Social Europe

  • EU Forward Project
  • YouTube
  • Podcast
  • Books
  • Newsletter
  • Membership

European women’s football—still a cold-war divide

Roland Benedikter and Dariusz Wojtaszyn 24th July 2022

As the women’s Euros near their climax, why have teams from central and eastern Europe again been absentees?

At international women’s football tournaments, national teams from central and eastern Europe (CEE) seem rarely to appear. Teams from the former Soviet bloc have only participated in the World Cup twice: in 1999 and 2003 in the United States, the Russian team qualified, losing in the quarter-finals. Similarly, in the European championships no country from the region has ever won a medal.

The same pattern is seen in club football—no CEE women’s club has ever won a European cup competition. The closest any has come was when the, again, Russian women’s team Zwiezda 2005 Perm (Звезда-2005 Пермь) made the final in 2009 of the predecessor to the women’s Champions League.

Why does women’s football appear to have developed much more slowly in eastern Europe? There are five main factors.

‘Socialism’ and stereotypes

First is history. Women’s football arrived relatively quickly and developed relatively vigorously in eastern Europe, where women began to play at the beginning of the 20th century. The first games had however only an unofficial and private character. Before the first world war, though, there were already three official teams in the Moscow region. The situation was similar in Poland, where the first women’s teams were formed after the achievement of national independence in 1918—the first in 1921, with more added gradually in the following years.

Secondly, there is politics. In the state-socialist era, women’s football developed in stages corresponding to the different political-ideological periods of the Communist system in CEE countries. For example, the Czechoslovak team was established as early as 1968, making it one of the first in the world. This was however only possible during a (rapidly truncated) political opening—the ‘socialism with a human face’ of the Prague Spring.

Thirdly, there are gender stereotypes. While a Soviet-led narrative of ‘progress’ did lead to some female emancipation in sport, the prevailing assumption was that central and eastern Europe comprised essentially rather traditional, patriarchal societies. While the picture is differentiated, the Communist era failed to establish gender equality, which was not a political priority—given, as the official claim went, under Communism everyone was already equal anyway.



Don't miss out on cutting-edge thinking.


Join tens of thousands of informed readers and stay ahead with our insightful content. It's free.



For the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Slovakia, joining the European Union in 2004 created an opportunity, given the influence of western women’s movements on the EU. But the social and political situation in women’s football did not change fundamentally and nor did access to new potential sponsors substantially materialise.

A decade or so later, a conservative turn was in any event evident in many CEE countries and in the past couple of years, with ultra-conservative parties engaging in ‘state capturing’ and ‘Caesarean politics’, gender equality has reversed, particularly in Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. This has been associated with a diminishing public presence of women’s sports—their teams lack the equipment, support and professionalism expected in the west.

In Russia specifically, under Vladimir Putin the status of women has regressed virtually to the Stone Age, with women repressed in many ways, activists (such as Pussy Riot members) jailed and few women in leading positions. Amid anti-globalism, re-nationalisation and de-internationalisation, CEE states have retreated in gender terms from the re-globalisation process, and the football industry is mirroring this societal involution.

Fourthly, there have been the huge economic challenges. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the economy of the region imploded and sport became one of the most neglected areas of social life, left severely underfunded having previously enjoyed substantial state support. The atmosphere was particularly bad around football, which in the 1990s became mainly associated with the excesses of stadium hooligans, who reflected and contributed to political unrest, collective pessimism and general anomie. Changing cultures is extremely difficult—including in sports—and this culture of neglect has to some extent continued to the present.

Finally, those ultras. Football in the region is directly and constantly politicised. The hooligans belong to political groups, with predominantly right-wing or far-right associations. Apart from a small incidence in eastern Germany, left-wing groups of supporters are either absent or play a marginal role. For the hard right, football is an outlet for and expression of political inclinations. Although this has been predominantly a male phenomenon, it has also affected women’s football.

Lagging behind

As a combined effect of the history, politics, gender stereotypes, economic shortfalls and hooliganism, women’s football does not generate much spectator interest among CEE fans, which translates into a lack of sponsors and correspondingly lower remuneration. As in most European countries, it definitely lags behind men’s—in terms not only of fan and media engagement but also financial and organisational effort.

Although support for men’s teams dominates across almost all sports in the region, it is most evident in football. Research on women’s football, as the lack of comprehensive scientific studies shows, has also been very slow to develop.

Yet despite all these hurdles, there are increasing efforts in CEE countries to improve the quality, standing and relevance of women’s football and promote it in the public sphere. For example, the Polish Football Association has allocated funding each year to subsidise women’s football leagues and the functioning of the national team. Although this remains significantly lower than the expenditure on men’s football, it nevertheless has been steadily increasing—from zł3 million (some €700,000) in 2012 to zł14 million (roughly €3.5 million) seven years later.

Football is far behind other women’s team sports in terms of public interest: volleyball and basketball are much more popular across the region. Yet, seen through a historical lens, over past decades the former German Democratic Republic has been an example of progress which could be copied by other countries.

Despite having a relatively successful men’s national team and women’s football emerging from the 1960s, typically of the state-socialist period the GDR women’s national team was not established until 1989. After German reunification, however, significant funding and structural changes saw women’s football begin to grow rapidly—even leaving men’s behind. Today, Turbina Potsdam is one of the top clubs in the women’s Bundesliga. Similar efforts are under way in the Czech Republic, where the Prague-based clubs Slavia and Sparta are becoming increasingly important.

Professionalisation and popularisation

Further development will undoubtedly require not only increased funding but also the professionalisation and popularisation of the discipline. This is linked to, among other things, better research on women’s football and more direct support from sports and health sciences.

The pandemic has brought insights into how women get sick in different ways from men and research on the differences between the bodies and psyches of men and women has made huge progress. For instance, it has induced differentiated timeframes for training (for men it is apparently better to train in the evening, for women in the morning to achieve the maximum positive effect for their bodies and their feeling of wellbeing). If all this leads, for example, to ‘precision medicine’ that differentiates between men and women, this will hugely affect sport science in general, and football science in particular, in the coming years.

There could be a more diversified push for gender-sensitive football and, in accordance with the gender focus of the new strategy of the United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organization, for gender equality in sport in general. The times ahead could be fascinating for women’s football. England 2022 might just be the beginning of its next stage of evolution.

Roland Benedikter
Roland Benedikter

Roland Benedikter is co-head of the Centre for Advanced Studies of Eurac Research in Bolzano/Bozen, Italy, and co-author of Football Politics in Central Europe and Eastern Europe (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

Dariusz Wojtaszyn
Dariusz Wojtaszyn

Dariusz Wojtaszyn is professor of modern history at the Willy Brandt Centre of Wrocław University in Poland and co-author of Football Politics in Central Europe and Eastern Europe (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021).

Harvard University Press Advertisement

Social Europe Ad - Promoting European social policies

We need your help.

Support Social Europe for less than €5 per month and help keep our content freely accessible to everyone. Your support empowers independent publishing and drives the conversations that matter. Thank you very much!

Social Europe Membership

Click here to become a member

Most Recent Articles

u421983467 9c73 b24a0b674750 1 The West’s Defence Now Depends on Trump’s Mood SwingsStefan Stern
u4219834674735ecb6fd43 0 The Dark Side Of The Boom In Last-Mile LogisticsSilvia Borelli
u421983467e464b43d2 1 Why European Security and Sovereignty Depend on Its Digital SectorMariana Mazzucato
u42198346c3fba71fa474 0 As Temperatures Rise, European Workers Face a Looming ThreatMarouane Laabbas-el-Guennouni
u42198346741 4727 89fd 94e15c3ad1d4 3 Europe Must Prepare for Security Without AmericaAlmut Möller

Most Popular Articles

u4219834647f 0894ae7ca865 3 Europe’s Businesses Face a Quiet Takeover as US Investors CapitaliseTej Gonza and Timothée Duverger
u4219834674930082ba55 0 Portugal’s Political Earthquake: Centrist Grip Crumbles, Right AscendsEmanuel Ferreira
u421983467e58be8 81f2 4326 80f2 d452cfe9031e 1 “The Universities Are the Enemy”: Why Europe Must Act NowBartosz Rydliński
u42198346761805ea24 2 Trump’s ‘Golden Era’ Fades as European Allies Face Harsh New RealityFerenc Németh and Peter Kreko
startupsgovernment e1744799195663 Governments Are Not StartupsMariana Mazzucato
u421986cbef 2549 4e0c b6c4 b5bb01362b52 0 American SuicideJoschka Fischer
u42198346769d6584 1580 41fe 8c7d 3b9398aa5ec5 1 Why Trump Keeps Winning: The Truth No One AdmitsBo Rothstein
u421983467 a350a084 b098 4970 9834 739dc11b73a5 1 America Is About to Become the Next BrexitJ Bradford DeLong
u4219834676ba1b3a2 b4e1 4c79 960b 6770c60533fa 1 The End of the ‘West’ and Europe’s FutureGuillaume Duval
u421983462e c2ec 4dd2 90a4 b9cfb6856465 1 The Transatlantic Alliance Is Dying—What Comes Next for Europe?Frank Hoffer

Eurofound advertisement

Ageing workforce
The evolution of working conditions in Europe

This episode of Eurofound Talks examines the evolving landscape of European working conditions, situated at the nexus of profound technological transformation.

Mary McCaughey speaks with Barbara Gerstenberger, Eurofound's Head of Unit for Working Life, who leverages insights from the 35-year history of the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS).

Listen to the episode for free. Also make sure to subscribe to Eurofound Talks so you don’t miss an episode!

LISTEN NOW

Foundation for European Progressive Studies Advertisement

Spring Issues

The Spring issue of The Progressive Post is out!


Since President Trump’s inauguration, the US – hitherto the cornerstone of Western security – is destabilising the world order it helped to build. The US security umbrella is apparently closing on Europe, Ukraine finds itself less and less protected, and the traditional defender of free trade is now shutting the door to foreign goods, sending stock markets on a rollercoaster. How will the European Union respond to this dramatic landscape change? .


Among this issue’s highlights, we discuss European defence strategies, assess how the US president's recent announcements will impact international trade and explore the risks  and opportunities that algorithms pose for workers.


READ THE MAGAZINE

Hans Böckler Stiftung Advertisement

WSI Report

WSI Minimum Wage Report 2025

The trend towards significant nominal minimum wage increases is continuing this year. In view of falling inflation rates, this translates into a sizeable increase in purchasing power for minimum wage earners in most European countries. The background to this is the implementation of the European Minimum Wage Directive, which has led to a reorientation of minimum wage policy in many countries and is thus boosting the dynamics of minimum wages. Most EU countries are now following the reference values for adequate minimum wages enshrined in the directive, which are 60% of the median wage or 50 % of the average wage. However, for Germany, a structural increase is still necessary to make progress towards an adequate minimum wage.

DOWNLOAD HERE

S&D Group in the European Parliament advertisement

Cohesion Policy

S&D Position Paper on Cohesion Policy post-2027: a resilient future for European territorial equity

Cohesion Policy aims to promote harmonious development and reduce economic, social and territorial disparities between the regions of the Union, and the backwardness of the least favoured regions with a particular focus on rural areas, areas affected by industrial transition and regions suffering from severe and permanent natural or demographic handicaps, such as outermost regions, regions with very low population density, islands, cross-border and mountain regions.

READ THE FULL POSITION PAPER HERE

ETUI advertisement

HESA Magazine Cover

With a comprehensive set of relevant indicators, presented in 85 graphs and tables, the 2025 Benchmarking Working Europe report examines how EU policies can reconcile economic, social and environmental goals to ensure long-term competitiveness. Considered a key reference, this publication is an invaluable resource for supporting European social dialogue.

DOWNLOAD HERE

Social Europe

Our Mission

Team

Article Submission

Advertisements

Membership

Social Europe Archives

Themes Archive

Politics Archive

Economy Archive

Society Archive

Ecology Archive

Miscellaneous

RSS Feed

Legal Disclosure

Privacy Policy

Copyright

Social Europe ISSN 2628-7641