Football-mad girls in Brazil can dream big but problems linger amid progress

It’s an exciting time to be a Brazilian women’s football journalist working in the UK and I am loving every second of it.

I wrote my first piece about women’s football nearly nine years ago as an intern at a local website called Bahia Notícias. It was about the challenges to build competitive squads for the second Campeonato Brasileiro de Futebol Feminino. The difficulties were similar to what we see now: little investment, low salaries for players and inequalities between the structures and support provided for men’s and women’s teams.

It may seem as if nothing has changed, yet women’s football in Brazil has come a long way. The Brasileirão is becoming more and more competitive and is feeding players to the the national team. Half of the players called up for Thursday’s Finalissima against the Lionesses play for Brazilian clubs: Corinthians, Ferroviária, Palmeiras, Santos, São Paulo and Flamengo have representatives in Pia Sundhage’s squad.

There are also developments in youth football: the Under-20 national team had their best result in the World Cup last year, finishing third, and are showing promise. One of the players from that squad, the 17-year-old Aline Gomes, is expected to make her debut in the senior team soon and recently became the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the Brasileirão Feminino.

The lucky 80,000 fans who endured hours in a virtual queue to buy tickets for Thursday’s game at Wembley will see a Brazil team in transition, featuring many younger players who may be about to go to their first World Cup. In London and against Germany in Nuremberg next Tuesday they will acquire experience with tough games against two of the best teams in the world.

And, of course, there is Marta. Sundhage says