Here’s what you need to know about the Women’s Asia Cup
For almost 50 years, the Women’s Asia Cup has been taking part in bringing initiatives for women to thrive in the soccer sport. The best women players from different regions of the continent (with Australia and New Zealand coming in at times) battle it out to win the title of the champions in the competition.
This year, 2022, the teams gathered in India, where football is almost part of the nation’s culture, therefore providing an ablaze for the competing teams to feel the competition. What will follow is the worlds edition cup exclusive to women, too–the Women’s World Cup. However, problems are arising even with just the Women’s Asia Cup.
The first one has to do with the prize money. Apparently, there will be so little prize money for the champion–the prize money doesn’t even compare with that of major sorts league, yet this involves the whole continent of Asia. Add to that the fact that there will be no prize money for competing teams as well, leaving them disadvantages for their efforts.
The call is one that truly needs some sort of amplifier. But going back to the roots and problems that caused the rise of tournaments like the Women’s Asia Cup is an important aspect to understanding why women are in soccer, and why they deserve to be there.
Women in soccer
Can soccer be an equalizer? This is probably a question that applies so infrequent to many sports fields. But for soccer, can it be an equalizer? The answer is yes and no. Yes, because soccer is more about making your own credibility, and if you finally have it, then people will see it. No, because you’ll only be bringing competition to yourself if you try.
Sadly, the truth is that even though there are many ways professional credibility can merit women, they still experience things like discrimination, where the idea of “You play like a girl,” lingers to them most of the time they interact with men players. On the flip side, the said players tend to impose a kind of scare-to-flight attitude on women players.
Preseasons and the pressure that comes with them are unimaginable. Women players and coaches are reported to receive great backlash from their teammates and fellow coaches when it’s time to intensively prepare for the coming seasons. Add to that the fact that sexual harassment happens behind the glossy curtains of the game.
But progress is always around, and it will show itself. There is always a great call for progress, and the Women’s Asia Cup has been one of the biggest competitions designed solely for women to forward their voices in the sport.
Significance of Women’s Asia Cup
There’s a great disparity between men and women in football leagues. Even with all the merit that women get, some fans and fellow male players see it as a special pass because of the fact that they’re women, calling them out to be outside the field and instead be part of the cheering squad.
Alongside, we know that Asia is not the most welcoming continent to women in the world. Various traditions and cultures tend to see women as lower than men, and this is not anything exaggerated, because the way Asian culture tends to undermine women happens nearly all the time.
So, the Women’s Asia Cup serves to show the value of women’s representation means they can do what men can do. It’s such a big step that until now, the said cup receives some sort of controversy when fans try to pick on it. Not to mention the fact that they don’t have enough resources to reward the women players they have every year.
They continue to fight for better attention and space in the field. But money is less of a concern, as represented in the field of football and the ways that the Women’s Asia Cup has served for the benefit of women is.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Women’s Asia Cup is an exclusive competition for women in the sport. As women continuously face the effects of the disparity made in the sport, how men are the “fit” players to the sport of soccer, the Women’s Asia Cup is giving women a chance to show that it is not the case. For instance, the prize pool is still below a major sports league for male-dominated teams. This might not be a big problem, but it is. So, the Women’s Asia Cup is not only a tournament built on showing representation, but also a competition that continuously helps women prove themselves in society–because the soccer world can be discriminating at times, and we don’t know it. The pre-conceived ideas that we have actually put more women in danger than we think and realize.