Do you watch women’s soccer? Our advice is to start now, lest you be branded a glory hunter later. Women’s league matches in England, Germany, Spain and France regularly draw between 5,000 and 15,000 fans and teenage girls dream of following the path of Marta and Alexia Putellas. Therefore, before International Women’s Day, the global Betting provider 1xBet decided to tell the stories about the sportswomen who won the hearts of the fans and revolutionized the world of football.
Alexia Putellas: Captain who inspires girls
The “Best FIFA” award ceremony was recently held in Paris. Barcelona players dominated the list of winners: Leo Messi became the player of the year in men’s football and Alexia Putellas – in women’s football. This is her second award after the Golden Ball.
Alexia was born in Mollet del Vallès, a small town in the Barcelona metropolitan area. Initially her career didn’t look like a yellow brick path – after a season at Barça Cantera the club’s management decided that the 12-year-old’s game was not up to the Blaugranes level, so she joined Espanyol. Alexia didn’t give up and made her debut for the Budgies’ main women’s team at 16. A few seasons later, her performance reminded Barça coaches of the rejected girl, and in July 2012, Alexia was signed to a long-term contract.
Putellas plays as a midfielder but that doesn’t stop her from being the second-top goalscorer in the history of the Blaugranes women’s team and the fourth player at Barcelona in terms of the number of games played. Like Messi, she is left-handed and shoots free-kicks and penalties well. In addition, Alexia can fight for a high ball and scores with headers. As part of the Catalan club, she won the Champions League, Spanish Championship and Queen’s Cup. Alexia also has an impressive personal awards collection: two years in a row (2021 and 2022) she became the Golden Ball owner, FIFA Female Player of the Year and UEFA Female Player of the Season.
According to the voting result, she became the first African footballer to be nominated for the Golden Ball, ahead of teammate Asisat Oshoala.
Fifteen years ago girls wanted to play like Beckham and Ronaldinho and their kid-sized t-shirts were the best-selling ones in club stores, but now children are increasingly asking for t-shirts by Alexia Putellas and Asisat Oshoala. Who said football is only for men?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oecn7YJZ0Dc
Wendie Renard: Legend Born at the End of the World
At the FIFA ceremony, the symbolic women’s team of 2022 was defined, in which Wendie Renard, the famous football player of the French national team and one of the best defenders in the world, finds a place. She stands out on the field for her sure play and her 187 centimeters height, which makes it simply impossible to overlook her. The Frenchwoman is often compared to Liverpool’s Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk – their style of play is very similar indeed.
Wendie’s home is “The World’s End” – a town of Scholcher in Martinique, France. Girls rarely played football there, but Wendie differed from others in her assertiveness. A simple passion quickly turned into a profession, and by the age of 16 she was playing in front of thousands of fans for France’s Lyon, where the girl became a regular two years later.
With Lyon, Renard was French champion 15 times, won 9 national cups and won the Champions League trophy 8 times. An incredible game allowed her to become captain of the France national team and for 13 years Wendie made 142 appearances at Les Bleus. She’s a legend, that’s it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaqqZORGjRU
Alex Morgan: Soccer loving author
Alex is one of the most interesting figures in women’s football and in the USA only players like Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey can match her popularity. But unlike the men, Alex won many European trophies.
Morgan spent her childhood in Diamond Bar, a town in eastern Los Angeles County. There she played soccer, baseball and basketball, but finally decided to play soccer when she was 14.
Playing as a centre-forward, Morgan has high pace, excellent technique and a rare ability to play both feet equally well. These advantages helped her win the Olympics and World Cup as part of the US national team. After moving to Lyon, she found success in European club football, winning the Champions League and the French league and cup.
Alex is also known as a children’s book author and the author of The Kicks book series. There she tells the story of four American girls who play soccer and dream of being successful in the millions’ favorite game. Morgan stated her goal was to get American schoolgirls interested in playing soccer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iCjhYdwua0
Sam Kerr: Australians with a gold contract
At the end of 2022, EA Sports showed the cover of the new edition of FIFA 23. Along with PSG player Kylian Mbappe, it features Australian soccer player Samantha Kerr from Chelsea, who became the first woman to land on the FIFA cover.
Sam is one of Australia’s top sports stars. She is the first Australian player to be nominated among the top 3 Golden Ball nominees and ranked among the top 3 best players in the world according to FIFA. In general, Sam is the icon of Australian football, GOAT and so on.
Born in Fremantle, Australia, Samantha spent most of her football career in Australia and the United States before moving to Chelsea in 2019 aged 26. Kerr scored 20 goals last season in England’s Women’s Super League and finished as the league’s top scorer for the second straight season. She also won three league titles with Chelsea and her goal in the FA Cup final gave the London club victory over Manchester City and another trophy.
Sam Kerr is the highest-paid player in women’s soccer, her annual salary is more than 500,000 euros. Impressive numbers, right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IcJ4Yg_L6Cw
Martha: Pele in skirts
We say – women’s football, we mean – Marta! We say – the Brazilian women’s team, we mean – Marta!
Originally from humble Dois-Riachos (a state in eastern Brazil), the woman began her European career at the age of 18 in Umea, Sweden. In her first five seasons in Scandinavia, the forward scored 112 goals in the national championship, won 4 Swedish championships and reached the final of the most important women’s Eurocup at the time – the UEFA Cup 3 times.
In 2019, Marta achieved a historic feat. She was the first player to score in five World Cups – 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019. Thanks to goals against the national teams of Australia and Italy, the Brazilian overtook first Ronaldo and then Miroslav Klose and became the most productive player (17 goals) in the history of the men’s and women’s world championships.
Only two players in the world have been in the TOP-3 of the best players of the year for 11 (!) years in a row: Lionel Messi (2007-2017) and Marta Vieira (2004-2014). But if Leo and Cristiano have “only five” first places, then the Brazilian has six of them. No wonder she earned the nickname “Pele in skirts.”
Martha is already 37 years old. A few weeks ago, she returned to the field as a substitute after suffering a serious injury during the Brazil-Japan match in the Shehebelieves Cup. And what? It only took her four minutes to assist Debinha, who scored the only goal of the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npr3H96U-A0
In our world, women who want to play sports professionally have to overcome stereotypes and fight for their rights. Twenty years ago it was inconceivable that women’s team matches would attract a large audience, the biggest sports media would write about them, and at the end of the year the world’s best female footballer would be awarded the Golden Ball – on the same stage and in the same hall with the best male player. Luckily, the sport has changed and we believe it’s a change for the better – after all, hundreds of thousands of girls have been able to follow their dreams. Therefore a reliable one Bookmaker 1xBet supports women’s sport, equal opportunities regardless of gender and is proud of the outstanding achievements of female athletes.
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