What do the Czech Republic and Hungary have in common in the world of European football?

Both nations made it to the men’s World Cup final in its early years but have recently fallen off the face of the planet in football terms. Hungary, once a powerhouse of the sport, has not qualified for a World Cup since 1986. And the Czech Republic has intermittently qualified for the competition but failed to progress past the group stages since 1990.

You may wonder why an article that claims to be about women’s football in Australia starts not only with a story about men’s football but with the history of two European teams. The answer is simple: their stories should be a warning for our women’s league.

The history of football in Australia is a fight for relevance. Our football culture has come a long way from the days when it was seen as a game for foreigners and immigrants. Australians are increasingly captivated by the sport. The Socceroos’ consistent qualification for the World Cup since 2006 has no doubt aided that cause, but its popularity is also thanks to the relentless advocacy of people like Les Murray and Johnny Warren.

And yet our men’s game still lags behind the major players in Europe and South America. Countries like Brazil, Italy, Germany, France and Spain have much stronger cultures of player development and grassroots football, having had the better part of a century to build their infrastructure. Australia can overcome these challenges − but it will be an uphill climb.

Those same challenges are less pronounced in the women’s game. Women’s football has only gathered momentum over the last thirty years so the traditional dominance of European and South American countries, so prevalent in the men’s game, has not fully translated to the women’s league. In some cases, the development of women’s football has even been ignored in countries with otherwise strong football cultures. This difference in development offers Australia a chance to become one of the heavyweights in the sport: our international opponents have no significant structural or cultural advantages in the women’s game.

After the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup, it feels like a new dawn for the women’s game and this presents an opportunity that Australia should seize. Our national women’s team has consistently qualified for the World Cup since 1995 (only the second ever edition of the competition). Since then, they have gone from strength to strength, outperforming the men. The Socceroos are ranked forty-third in the world while the Matildas occupy eighth position. The women’s captain Sam Kerr finished fifth in the Ballon d'Or last year, an annual award given to the best player in the world, yet no Australian male players have ever been shortlisted.

We’re not the only country where women are outshining men on the football pitch. No country exemplifies this more than the USA. The women’s team has an impressive track record, reaching the semi-final stage at all eight Women’s World Cup tournaments and going on to win four of these. In contrast, the men’s team have never progressed beyond the quarter-final stage.

The American public, much like the Australian public, often prefer other sports (like basketball and American football) over the world game but that has not stopped them from building a successful women’s football league. There’s no reason why Australia and the Matildas can’t replicate that achievement.

Australian women’s football has been largely a success story so far, but a lack of forethought and investment could see us become the Czech Republic and Hungary of the women’s game. These countries, like many others, produced a golden generation of players and assumed they would remain competitive over the long term. Yet the most enduring teams have turned the lessons from their golden generations into institutional features of their youth player development.

We find ourselves at a decisive moment in the future of Australian women’s football. The sleeping giants in men’s football are waking up to the potential of the women’s league and they are starting to invest in it. All around Europe, the women’s game and local leagues are growing stronger. Italy is a good case in point: their women’s league only turned professional three years ago but the national team has grown from a mediocre side to one that surprised Australia in its opening game at the recent World Cup. While many of these European leagues are fledgling leagues compared with those in the States or even Australia, they are developing quickly. And the natural advantages of the age-old European clubs will start to matter as they increasingly invest into their women’s teams.

Craig Foster has taken over the mantle from Les Murray as SBS’s advocate for the game in Australia. After Australia’s exit from the 2019 Women’s World Cup, he raised concerns about the future of the women’s league in Australia: ‘The rest of the world is investing and the rest of the world is improving very quickly and we need to continue our improvement here.’

He also cautions against spreading our home-grown talent too thin. Due to the alternate scheduling of the season in America and Australia, athletes can play in two leagues over the course of a year – an advantage that the European leagues do not offer. For instance, Sam Kerr plays for both Perth Glory and the Chicago Reds. But Foster warns us not to become complacent.

‘There was talk of a big money contract for Sam [Kerr] at Chelsea … [we need to decide] are we going to be serious and keep her here and expand the competition and take on the US league? Do we want to be number one?’

Australia doesn’t have to go the way of the Czech Republic or Hungary. We have a good product, a solid base of players and the development structures to build a successful women’s football culture. But we need our governing bodies to make women’s league a priority so that we can keep up with the rest of the world.

As fans, we can also play our part. Let’s make sure we get along to W-League and Matilda games. Next time you’re buying a Socceroo jersey for your niece or nephew, put the name of Australia’s best player on the back – that’s Kerr, not Cahill. These may seem like simple steps but the fact is that audience numbers and sales figures drive investment in this sport.

Women’s football is Australia’s best chance on the international football stage. Let’s seize our chance and work towards that future. Go Matildas!

Hendrik Jacobs is a freelance writer and graduate politics student at The University of Melbourne.