Chile’s Road to the Women’s World Cup Started With an Indignity

So that June she set up the new players’ union, the Asociación Nacional Jugadoras de Fútbol Femenino en Chile, with a mandate to make soccer a viable profession for Chile’s women and girls. Soon other players signed on, overcoming their apprehension that clubs, or the federation, would retaliate. The support of Endler, the goalkeeper, was especially important, given her successful record in Chile — five league titles with the clubs Colo-Colo and Everton, as well as a Copa Libertadores women’s title — and her high profile in Europe, where she played for Chelsea and Valencia before joining P.S.G.

The pressure made a difference. In May 2017, Chile’s team returned to the field after more than two years of dormancy. In the famed Estadio Nacional in Santiago, a crowd of about 10,000 — a record audience for a women’s soccer match in Chile — saw la Roja outscore Peru, 12-0, in a friendly match.

By then, initial preparations for the 2018 Copa América Feminina — the South American qualifying tournament for this year’s World Cup — were underway. Since the players had been having meetings with Chile’s federation, the union suggested the federation bid to host the three-week tournament.

“We thought playing as the home team would help bring more visibility to our sport,” Rothfeld said. Conmebol, the confederation that governs South American soccer, affirmed the bid.

Each of Chile’s national team’s games averaged 20,000 spectators, and the Roja lost only one of them, a 3-0 defeat against Brazil, the eventual champion.

The newfound support for the women has even extended beyond the team; in March, the ministry of culture, arts and heritage and the ministry of women and gender equality announced that they would begin taking steps to “repay a historic debt” to the female players by creating a locker room for the exclusive use of the women’s team inside the Estadio Nacional.

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