Stop asking women to prove they are football fans
The good news is that many women no longer seem interested in seeking anyone’s approval. They simply enjoy football, and are part of it;showing up consistently for both men’s and women’s matches.
What you need to know:
- In our newsroom, the tournament has turned ordinary working hours into something else entirely. Matches run in the background. Then without warning, a scream. Someone scored. Another missed. Someone’s team is out.
- And when I look up to see who is making the noise, women are almost always among the loudest. Predicting, arguing and genuinely grieving a missed penalty; not putting on a show for anyone.
That, to me, is the real story.
I am not a football fan. I should say that upfront, before you read any further and decide I have no business writing about the World Cup. I support Arsenal, Real Madrid and Gor Mahia — but only because my sons do, and over the years their loyalties quietly became mine, the way things do in a house full of strong opinions. I cannot name most of the players in any of those squads. During major tournaments, I watch more out of social obligation than genuine passion. I am, at best, a spectator of spectators.
But something unusual happened to me this World Cup season. I stopped watching the matches and started watching the women watching the matches.
In our newsroom, the tournament has turned ordinary working hours into something else entirely. Matches run in the background. Then without warning — a scream. Someone scored. Someone missed. Someone's team is out. And when I look up to see who is making the noise, women are almost always among the loudest in the room. Predicting, arguing and genuinely grieving a missed penalty; not putting on a show for anyone.
That, to me, is the real story.
Football may seem like an unlikely place to reflect on gender equality. We tend to think about equality in terms of boardrooms, political offices, and executive appointments.
Those spaces matter a lot. But culture also changes in less obvious places such as stadiums, neighbourhood watch parties and in offices where women interrupt their work to celebrate a goal or lament a missed opportunity. These moments may appear ordinary, but I don’t think they are.
For generations, many public spaces have belonged more to men than to women. Not because women were formally barred, but because they were made to feel like visitors — politics, community meetings, sports bars and football terraces, just to name a few. Some conversations were simply not meant for women.
A man can love football without ever being asked why. Yet many women can tell stories of being tested the moment they admit they support a club, ‘Name the coach. Name the captain. Name the starting eleven.’ As though fandom were an examination rather than a shared experience. That instinct, it should be said, extends far beyond sport. Football merely reflects a habit that society has not entirely abandoned.
These women are not all football experts, and that is perfectly fine. Some can tell you every statistic and every transfer rumour. Others simply enjoy being there. They like the atmosphere, the excitement and the conversations that come with match day. There is room for both. No one has ever expected every man who watches football to know everything about the game.
I only recently discovered, rather sheepishly, that Arsenal had finally won the Premier League after 22 years. Twenty two years! My son told me. His excitement caught me by surprise. His face lit up in a way I do not often see. I may not have shared his passion for the result, but I recognised that kind of happiness - it comes from waiting a long time for something you care about.
That conversation also left me thinking about how often women are asked to justify being football fans. It is a strange expectation. Men rarely have to explain why they support a team or spend a weekend watching matches. Women, on the other hand, are still expected to prove they know enough or love the game for the "right" reasons.
The good news is that many women no longer seem interested in seeking anyone's approval. They are simply enjoying football, and are part of it; building online communities, organising supporters, hosting discussions, showing up consistently for both men's and women's matches. They don’t argue their way in, they just land.
Also read: Hope for young football mums
It is a quiet power but real. Perhaps that is why this World Cup feels different to me. The loudest thing I have noticed has not been the celebrations after a goal. It has been how ordinary it now seems to hear women arguing about matches, predicting outcomes, sharing opinions without apology. That is not a small thing. When a thing stops feeling remarkable, it has already changed.
I still can’t confidently discuss formations or tactics. I celebrated Arsenal's title anyway, because the people I love were celebrating, and that was reason enough. Maybe that is what belonging actually looks like. Just the freedom to be in the room and feel what you feel.
Meanwhile, we are still in the round of 32 of the Fifa World Cup 2026 (a colleague had to tell me that) but may the best team win, and may the women arguing about it be proved right.
