If you're a football fan, then I've got a great event for you!
No, not the World Cup in Qatar. I'm gonna Cantona this one.
Not gonna watch it. Too much stuff going on, I'm sure you've heard.
I am of course talking about the Women's Euro 2022.
It was promoted like never before. It's packed with absolute top stars.
And it's raising the bar for women's football.
And the most important thing is: it's about football, only football,
and not about what feels like ten thousand sideshows!
We'll look at why it is THE football event to watch in 2022.
Following a season of boosted coverage and rising support, women's football is arguably shining
at its brightest level since it was banned in England in 1921.
Wait, banned?
Yes, football was declared 'unsuitable for females' by the FA,
a year after more than 50,000 people turned up
to watch Dick, Kerr Ladies play St. Helens Ladies
The sport's governing body did not have the power to ban women from playing outright,
that was impossible. So instead they ruled that
women's games were barred from FA-affiliated grounds. And that ban lasted half a century.
It took 92 years for that '53,000 people watching a women's football game' record to be surpassed,
when just over 70,000 people showed up at Wembley to watch
Great Britain vs Brazil in the 2012 Olympic women's football tournament. Crazy.
But back to 2022. Women's football is big.
Like over 90 thousand fans cheering for Barca against Real big.
Like 2.2 million people following Megan Rapinoe on Insta big.
Like...
I told you
There couldn't be a better time for the Euro to take place in the Motherland of Football.
This tournament is gonna be a real real big event.
I think it's gonna really be a great tournament to be part of.
England is hosting the prestigious competition, with games taking place in Brighton, Manchester,
London and elsewhere
The wide range of host cities means a bigger opportunity for fans to
get to games, boosting the potential impact of one of the fastest growing sports in the UK.
The tournament should increase the sport's audience, with TV figures
already doubling since 2017, and over half a million tickets sold.
The change from 2017 to now, I think so many more countries play at the highest level.
Of course, the quality of the squads and players is another boost. Fans want top notch football.
And sure, the World Number 1 - the USA - is obviously not taking part,
but some of the best teams in the world are.
There will be 16 teams competing at England 2022
Sweden, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain and England sit highest in the FIFA rankings.
While the world's number 2 Sweden hasn't won a bigger title since 1984,
the German team is still getting used to new coach Martina Voss-Tecklenburg.
We recently did a video on the German team - you can check it out here!
But I've got four other top teams with four different top stars that I want to show you.
With the help of my expert Carlon from Statsbomb.
PSG's star striker Marie-Antoinette Katoto is an exciting prospect.
Her strength? Well she just scores goals left, right and center.
One goal a game on average for club and country to be exact.
She's PSGs all-time leading goalscorer at just 23 years old!
She does a lot of the running in behind of defenses,
doesn't do much in terms of link-up play, she just basically waits for
the perfect opportunity to sit in between the center-backs, make a movement and score.
Euro 2022 is Katoto's first chance to show what she can do at a major tournament.
And she needs to be at her best in Group D, France is known for underachieving on the big stage.
A lot of bookies fancy Spain in Group B, given many of their squad play for Barcelona,
the 2022 Champions League finalists.
Spain's outstanding player is of course Barcelona's captain Alexia Putellas, the 2021 Ballon d Or winner.
She is pretty much the perfect midfielder in terms of creativity and goalscoring.
She's what you want from a number 10.
For Barcelona and for Spain she kind of has a free role because of her
ability to find pockets of space and receive passes or beat players off the dribble.
She can get in the box and score, she can play passes.
Pretty much anything that goes through Barcelona goes through her, and the same with Spain
After a successful season with Barcelona,
the 28-year-old could be the key to a first trophy for Spain this summer.
But plenty of teams will be out to stop Putellas, including the defending champions!
The Netherlands start in Group C. They have had a seriously impressive run in major competitions recently
winning Euro 2017 and finishing as runners up at the 2019 World Cup.
One of their top stars: undoubtedly Vivianne Miedema.
Her ability to do it all is really key because even when you do drop her into
the deeper positions, she is good enough to link up play and then get in the box to
basically join Stina Blackstenius as a second striker. Or when she plays for the Netherlands when she is
that kind of pure number 9, she can do that kind of link up play within that 4-3-3.
The 26-year-old Arsenal striker is already the all-time top scorer in the English Women's Super League
and has scored more goals at international level for the Netherlands than any other player,
across both the women's and men's teams.
I mean...how do you even stay hungry?
It's my fifth tournament but every tournament is special, every tournament is different.
I'd love to be able to say that I've won the Euros twice, so definitely still hungry.
Ok fair enough. However, it will be interesting to see
how the Dutch fare without now-England boss Sarina Wiegman, who previously won the tournament
with the Netherlands after knocking England out.
England should be the favorite. I think if you look at the depth of their squad, it's unreal.
I actually like Viv's football brain so if she think we're favorites, I'll listen to her, but it's about what happens on the day isn't it?
Despite being the lowest ranked of Europe's big guns,
the Lionesses are playing with home advantage.
England's three group A matches are all sold out
which should improve their chances at the competition.
Yeah we're one of the favorites.
Arsenal's Leah Williamson will wear the captain's armband for the first time at a major competition for her country.
It doesn't change anything. I'm still trying to be the best that I can be for the team.
And obviously just being a bit more aware of what's going on
and then trying to help out as best as I can.
And she is usually there for the team as an all-round defensive star.
If you look at her possession adjusted and interception, she is intercepting passes
about four times per game. And as well if you look at her passing OBV which is essentially our Statsbomb
metric which looks at passing quality, she is in the 98 percentile. That's for all players,
not just her position group. So you could see how good she is in progressing the
ball as well as winning it back which is why she's so important for England.
There you have it: this tournament is packed with world class players.
But besides the sportive side, the Euros could kick off a big leap forward for women's football and beyond.
The most important thing is that
the players are examples for all the kids in England, girls but also boys,
so even more girls will start to play football and see what they can reach and what football can bring.
Men's football is drifting further and further away from normal people,
with money spiralling out of control across the board.
Everyone from governing bodies...
down to individual players sees the average fan as a source of cash
not someone connected to them and the game
That's how we ended up with Qatar hosting the World Cup.
And women's football? It's just that: football.
Of course, I can't tell you not to watch the Men's World Cup,
and I won't, this is up to your conscience.
But what I can do, is recommend watching the Women's Euro!
Honest football far away from disturbing background noises.
Would love to hear what you think about this video, let me know in the comments. But please be nice! See you next time!