It’s really sad to see the disputes in the Spanish, Canadian and French national teams unfold.
I speak to a lot of the players involved quite often, particularly France captain Wendie Renard and Spain star Alexia Putellas, and try to give advice when I can.
All the players are fighting for something they’re passionate about, but really they just want to play football. They’re tired of fighting.
Wendie and Alexia are two of the best players in the world, but they’re both having to exert their energy into battling for something that really should just be the norm – the conditions that allow them to perform at their best.
Increased investment leads to success
The United States have set the standard in women’s football for the past decade – they’ve been so successful. Of course, they have loads of world-class players and an amazing mentality, but so do many other nations.
Spain arguably have the most talented squad in the world, for example, but they haven’t ever made it to a final. It’s hard to disagree that success can also come down to investment and resources when comparing the two teams.
This is what happened with England – both myself and Steph Houghton sat down a number of years ago and listed the things that needed to change if we wanted to compete with teams such as the US. We set out to win the Euros, and it worked.
Alexia and Wendie have also witnessed their own respective clubs – Barcelona and Lyon – put in investment, and become two of the best women’s football teams in the world. Both players have reaped the rewards of that, lifting the Champions League trophy and winning loads of other titles.
Everyone is seeing this first-hand at club and international level, and thinking: ‘If we put a bit more investment in, why can’t we be the same as England or the US, or Barcelona and Lyon?’
Women’s World Cup without the stars
I want the best players to be playing at the World Cup. While people might say that England have a better chance of winning if France, Spain and Canada are having trouble, I don’t think anyone really wants that.
Of course, there’s a part of every player that wants to be successful and win things. But there’s also a massive part that wants women’s football and the entire World Cup to be a success. Unfortunately, I don’t think that will happen if we don’t have the big stars playing in the tournament.
The list of players who could miss out is crazy – not just Alexia and Wendie, but Marie-Antoinette Katoto, Kadidiatou Diani, Aitana Bonmatí. You could make an amazing world XI out of the players who might not go to the World Cup, and the saddest thing is that it’s not because of injuries.
They’re trying to stand for something they believe in. It’s disappointing that in 2023, they’re having to sacrifice one of the most significant moments in their career for the bigger picture, to try and improve the teams they love playing for.
Lionesses show support
We wore purple wristbands in support of Canada during our Arnold Clark Cup match against Italy last month.
A lot of the England squad are close to Canada’s players – Chelsea’s Jessie Fleming was our main contact, and she kept us up to date with everything that was going on.
We asked if there was anything we could do, and it was so nice to see the US and Canada collaborate before their match, so we followed suit. We wanted to show our support for a team that’s had so much success and shouldn’t need to fight this battle.
The US have set such a good example for how we can support each other, and shown us how success can bring a stage and a voice that you didn’t have before.
Euro 2022 gave us England players an even bigger voice, and we’ve worked to improve women’s football in our own country. But we know that we also have a responsibility to stand up for women’s football players across the world too.
