The fight for recognition: Why the U.S. women’s soccer team deserves more credit

By ZOYA ZWART, 2025

When you think of successful soccer in the U.S., you probably think of the women’s national soccer team. You probably don’t think of the lackluster U.S. Men’s National Team (USMNT), who have not been especially victorious.

While the USMNT has had some success in regional events such as the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Gold Cup, they have struggled in the World Cup. In reality, the USMNT has only made it past the Round of 16 once, in 2002 in South Korea and Japan.

On the other hand, the U.S. Women’s National Team (USWNT) has been consistently successful. They have won four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals. Yet they often receive less recognition than their male counterparts. I believe that the women’s team and all female soccer players deserve more credit for their achievements, hard work and grit that they put into the game. Nonetheless, some factors are holding them back.

One way that would help acknowledge female athletes’ accomplishments and efforts is equal pay, which is a critical step toward the growth of the game. Many countries such as England and Brazil announced their own equal pay agreements in 2020, while the U.S. only introduced it in 2022.

In the U.S., equal pay is implemented by splitting the prize money earned by the men’s and women’s teams. Teams collect prize money based on how far they advance in a competition, which has made a significant impact on the USWNT, whose prize money is far lower than the men’s. In fact, the USWNT only received $6 million in to- tal for winning back-to-back World Cups, whereas the men’s team received $13 million for reaching the knockout stages this past year.

Another main factor is the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), soccer’s governing body. Many of FIFA’s leaders, such as former FIFA President Sepp Blatter, are sexist. Blatter once stated that female players should “wear tighter shorts” to increase interest in the sport. His comment is just one example of how the international soccer community does not take female athletes seriously and easily objectifies them.

Furthermore, historically, there has been less investment in women’s sports. Women’s sports receive only 5% of media coverage, according to a recent study conducted by the University of Southern California and Purdue University. It is easy to excuse the lack of funding by stating that women generate less revenue, however, investment and revenue go hand in hand. Without investment in women’s sports, stereotypes will contin ue, and many people will stay closed off and not watch women play.

I have been watching and supporting the USWNT and female soccer around the world throughout my whole life. Recently I’ve no ticed a hostile attitude toward female soccer players, such as sexist comments, gender-based discrimination and harassment. I’ve been playing soccer since I was four years old, and I’ve seen a lot of hostility toward my abilities because of my gender. Female athletes face sexism in a variety of forms in sports that are sup- posed to empower us. article. “‘Shang-Chi’ is us reclaiming our culture. It says globally, culturally, this is a new tide of history.”

When viewing internet discussions, there is always someone bringing up reasons why women’s soccer will always be worse than men’s soccer. My favorite argument is the under-15 (U-15) boys’ team from Texas upsetting the USWNT in 2017. This argument is not only overused but is also told out of context.

The game was a scrimmage to aid the development of the young team. Most soccer federations do this to improve soccer around the country; these types of scrimmages are common. The loss then began to circulate on the internet. It became an obvious target for people with misogynistic views towards women’s soccer. While some may argue that men’s soccer is superior to women’s soccer due to viewership and revenue, it is critical to recognize and celebrate women’s sports achievements.

Women’s and men’s soccer are the same. They have the same rules, yet our culture and FIFA refuse to accept them as equals. The only difference is biological.

The gap between the men’s and women’s teams needs to be addressed on a social level, as well as on an institutional level through FIFA, and implementations of equal pay in other nations.

There is no rational reason to prefer men’s soccer over women’s soccer, and sexist stereotypes and out-of-context information about women’s athletic abilities are no longer acceptable. I hope that those of you who have been putting off watching women’s soccer will tune in this summer to watch the World Cup and see fantastic players compete for the ultimate trophy.

The plots, complexities and topics of the MCU used to be, simply put, cool. But that magic seems to have vanished, just as the original six Avengers did.

“Thor: Love and Thunder” seemed to be a measly attempt at recreating the fan-favorite “Thor: Ragnarok.” I haven’t even seen “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” but its 6.4/10 rating on IMDb, 47% score on Rotten Tomatoes and 48% score on Metacritic score don’t offer much hope. Numbers don’t tell the whole story, but they certainly provide a bit of insight.

Still, this won’t be the end of Marvel. While they aren’t typically predicted to win any Best Actor or Best Actress awards at the Oscars, they provide people with a sense of an action movie with heart. Marvel has it in them to do that, and they’ve proved that they can with the recent release of “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.”

Marvel certainly still has the potential to go back to the spark that once flowed through the original Avengers films. Even though I don’t look upon Marvel’s upcoming projects with as much enthusiasm as before, I still do pay attention. I guess I believe that Marvel’s spark hasn’t been fully snuffed out. Only time will tell.

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June 2023

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