Women's football
Women’s football continued to develop on and off the pitch, and in all corners of the world in 2022, in line with The Vision 2020-2023, as set out by FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Six confederations stage continental championships
As the countdown to the FIFA Women’s World Cup™ continued, it was an important year for women’s international football with UEFA, Concacaf, CONMEBOL, CAF, the AFC and the OFC all staging their continental championships – with all but UEFA’s competition acting as qualification mechanisms for the 32-team tournament in July and August 2023.
England hosted and won the UEFA Women’s EURO 2022, beating Germany 2-1 after extra time in the final. China PR were triumphant in India, winning their ninth AFC Women’s Asian Cup. Morocco became the first Arab nation to host the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations and also reached the final, which South Africa won 2-1, claiming their first title.
The Concacaf W Championship, hosted by Mexico, was won by the USA who beat Canada 1-0 in the final. Brazil claimed the Copa América Femenina for the eighth time after overcoming hosts Colombia in the final, also with a 1-0 scoreline. Papua New Guinea clinched the OFC Women’s Nations Cup for the first time with a 2-1 win over hosts Fiji in the final.
The tournaments also acted as qualifiers for the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™, except in Europe where UEFA organised a separate World Cup qualifying competition.
Ground-breaking club licensing guide published
Club licensing is one of the most effective ways of raising standards and developing strong domestic leagues where women can play in a competitive professional environment.
With this in mind, FIFA published it's first-ever Guide to Club Licensing in Women's Football. This is a practical tool which will help member associations to implement club licensing for women's football competitions and will contribute to the professionalisation and development of the women's game at club level around the world.
Women in football leadership
Football as a whole benefits from greater representation of women at senior level because it can draw on many more valuable perspectives, experiences and backgrounds, with a view to being as inclusive and diverse as possible worldwide.
Thirty-two women from around the world took part in the third edition of the Women in Football Leadership Programme in Lausanne, a joint initiative with UEFA and the IMD Business School. The participants received leadership training and one-to-one coaching, empowering them through role play, harnessing and developing their sense of self-awareness, and creating a strong global network of like-minded people.
In addition, there were also plenty of real-life examples of how women’s football is growing around the world.
Saudi Arabia staged its first-ever nationwide women’s championship, with 16 teams taking part. The teams were divided into three regional groups, with eight teams qualifying for a knockout competition in Jeddah.
“I hope that women’s football will move forward in Saudi Arabia in general, and that women will be able to play football abroad, just like the men's teams.”
In another first, Saudi Arabia also played a women’s international match for the first time, beating the Seychelles 2-0 in a friendly played in the Maldives.
Women’s football in Sierra Leone entered an exciting new era as the country’s Women’s Premier League kicked off in October. For the first time, the African nation’s top 12 women’s teams are facing each other home and away and fighting it out for the title.
Paraguay opened a state-of-the-art high-performance centre built exclusively for women’s national teams, with help from the FIFA Forward Programme and CONMEBOL’s Evolución Programme.
The Centro de Alto Rendimiento del Fútbol Femenino features two sets of accommodation, one for the senior women’s national team and one for youth national teams, plus seven pitches, media facilities, a gymnasium and stands for spectators.
“This marks a before and an after for women’s football in our country.”