the same. It was only in 1971 that the ban was lifted and women could play on the same pitches as men.

Today, most women's soccer teams tend to professionalize and the development is compared to what happened in late 19th century with English men soccer teams.

Many rushed to state that women's soccer is 1 century behind men's soccer; however the recently organized women's soccer World Cups showed a lot of skilled players and drew important crowds.

Here are a couple of legendary soccer players that sparked up the entire women's world cup history:

Birgit Prinz – elected FIFA Women's World Player of the Year in 2003, 2004 and 2005, Birgit Prinz is what you would call a walking legend. Playing as center forward in the German National team and for 1. FFC Frankfurt, she is regarded as one of the most important women in all-times soccer.

Birgit Prinz even received an offer from Luciano Gaucci, the president of AC Perugia to sign for her squad and to become the first woman playing in a professional men's league (and not any league, but Serie A!) however she declined the offer.

Mia Hamm – Being one of the most productive strikers in the history of the American women's soccer team, Mia Hamm became a spokesperson and representative for women's sports all over the World.

Having 2 FIFA World Player of the Year awards under her belt (in 2001 and 2002) Mia Hamm has retired and became a successful writer, with a major title called "Go For the Goal: A Champion's Guide to Winning in Soccer and Life".

An interesting fact about Mia Hamm is that her name is already engraved in bold in the history of women's soccer as the player to have scored the most international goals during her career.

Marta Vieira da Silva – as you know Football is a religion in Brazil and women there are quite religious it seems. Marta Vieira de Silva took up the beautiful sport at an early age and was quickly spotted as a great talent.

She currently plays for Umea IK in Sweden and has several achievements with both the club and the National Brazilian Women's team. Being only 21 and already having so many achievements, Marta is regarded as a potential page-turner in the history of women's soccer.

Shannon Boxx – Although not having such a flashy career as some of her colleagues from the American National Team, Shannon Boxx was well respected for her commandership on the pitch and for her ability to be decisive at exactly the needed moment (a Zinedine Zidane of women’s soccer if you will).

Although playing defensive midfielder, Shannon Boxx managed to score in many games and led her team to a rampaging 2004 Olympics campaign, in which she won the gold medal. She went down in the history of women's soccer as the first player ever to score in all first 3 international games.