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The Asian Football Confederation (AFC)’s efforts towards enhancing women’s football in Asia was further underlined when it conducted the AFC Online Session: Analysis and Discussion of the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 on Tuesday to exchange knowledge and analyse the common trends that were noticed at the recently concluded global showpiece.
With the AFC Women’s Champions League set to be launched in the 2024/25 season, the virtual session witnessed 110 participants from 37 AFC Member Associations (MAs), members of the AFC Technical Panel, as well as guests from CONMEBOL and CAF, convene to chart the way forward for the women’s game in Asia.
One of the major highlights of the session was a series of dialogues conducted with the head coaches of the Asian teams that participated in the global showpiece. In this segment, the coaches shared their insights and observations on how to enhance the performance of Asian teams on the global stage.
“I feel that football has progressed remarkably, but it is still being led by the USA and European MAs. For Asian teams to match those standards, we have to allow our players to accumulate experience at the international level,” said Japan Head Coach Futoshi Ikeda, whose team stunned eventual champions Spain with a 4-0 win in the Group Stage of the competition.
Echoing his sentiments, Tony Gustavsson, under whom Australia registered a historic Semi-final finish said: “In the 2019 edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, three of the four Semi-finalists were European and the fourth was USA. I have had the good fortune to see very closely the kind of investment that has gone into developing their game.
“They utilise the FIFA windows well and play against so many teams, which is something that needs to be actively worked on in Asia.
“However, this FIFA Women’s World Cup will go down in history. It has the potential to be a catalyst for long-term change,” he added.
The conversation then moved on to the more technical aspects of the competition where FIFA Team Lead Performance Analysis & Insights Global Football Development Division Harry Lowe, shared a comprehensive comparison of trends noted in teams in this edition of the FIFA Women’s World Cup, as opposed to the earlier two editions.
Some of the key findings included a remarkable rise in competitiveness which was denoted by a higher number of clean sheets, lower average winning margin, squad utilisation and the use of substitutes.
In the final section, the focus shifted to the exciting new season that awaits women’s club football in Asia where the participants received an overview of the competition format as well as goals for the near future to further develop women’s competitions both at the club and national level.
“The FIFA Women’s World Cup, hosted by Australia and New Zealand, created numerous records, including stadium attendances, tv audiences and media interest,” said AFC Technical Director Andy Roxburgh.
“This (FIFA Women’s) World Cup, which will inevitably stimulate a new generation of players and fans, has highlighted the massive potential of women’s football, and Asia needs to use this opportunity to make further progress in all aspects of the women’s game,” he said.
