“I took every opportunity as a responsibility to not only help our sport grow but also to support female athletics. I felt it was important.”
Those are the words of American legend Mia Hamm, published in TIME magazine in 2014. One of the most admired players in the history of women’s football, Hamm was a FIFA Women’s World Cup™ winner with USA in 1991 and 1999, and her achievements have inspired millions of young girls and boys all over the world.
Marta, Laura Georges, Christine Sinclair and Homare Sawa, as well as many others, have followed in this football trailblazer’s footsteps, before going on to become icons in their own right.
The legendary Marta, of course, is still going strong – but who did today’s generation of superstars look to as inspirations? The 27-year-old Spanish playmaker Aitana Bonmati, who has been named The Best FIFA Women’s Player twice on the bounce, said she grew up with “male role models” but has started to witness a shift.
“Nowadays, I love seeing men and boys wearing my shirt,” the Barcelona midfielder, who was instrumental in her country’s run to FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023™ glory, told France Football in 2024. “It’s a sign that attitudes are starting to change, and so is society. Sport is a vehicle for social development. It must put women where they deserve to be.”
Her countrywoman Alexia Putellas, now a veteran at the age of 31, also turned to the men’s game before rising to become a role model for aspiring footballers of all genders.
“My first idol was Rivaldo. Then came Xavi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Lionel] Messi… They’re practically all from Barça,” she told GQ Espana in 2022. However, she did look beyond Spanish borders for women to inspire her. “At the age of 17 or 18, I had the chance to watch more matches. I started following the women’s game, and there were three players I idolised: Louisa Necib, Nadine Kessler and Camille Abily, who were all playing abroad.”
England star Lucy Bronze, meanwhile, found her hero away from football. “Growing up, there was not much women’s football on TV or in the media, so the athlete who I was inspired by was [legendary British middle-distance runner] Kelly Holmes,” she said. “I remember watching her in the Olympics and finding her focus, strength and strong-minded nature an inspiration.”
The highly decorated 33-year-old defender, a UEFA Women’s EURO winner in 2022, also highlighted how seeing Holmes’ “elation and excitement” upon crossing the finish line lit a fire in her to one day experience the same euphoria.
Similarly, 24-year-old Naomi Girma, who won the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament with the USA in Paris last year, looked to female icons from other sports. “I can remember watching Simone Manuel, Simone Biles, [and] Serena Williams just dominate their sports, and being black women in sports that typically didn’t see a lot of women of colour competing was always super inspirational to me.”
Representation is exactly what the numerous campaigns fighting for the visibility of women in sport are trying to champion, driven by the motto that “you can’t be what you can’t see”. Another example is the French defender Wendie Renard. While watching a French women’s match on TV on her native island of Martinique with her football-playing mother, she had an epiphany, being blown away by Marinette Pichon.
As Renard told The Players’ Tribune: “I honestly can’t remember any of the other players, just her. When I saw Pichon wearing it [the French kit] that day, I don’t know, something just happened. I just knew I had to wear it too. I would wear it too.”
Although Alex Popp confessed in her autobiography that she was a fan of Pavel Nedved, the 33-year-old German – who retired from international football last year – also revealed that she had female role models as a youngster
When reflecting on the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup™ in 2010, she explained that she knew the names of all the players in the senior women’s national team back then, picking out Anja Mittag and Birgit Prinz up front and Nadine Angerer in goal as players she particularly admired.
“At that point in my career, I felt certain that I wanted to be exactly where they already were: in the senior national team,” she added. Popp, who finished that U-20 showpiece on home soil with the adidas Golden Ball and the adidas Golden Boot, has unmistakably gone some way towards emulating these luminaries.
Even though attitudes are steadily shifting and media coverage of women in sport is increasing, some legendary female footballers, such as Hamm in her day, have urged us not to lose sight of the importance of inspiring younger generations.
Fittingly, on 25 February, a few minutes after making her 199th appearance for the French national team and becoming her country’s most-capped player, male or female, 35-year-old Eugenie Le Sommer threw down the gauntlet:
“The onus is now on my team-mates to inspire the younger players because I didn’t have any female role models. My role models were men. Today, little girls and boys have an even greater opportunity to have female role models.”
Who could forget the poignant speech given by Queen Marta following Brazil’s 2-1 defeat after extra time at the hands of France in the Round of 16 at the 2019 Women’s World Cup?
“You have to want it more, train harder and be ready to play for 90 minutes and then 30 more if need be,” she insisted at the time. “That’s what I want the girls to do. Formiga won’t be playing forever, nor will Marta or Cristiane. Women’s football needs you to keep it alive. Take time to think about it and relish it. Shed tears at the beginning so you can smile at the end.”
Taking inspiration from women and becoming an inspiration in turn is the current mantra and battle cry of many female footballers, and FIFA.com wishes them a very happy International Women’s Day.
