The development experienced by women's football is not the work of chance. It is the fruit of the efforts of thousands of girls and young men and women who love soccer and who for decades have faced -and defeated- prejudices and exclusions. We recognize all women as true warriors who have grown up in adversity, and who, with their determination and perseverance, are leading the present in South American football, placing it in its rightful place.
CONMEBOL has accompanied this expansion. Since 2016, women's football has become one of the Confederation's priorities, with a clear strategy aimed at training our talent, giving visibility and strengthening competitions through development programs in the training categories, with investments in infrastructure and with the allocation of important prizes in club and national team tournaments. CONMEBOL has included four new competitions in its calendar and also resolved that the CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina be held every two years as of this edition.
The statistics of the women's soccer jump are clear and it was evidenced by a more competitive and far-reaching CONMEBOL Copa América Femenina. In the 2018 edition there was an attendance of 48,906 spectators, a figure that rose to more than 160,000 in the 2022 edition. In 2018 no financial prizes were distributed, while today CONMEBOL distributes USD 2,000,000. This year, the transmission of the matches reached 141 countries and in 2018 it barely reached 4 territories.
Our tournaments open the doors to the world. A clear example is the important South American presence in the Women's U-20 World Cup, which has been held in Costa Rica with the great performance of the Brazilian and Colombian teams. And in October the Women's CONMEBOL Libertadores awaits us with the participation of 16 clubs in Quito and the Women's U-17 World Cup, in which the teams from Brazil, Colombia and Chile will represent us.
We work inspired by a conviction: football is always football, the magic and the passion are the same, whether girls, boys, youth, men or women play. The joy of the goal, the emotion of a penalty, the claw put when disputing a ball, do not know genres. They are the same in women's soccer and in men's soccer, especially in the South American continent, where this sport is an essential part of our culture.
This is the path for South America to occupy the place of world power to which it is destined due to its history, its capacity, its effort and its passion. With perseverance and talent, the girls and women of South America will conquer the world.
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