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For many years the United States have been at the very top of women’s football. The USA have won four out of eight World Cups and their domestic game has always been seen as one of the leading women’s leagues in the world.
Recently, however, Canada (winning the 2020 Olympics after beating America in the semi-final) and England (winning Euro 2022 and beating the USA in a friendly in October) have closed the gap. There is tough competition for the NWSL [the women’s league in the US] in regard to being the best and most viewed in the world with the Women’s Super League in England making great strides.
And now there is another competitor on the scene: Mexico’s and, in particular, Tigres UANL. Recently they announced their 2-0 win against América in the Apertura 2022 final second leg on 15 November had the largest TV audience for a women’s game in North America.
The audience, according to the club, was 2.88 million watching it on Mexican TV. The match also had more than 700,000 views on Facebook Live and, most importantly, more than 41,000 present at the stadium. It continues a trend as the club attracts a huge fanbase and with that has come success. The league title was their fifth and they have been in eight of the 10 finals in the competition’s history.
“It is like fulfilling a dream we had as children,” says the club captain, Liliana Mercado. She has been with Tigres since 2017 and has played 202 games in the yellow and blue shirt, the most games in the history of the team and the league. “Women’s football is here to stay. We are fortunate to be living in a time when it is possible to set these records in our country.”
How did Tigres do it? There is no single, simple answer – or a formula for others to follow – as a few factors have contributed. Their nickname is the Amazonas and over the past five years they have become intrinsically linked with the super hero Wonder Woman, herself an Amazonian and one of the most famous symbols of girl power there is.
This has developed into a two-year partnership between the Liga MX team and Warner Bros, part of how they are building their identity. “Each one of our players is a potential Wonder Woman,” says the club president, Mauricio Culebro.
Another strategy is to use the club’s already large fanbase on social media to promote their games and attract fans to the stadium. As Culebro says, they needed to give the female players an “equal environment” in relation to the men’s team to grow their game. “We give them the same presence as the men. We promote games in many ways and also use interactions between the men’s and women’s squads,” he says. “We need to remember that we have nine out of the 10 biggest attendances in Liga MX.”
The club have also been working on giving the Tigres Femenil squad a more international feel. The team is managed by the former Canada international Carmelina Moscato, who became the first foreign coach, as well as the first female coach, to win the league in her first year. “We have a young player called Mia Fishel from the United States, who preferred to come here rather than playing in the NWSL,” Culebro says.
“And we have Uchenna Kanu, a Nigeria international forward, who fits perfectly in the team, and Natalia Gaitán, the captain of the Colombia national team. That shows how attractive our league already is.”
In August, the club announced a partnership with Angel City FC to develop the women’s game in the US and Mexico and played a friendly against them, with the NWSL side winning 1-0. The goal is to strengthen the Tigres name in the US over the next few years. “We know that [the interest in women’s football] in the US is one of the strongest in the world. This is why we are moving closer – to learn from the best how to develop the women’s game,” Culebro says.
Tigres’ president also highlights the importance of choosing the right players and the best structure for his team. “When Liga MX Femenil started, Tigres built a competitive team to fight for the title and it inspired other teams to do the same,” he says. “Now, as a result, our league is stronger, more competitive and is part of the development of young players who are becoming professionals. Even our national team now has a majority of players from the league.”
Strengthening the women’s game in Mexico is the ultimate goal for the players. That is why the foundation of the team has not changed much over the past five years. “Early on Tigres put together a team with a solid foundation of players who are still important and have been for the first five years,” Mercado says.
Apart from Mercado, Belén Cruz, Fernanda Elizondo, Lizbeth Ovalle, Nancy Antonio, Natalia Villarreal, Nayeli Rangel and Ofelia Solís have been there from the start and are proud to see the fruition of their work. “It is important for us to know that people identify with this team”, she says. “There is no doubt that this squad is setting the tone for Mexican football.”
Talking points
#OneLove: Former England international Alex Scott gained much attention by wearing a OneLove armband during the BBC’s broadcast of the England men’s debut in the 2022 Qatar World Cup. The pundit stepped in after the FA and other federations decided not to wear the piece, fearing sporting sanctions from Fifa.
Primera Iberdrola: Barcelona returned from the international break scoring as many goals as they could against Alavés. The scoreboard showed an impressive 8-0 after the final whistle, which gives them high hopes for the game against Bayern Munich in the Women’s Champions League on Thursday.
Women’s Championship: Sheffield United smashed the previous Women’s Championship attendance record, with a crowd of 11,137 at their game against leaders London City Lionesses at Bramall Lane on Sunday – almost doubling the previous record of 5,752 set by Bristol City last season.
Quote of the week
“It’s unacceptable to wait for prolonged periods to see a gynaecologist in this country on the NHS. And I have to say this: if these conditions were suffered by a man, there would be zero chance you would be waiting for a prolonged period” – the Chelsea manager, Emma Hayes, on the state of women’s healthcare in the NHS after her emergency hysterectomy.
Recommended viewing
Check out this classy finish by Palmeiras’ Byanca Brasil in the derby against São Paulo. The forward took advantage of the goalkeeper’s position to score the winner and put her team into the semi-finals. It doesn’t get much better than that.
Got a question for our writers – or want to suggest a topic to cover? Get in touch by emailing moving.goalposts@theguardian.com or adding a comment below.
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