In this episode, we recap what has happened in the Women’s World Cup so far in Australia and New Zealand.  We pick our favourite moments, games, how did our predictions fare, who do we see going on to win it, and our picks for key individual honours.

We also build-up to the new Premier League 2023-24 season which began this weekend.  We pick out some of the differences this season in terms of personnel and how teams have set up.  We also pick our favourites to finish in the top half, as well those already doomed to be candidates for relegation. We also spend a few seconds, and not any more, to ponder if City will run away with it again (yes, they will).

Recorded on Sunday, August 13, 2023 in Toronto, Canada.

Speakers

Srinivas Suriyanarayanan / IG: 

Ganesh Iyer / IG: shenaniganesan

Notes, clarifications, errata

1. Starting this season, the Premier League could have one more Champions League spot, outside the traditional top four.  This is a correction to a statement made in the podcast about “the top 3 automatically qualifying”, which expanded to the top 4 from 2019.

2. Andre Onana may not participate in the African Cup of Nations as was erroneously stated.  He had retired from all international football in December 2022.

The 9th edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup is here! The first episode is a quick introduction to the World Cup, a sneak peak at the teams, and the stars that are going to light up the stage. We share our picks on who is going to lift the trophy along with some teams who might spring some surprises.

Recorded on Saturday, July 15, 2023 in Toronto, Canada.

Speakers

• Srinivas Suriyanarayanan / IG: srinivas.suriyanarayanan
• Ganesh Iyer / IG: shenaniganesan

Notes, clarifications, errata

1. 2:39 - The 3-peat in question applies specifically to FIFA’s quadrennial tournaments only.

2. 3:45 - The 2019 World Cup was not COVID-stricken at all, as it concluded in July 2019.  The popularity for women’s football was already rising, and it didn’t need a global pandemic to spark it, as was erroneously implied.

3. 5:15 - The Arsenal Women Football Club did indeed win 22 out of their 22 Women Super League games; but this was in the 2006-07 season, and not in the 2005-2006 season.

4. 6:32 - 1 billion pounds (as in Doctor Who money), not US dollars.

5. 7:00 - The conspiracy with regards to dates, as it turns out, doesn’t hold much water.  The dates of the finals vary from the 3rd week of June to the 3rd week of July, with only the finals of the 1970 Men’s World Cup in Mexico happening on the day of the Summer Solstice that year.

6. 7:45 - Oceania, not “Oceanic”. 

7. 13:24 - All of Beth Mead, Leah Williamson, and Viv Miedema had suffered an ACL rupture/tear. “ACL injury” was too vague.

8. 14:48 - The Spanish players not participating had actually resigned due to an internal issue pertaining to the contract extension of their head coach Jorge Vilda, and it does not seem connected to an issue like wage disparity, as the episode may have erroneously implied.

9. 15:20 - The issue with wage disparity among England Women’s Football team is obviously a lot more nuanced than this episode explains.  While the English FA states that the wages are on par with the men’s team, the differences in what the athletes make through bonuses are pretty significant.  There’s also the issue of disparity in sponsorship money within the different leagues and tiers in women’s football itself, and that is arguably a much harder issue to tackle through simply taking a stand.

Additional reading

1. 6:32 - https://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/12919975/womens-football-can-be-billion-pound-industry-says-chair-of-a-new-independent-review-karen-carney

2. 7:54 - Why Australia play in the AFC, instead of the OFC (nothing to do with the birth of the Himalayas) - https://10play.com.au/football/articles/the-history-of-football-australia/tpa210809sazom

3. 14:25 - https://www.skysports.com/football/news/35730/12748748/inside-the-wsl-why-are-acl-injuries-so-common-in-womens-football

4. 14:48 - https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10049939-15-players-from-spains-womens-national-team-resign-in-protest-against-jorge-vilda

5. 15:20 - https://www.cbc.ca/sports/soccer/canada-soccer-women-pay-equity-parliament-1.6773010,https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/sep/03/england-womens-and-mens-teams-receive-same-pay-fa-reveals, https://www.theguardian.com/football/2022/jul/30/england-womens-football-pay-gap-lionesses