From the ashes: South American women rise again for the Copa América Femenina

Photograph: Brenda J. Elsey
Two years ago, most of South America’s women’s national teams disappeared from the Fifa rankings because their federations cared only about their men’s team. It got so bad that some federations stopped scheduling matches and staffing women’s sides.
This could have been the death knell for women’s football in several countries but instead it was the starting point of something magnificent. Since then, players have organised themselves, protested and played their way back on to the pitch. Their collective actions should be seen in the context of global women’s football campaigns, such as the Danish women’s fight for equal pay and the turf wars of the 2015 World Cup.
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