From Michelle Akers to Megan Rapinoe, bold and inspiring profiles of the pioneers, champions and future heroines of women's soccer around the world.
Women's soccer has come a long way. The first organized games on record -- which took place three hundred years ago in the Scottish Highlands -- were exhibition matches, where single women played against married women while available men looked on, seeking a potential mate.
Today, champions like Mia Hamm, Abby Wambach, Brazil's Marta and China's Sun Wen, have inspired girls around the world to pick up the beautiful game for love of the sport. Inevitably, given the hardships and discrimination they face, women who play soccer professionally are so much more than elite athletes. They are survivors, campaigners, political advocates, feminists, LGBTQ activists, working moms, staunch opponents of racial discrimination and inspirational role models for many.
Based on original interviews with over 50 current and former players and coaches, this book celebrates these remarkable women and their achievements against all odds.
ISBN-13: 9781568589213
Media Type: Paperback
Publisher: PublicAffairs
Publication Date: 04-16-2019
Pages: 368
Product Dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)
Gemma Clarke is a British sports journalist based in the US. She has written about soccer for the Guardian, the Observer, the Times (UK), the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard. She was writer and editor of the League Leader and the first female publications editor for a Premier League soccer club. She wrote minute-by-minute reports on the FIFA Men's World Cup for the Guardian online, as well as reporting on the Women's European Championships and the Men's Blind World Cup. She worked as a production assistant at Sky Sports News and as a stringer for the sports news agency Hayters Teamwork.
Table of Contents
Preface xv
Stepping Out Of The Shadows 1890s-1980s
Nettie J. Honeyball 7
Lily Parr 13
Alice Milliat 21
Sylvia Gore 25
Sharon McMurtry 29
From Bare Bones To Bare Bras 1990s
Michelle Akers 41
Kristine Lilly 49
Joy Fawcett 55
Carla Overbeck 61
Hege Riise 65
Julie Foudy 69
Sun Wen 55
Briana Scurry 57
Sissi 89
Tiffeny Milbrett 93
Brandi Chastain 99
Mia Hamm 105
A Leaque Of Their Own 2000s
Marta 119
Kelly Smith 125
Hope Powell 131
Fara Williams 137
Nadine Angerer 145
Pia Sundhage 149
Birgit Prinz 155
Fighting For Equality 2010s
Abby Wambach 169
Homare Sawa 179
Christine Sinclair 185
Hope Solo 193
Jill Ellis 201
Carli Lloyd 205
Nadia Nadim 213
Niloufar Ardalan 219
Becky Sauerbrunn 223
Asisat Oshoala 227
Azize Ay 231
Sarah Bouhaddi 235
Silvia Neid 239
Hajra Khan 243
Alex Morgan 249
Kelly Lindsey 255
Eniola Aluko 261
Megan Rapinoe 267
Emma Hayes 275
Nilla Fischer 281
Lisa Cole 285
The Future Is Female 2020s
Rose Lavelle 297
Mallory Pugh 301
Lieke Martens 305
Sam Kerr 309
Carson Pickett 313
Acknowledgments 315
Image Credits 319
Bibliography 323
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