Successful World Cup sparks interest in women's football

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SHANGHAI, Oct 1 (AFP): Sublime individual talent and entertaining matches drawing big crowds-women's football has come a long way from the last World Cup four years ago in the United States.
While they are never going to rival the likes of David Beckham, Ronaldinho, and Thierry Henry in the popularity stakes, the best women footballers on the planet proved over the past three weeks that the game has taken giant steps.
With crowds averaging 38,000, the World Cup in China was a big success, so much so that the China Football Association said it was now mulling a bid to host the 2018 men's tournament.
FIFA president Sepp Blatter was suitably impressed by what he saw from a tournament won by an experienced Germany who beat Brazil 2-0 in the final.
The United States took third place and Norway fourth.
"Generally speaking, it is a big improvement by all the teams from four years ago in the United States," Blatter said.
"There has been an improvement in the speed of the games. Also, importantly, though not by all the teams, there has been an improvement in tactics.
"All in all, compared to 2003, women's football has moved to a new level."
The way forward now, he added, was the development of more women's professional leagues with many of the players competing in China not earning a living from the game.
China's retired Sun Wen, joint-Women's Player of the Century, was also taken by the improvements she saw here.
"Having taken part in the previous four World Cups, I'm happy to see how football has grown in popularity worldwide," she said.
"The teams have made some terrific progress. In 1991 (at the inaugural World Cup) a small group of sides dominated all the others, but now, 16 years on, things have changed. All the participating sides have shown themselves to be more competitive."