The making of the Global Player Council: Part Two

In the last few days, seven European nations reached the Women’s World Cup quarter-finals. There are none from South America, Asia for Africa.

Argentina goalkeeper Garton is telling of her national team’s struggles to qualify for the World Cup against the odd in a country where Lionel Messi and his teammates on the men’s squad are treated like royalty.

"We received six U.S. dollars a day in allowances to prepare for the World Cup. We asked for eight dollars."

The other players shake their heads. “Eye-opening, mind boggling,” Kellond-Knight says.

"How are we ever going to get 50 or 100 top-level national teams when these girls are fighting for basic needs," the Australian ponders.

Garton, a sociologist raised in the United States, says women’s football has been set back for decades by machismo in Argentina.

"Until now, if a young girl had asked her parents to play football, the first response would be `no, because football is for boys’,” Garton says. As a result, there is no significant youth-team football infrastructure in the country.

Chilean footballers also have to work hard to break through gender bias in football, Pardo says.  

Gregorius, from New Zealand, agrees that the international game will only flourish if players in countries like these receive better conditions.

 "Until then, you're not going to get the optimal product,’’ she says.

These footballers are used to fighting for better conditions in their domestic countries, ranging from an extra $2 a day in Argentina to business class travel in New Zealand.

Joining the FIFPRO Global Player Council would elevate their hard work to an international level, the players agree.