The International Women’s Day was already a few days ago. Nevertheless, I want to use this blog post to shed some light on the achievements of women in football. In this sport, the performance of women is still frequently underestimated. The common argument is to neglect women’s football because, in terms of speed and performance, it could never match men’s football. However, a report by Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen shows why women often accomplish more on the football field than many assume.
Women and men play football under the same conditions. The same rules apply, the field is the same size, the ball weighs the same, and the goals are identical. At the same time, it is scientifically proven that the female body is physically less strong than the male body. Nevertheless, football applies the same conditions to both genders, and women are often accused of playing less attractive football than men.
SRF therefore asked itself the following question: «What would the game look like for men if the conditions were adjusted fairly?»
In 2019, the Norwegian movement scientists Arve Vorland Pedersen, Ingvild Merete Aksdal, and Ragna Stalsberg from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim were the first to calculate how much additional physical effort female footballers actually have to exert than men. According to their calculations, the game equipment for men would need to be as large and heavy as a basketball to match the relative demands of women’s football.
SRF tested this in a match between the U19 team of FC Thun and the U17 team of FC Winterthur. The boys had to play under the same physical demands that women face, which meant coping with a significantly larger pitch, bigger goals, a heavier ball, and longer playing time.
According to Swiss Football Association regulations, games in the Swiss Super League, the highest men’s league, are normally played on a field measuring 105 by 68 meters. According to the calculations of Pedersen, Aksdal, and Stalsberg (2019), the field would need to be increased by about 20 percent for a fair comparison between genders. Penalties would then be taken from 14 meters, and the field would measure 132 by 84 meters. Instead of playing two 45-minute halves, men would have to play two 56-minute halves. Normally, a player covers around 10 kilometers per game. Under these conditions, he would likely run 12 to 13 kilometers, representing a much higher physical strain.
In women’s football, goalkeepers are often criticized for their supposedly insufficient performance. However, it is frequently overlooked that they play under different physical conditions. Women are on average about 1.70 meters tall, yet they defend the same goal measuring 7.32 meters wide and 2.44 meters high as men, whose average height is around 1.90 meters. Women’s jumping ability is also generally lower than men’s. To fairly compare the performance of both genders, a goal would have to be about 8.40 meters wide and 2.72 meters high.
The consequences for the players involved in the experiment became apparent quickly. Because of the heavier ball, set pieces, especially corner kicks, were mostly executed low and short. Substitutions were also frequent, as the players quickly reached their fitness limits due to the longer running distances.
The extent of the effort that female footballers have to exert on a standard pitch became impressively visible on the «fair» men’s field. «Respect for women’s football, really!», applauded one of the young FC Winterthur players after this unusual match. What was extraordinary for the two men’s youth teams, is everyday life for female footballers.
Especially in the context of International Women’s Day, this experiment highlights how often women’s achievements are underestimated. What may appear at first glance as slower or less spectacular football is, in reality, the result of significantly higher relative demands. Perhaps at the next women’s football game, it is worth looking closer rather than comparing.
The full article and the corresponding TV report can be found at the following link:
Other sources:
Pedersen, A. V., Aksdal, I. M., & Stalsberg, R. (2019). Scaling Demands of Soccer According to Anthropometric and Physiological Sex Differences: A Fairer Comparison of Men’s and Women’s Soccer. Frontiers in psychology, 10, 762. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2019.00762