Soccerwomen: The Icons, Rebels, Stars, and Trailblazers Who Transformed the Beautiful Game

by Gemma Clarke

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.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Soccer, History, Football, Biography

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2019

About the author

US-based British sports journalist who has written about soccer for the Guardian, Observer, The Times (UK), the Daily Telegraph and the London Evening Standard.

Reviews

[Katie B · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well, this was a fun book to read during the Women's World Cup! While the majority of the book focuses on different women's soccer players and coaches throughout the years, a good history of the sport is provided as well. A fascinating read and easily demonstrates why women soccer players should be paid the same amount of money as the men.

One of the things I appreciated about the book was the author had a good selection of current and former players and coaches from all over the world. Some of the top names in the game are featured like Mia Hamm, Michelle Akers, Megan Rapinoe, Sun Wen, Jill Ellis, and Marta Vieira da Silva to name a few. And while it was certainly interesting to get a glimpse into the lives and careers of the well-known names, part of what makes this book special is it also includes stories from women that many soccer fans are not as familiar with. Quite a few of their stories are both heartbreaking and inspiring as some of the challenges they faced include addiction, homelessness, and mental health issues and soccer in many cases helped get them thru the hard times. Lisa Cole and the women's team she coached in Papua New Guinea is just one of the stories well worth reading.

Highly recommend for both casual and die-hard fans of the sport.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and inspiring book that celebrates women playing soccer around the world, sometimes against all odds. These remarkable women have fought to play the game they love with determination, resourcefulness and resilience. They are truly an inspiration to us all and this book brings focus and deserved recognition to women in soccer.

[Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a great read; I just wish the profiles had been longer! Really enjoyed this book, and I loved how the book was truly global — obviously I stan the USWNT but it was so awesome to see badass women from all over the globe highlighted — from the U.K., Australia, Pakistan, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Brazil, China etc.

I loved the end of the preface: “It took some time to settle on a title. In publishing, ensuring that the word “girl” is in the title means you will likely sell more copies. But I couldn’t demean these players, these women, by calling them “girls” just to fit some patriarchal fantasy. Soccerwomen is an attempt to flip the script. This isn’t a niche sport, and these aren’t just women who play soccer; they are women who define soccer, who use the game as a force for social and political change, who lay their bodies and their lives on the line.”

A couple things that really stuck in my brain:

Women’s soccer was included in the Olympics for the first time in 1996!!! BLEW MY MIND. That was NOT that long ago!!! Also, Mia Hamm was born with a partial club foot and had to wear casts to fix it. Blew my mind!!

I loved this quote from the Pia Sundhage section:
“When a reporter asked her whether a woman could coach a men’s team, she responded, “let me ask you a question: does it with with a female chancellor in Germany? Angela Merkel runs a whole fucking country. Clearly it works.” pg. 150

Pakastani player Hajra Khan tells a story about a referee who is checking her cleats and uniform before a game. She never knows what reception she is going to get, but the referee tells her that his wife had a daughter last week and they named her Hajra “because we hope one day she’ll grow up to be like you” pg. 244

Overall really loved this book, and I learned a lot. I’m just mad about the fact that I never got the opportunity to go to Western New York Flash games when I was a kid, and see Abby Wambach, Marta, and all the other badass women play, considering I grew up in western NY in the Abby Wambach era! Serious bone to pick with my parents here 😂

[Leah Hester · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this a lot. A wonderful snapshot of the eras of womens soccer leading up to the early 2020s, an inspiring collection of powerful women in this sport. I think it's not always the best organized, but overall a great read.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Writing wise, this book is probably more truly a 3, but the content itself, especially when read during the World Cup, bumps it up significantly. At this point in my life, I really should no longer be amazed at how long progress has taken in so many areas, but it was still astounding to me to think about women being banned from playing soccer into the 1970s in places like England and the United States. The fact that first women's world tournament (not even called the World Cup) occurred during my lifetime in 1991 is even crazier. After all, I was playing soccer myself as a kid like it was a totally normal thing to do by 1995, totally oblivious to how recent of a possibility that really was. This year's 2019 World Cup was amazing to watch, especially while reading Soccerwomen at the same time, and really felt full circle given that many of the women on this year's team are roughly around my age and grew up looking up to stars of the 1999 team just as I did. I loved how Clarke collected stories of so many different women across such broad spans of time, truly painting a picture of the historical arc of women's soccer while highlighting some pretty phenomenal people along the way. Frequently, it didn't feel quite deep enough, but the reality is that there are only a few pages for each person in order to make room for more. I'd highly recommend this book to anybody who enjoys soccer in any form at any level - these are women that everyone should know.

[pandanmilk · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a book to read in a Women's World Cup year!

I enjoyed learning more about the women's game and its history makes me appreciate how far we've come in terms of it, even though we have such a long way to go. In many ways, the fight is still the same. Arguments from people in 2023 stating that women's bodies are naturally weaker or that our game isn't as competitive, well it's the same 19th-century rhetoric that prevented women from being able to play.

Sidenote: I didn't know that even being able to spectate a game as a woman was a right that had to be earned as well! Amazing stuff!

This book was written before the 2019 World Cup, so it was special to think about how far the women's game has come since then. Just on Monday, Barcelona and Spain player Alexia Putellas won her second FIFA Best Women's Player award, in a row! It's a fun bit of history, and will make you appreciate and respect the women's game and its players. The only thing I would say is that some of the chapters are a bit short, and a lot of times I found myself wanting to know more about a player or there were a lot of unanswered questions, but I understand that the book covers a lot of players, and some of these players may be extremely private or inaccessible. Clarke also acknowledged that her book was American-centric (even tho it tried not to be), due to the dominance of the USWNT in the sport. I appreciate her effort to include global stars, like Sun Wen, Eniola Aluko, and Homare Sawa, but it still felt a bit lacking.

Another thing I learned: Women's games used to be only 80 minutes because they didn't think women could play the whole 90. It makes me recall the fact that the net in women's volleyball is shorter than that of men's, because they don't think women have the ability to play at that level. But how can we achieve if you don't give us the chance to do so?!?!

I like how Clarke admits her own biases, starting out as a journalist who didn't want to cover women's sports for the same reasons that the fight for women's equality and respect in sports exists: it's not as well-loved as men's sports, not as interesting, societal biases against women playing sports. I think we all have those biases, as we grow up in a patriarchal society that views cishet men as the gender norm. Women playing footy violates all expectations about what women should be and do, and I think Clarke beautifully illustrates all the different types of women and players in the game.

A chapter that really struck with me was Lisa Cole, a coach for Papua New Guinea. When you're fighting an uphill battle like women's sports, it's easy to only want to highlight the great successes. But I really appreciated this chapter, highlighting that, like in the men's game, there are great losses. That still doesn't negate our game or the players.

Other chapter shoutouts: Emma Hayes, Azize Ay, Niloufar Ardalan, Nadia Nadim, Fara Williams, Marta.

I think Clarke does a good job of not being too overboard with the "female empowerment," which can get corny very easily. She tells these women's stories in their glory and gore, and growing up in patriarchal societies inevitably shaped their experiences as women. And these experiences are diverse, from racism, domestic violence, sexual abuse to insecure housing, all of the women detailed in this book have conquered great mountains to be the icons that they are. Sometimes it's enough, sometimes it isn't. But the point is that the fight is worth it.

I'm proud to know a little more about legends like Sun Wen, Briana Scurry, Brandi Chastain, Hajra Khan and Azize Ay.

I'll end it with my favorite quote from the book, which is from the Brazilian legend herself, Marta.

"All around the world, there are girls who feel the same. Girls who get stares, girls who get asked why they're out there, girls who get pulled from tournaments and called names. But that loneliness, it won't last. And it won't be long before you're all playing together."

TLDR; Read this book in anticipation for the World Cup, and support women's footy!

[Leah Rachel von Essen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soccerwomen: The Icons, Rebels, Stars, and Trailblazers Who Transformed the Beautiful Game is an absolute must-read for fans of women's soccer. Gemma Clarke highlights the women who got us here—their stories show us how far we've come but also how much is exactly the game. It is globally focused (not just the USWNT), and features both stars and lesser known players (some of which I had never heard of).

By tracing women's soccer from its origins, Clarke shows that the game has always been tied closely with female selfhood and protest. Have you heard of Nettie Honeyball, the woman who started a British football squad in 1894? Did you know that women's soccer was banned for years in countries including the UK and Brazil? Have you read about Papua New Guinea's 2016 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup performance? You can read about household names like Brandi Chastain, Marta, and Megan Rapinoe, and international players who should be household names but aren't, like Sissi, Nadia Nadim, and Homare Sawa, and players you may not have heard of, like Lily Parr, the iconic British forward who used to steal every match ball, or Azize Ay, the 48-year-olld Turkish soccer icon. Not to mention coaches like Hope Powell and Pia Sundhage.

Best of all, Clarke doesn't solely profile the careers of these women. She talks about their lives after the game as well—their accomplishments and their struggles—and in doing so, reveals the ways that sexism, racism, the sexist biases in medicine, dismissal, ignorance, substance abuse, and more, all impacted these women, and how they're continuing to fight. She doesn't back away from the more controversial topics, and in easy, readable language, talks about the double standards and painful realities of women's soccer around the world while maintaining an inspiring tone that made me cry several times over.

My only critique is that sometimes, in unexpected fashion, Clarke would drop a fact, a complicating factor, or a description of an important game. In addition, some bios are puzzlingly short compared to others. My personal guess is that at some point, the book had to get shorter, but it shows.

All that said, the book is fantastic, and the perfect read to accompany and inspire you as the women's soccer tournament continues in this Olympics.

[Randee Green · Rating 4 out of 5]

In SOCCERWOMEN: THE ICONS, REBELS, STARS AND TRAILBLAZERS WHO TRANSFORMED THE BEAUTIFUL GAME, Gemma Clarke – a sports journalist who has written about soccer for various European newspapers – profiles various players and coaches of the past, present, and future. All of the women featured have made an impact either within the sport or for women in general or in politics. Clarke gives a brief history of women’s soccer – starting around three hundred years ago when single women competed in soccer games against the married women in an interesting and competitive bid to attract the attention of the local single men. I really learned a lot about women’s soccer in the early 1900s – I had no idea that there was a women’s league in England and across Europe.

When read separately, all of the player and coach profiles in SOCCERWOMEN: THE ICONS, REBELS, STARS AND TRAILBLAZERS WHO TRANSFORMED THE BEAUTIFUL GAME interesting and inspirational. When read together, the book seemed to lack cohesion. Some of the profiles read like a biography while other profiles seemed more like stories or newspaper reports. Some of the profiles focused on the player’s or coach’s career and overall contribution to the sport. Other profiles focused on how the player made it to her national team, or on a specific section of her career, or what she has been doing since she retired. Some of the profiles included early biographical information; others did not. Personally, I enjoyed the sections that focused on the women who played on the United States’ Women’s National Team during the 1999 Women’s World Cup. I was eleven years old that summer. I attended two of the World Cup games, and I watched the rest on television. The women on the US team were my heroes. They are still my heroes. Seeing them – and their contributions to women’s soccer – acknowledged is always heartwarming.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.

[Mark Muckerman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Clarke delivers a two-pronged experience:

First - the players: Clarke starts where one should - in the early days of the women's game. Early players and pioneers, and details around the inequality, suppression, disenfranchisement and discriminatory sexism to deny the "women's game". Clarke's presentation of each player is perfect: just 2 - 5 pages on each, depending on depth of material. Any more would have been too much, too obscure and too forced. By limiting player space to brief profiles, Clarke is able to expose, inform and educate the reader on the huge raft of impact players and personalities beyond those with Olympic medal and Nike posters.

Second - the struggle. Clarke lays bare some truly shocking and embarrassing stories of inequity, hardship, insensitivity and overt discrimination and hardship which, with today's hindsight and our evolution into a more aware (if not yet improved) society seem horrifying to hear, and are amplified by the knowledge that such an environment was at best passively supported by "the establishment" or at worst intentionally created, fostered and supported.

For balance - there is no way this could ever be considered a definitive work on the history of the game, but it IS an excellent information source, well-researched, well-written, cleanly & clearly presented, and it DOES stand as highly informative without being too political, and a great resource for player-specific knowledge about the women's side of the most popular game on earth.

[Gemini · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is amazing. The history of women playing soccer all over the globe & the issues they faced in doing so over the years is simply shocking & insane that you can't stop from shaking your head. There are so many stories to tell, from the players & coaches, to the teams all over the world. I am a lover of soccer even though I never played. This book just makes you think about all the different things that come up as a woman in various countries & how rules end up being so strict.
There are names I have never heard of but they made a big impact on the game as well as the team & country they played for. Their stories are incredible, challenging, & inspirational. The various things that each of these players & coaches faced was par for the course, unfortunately. People didn't believe in their ability from the get go. They stuck w/ it even when the conditions were brutal & they weren't getting paid. It makes you angry to know that it was an uphill battle the entire way
When women's soccer became a thing decades ago, nobody paid attention. Well they certainly do now. Of course this book is heavy on white American players & coaches as we have won multiple Olympics & World Cups.

[(a)lyss(a) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book through Amazon Vine in exchange for an honest review.

This is a great guide to women who have done amazing things in the world of soccer!

I appreciate that Clarke opens the book talking about how for so long we've looked at women's soccer through the lens of men's soccer and what a disservice that is. This book takes a few pages to highlight influential women players and couches that have shaped soccer. There's also historical facts about soccer and a sort of linear story that ties everything together.

This is a really delightful read that's inspiring and informative.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't realize this book was essentially a biographical collection, and its unsurprising that I personally enjoyed the essays at the start of each chapter about the history of the sport more than bios of individual players. However, while these essays don't go into depth, Gemma Clarke is a compelling sportswriter and she draws complete portraits of each of the women she writes about. If anything, this book made mew ant to seek out other biographies of female athletes to better understand the incredible strength of will and determination it takes to succeed in a world that discourages women's participation in sports in almost every conceivable way.

[Haviva Avirom · Rating 3 out of 5]

The stories and the women in this book are incredible and brave and heart-breaking and beautiful. The writing sometimes goes for the cliche and the author tends towards a single sentence to sum up the life of a brilliant athlete or coach, which dims the brilliance of the book somewhat. Like Caitlin Murray's The National Team, this book sheds light on the difficult conditions still to be found for women in sports and the ways in which women's soccer has been a lightning rod for controversy and for social and political change from the start.

[James Sarek · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good introduction into the history of women's football for the generalist, each chapter essentially a short profile of women footballers/coaches etc from the 1890s up to 2020.

Definitely informative and educational - and not baulking when it comes to politics - Clarke's book still retains a degree of hagiography ; some chapters are abruptly short and leaves one feeling mildly short changed.

However, worth the read for the breadth of those included, and one wonders since the true explosion of the women's game in the time since whether this could be expanded on in future editions.

[kimreadsandreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book that gives a brief glimpse into the lives and hearts of female soccer players from the US and around the world is great. It personalizes the players, and makes their fight and their games more important to the reader. With the 2019 World Cup approaching, I am excited to catch sight of some of the players included in this book that I was unfamiliar with before reading it.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

This would have gotten a higher star if all of the profiles had been given equal weight. Some are shorter than others, especially international entries. As it is, I appreciate the attempt to include international stars, but this is mainly a U.S.-centric list. However, that was perfect for my needs, as I wanted a collective biography of the soccer greats who made the USNWT what it is today.

[LMW · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was so very nice being able to read a cohesive (and organized) book displaying the past, present, and future of women’s soccer. The character profiles of the players the author deemed to be essential to these eras was a nice touch. A very easy read!

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mandatory reading. And a great way to keep that soccer pride and interest alive.

[Thomas Higgins · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable read. personally would've like longer chapters for certain figures.

[Terri R · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars. I wanted to know more about the history of women’s soccer and enjoyed many of the stories. Interesting but a bit uneven. A vast subject that must have been hard to corral into chapters.

[Marie Joachin · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book I wish I had when I was a kid!

[Jadrian Wooten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this. I spent a good chunk of time looking up more info on some of the entries I hadn't heard about before.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was such a fun read!! As a retired female soccer athlete myself, I found it to be such a treat to dive into all of the profiles of some of the biggest names in women's soccer. It was fun looking back to see where I was at in life when I watched the various women's world cup games and olympics. I loved learning about the more personal details of some of my favorite player's lives. It humanized them more to me, and inspired me to get back into soccer even if it's just juggling in my backyard! I love this sport and I always will. Women's soccer also has an incredible history, and I'm excited to see how the future of the women's game will continue to grow.

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book because it shone a light on not just the US team and players. It talked about players that have come from other countries and deserve credit for the work they’ve done in paving a way for future generations. However, it was nothing absolutely brilliant so it gets 4 stars.

[Kara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each chapter in this book profiles one women’s soccer player or coach. Challenges and triumphs of each woman’s career are highlighted through brief stories that place the reader at the scene, and the book is divided into eras with each getting a chapter to explain the progress (or regressions) of the sport in that period. The athletes selected include women from the 1890s through today from countries around the world.
Since so much of women's soccer media in the U.S. is focused on the U.S. team, I enjoyed learning the stories of standout athletes from other places and across history. I could've done without the Pollyanna-ish conclusions to some of the profiles (E.g. "This is why Hajra is destined to make a difference."), but overall the writing was engaging.

[Robin Rider · Rating 4 out of 5]

Soccer Women, The Icons, Rebels, Stars and Trailblazers Who Transformed The Beautiful Game, by Gemma Clark. A fabulous compendium of women's soccer history, providing enough background of individuals to keep it from being encyclopedic. Rate it 4 out 5 stars.