From the Unbelievable to the Impossible: The 1971 World Championships of Women’s Football

No sooner had Mexican women’s football exploded than it imploded. Beginning in the late 1960s a group of inspired women and their committed male allies launched a women’s league. Within a couple of years, they organized one of the largest women’s sporting events in history- the 1971 World Championships of Women’s Football. They built upon grass roots women’s sports associations that had existed for decades. This paper examines the 1971 tournament to understand feminism, racial identities, and sexuality among futboleras. Moreover, this research focuses on the involvement of media throughout the Americas and Europe, both in promoting and hindering the social acceptance of women’s football. It also traces the creation of a transnational community of women athletes and fans that emerged during these years. While each of the delegations faced stark discrimination from their national associations, their distinct reactions to ongoing hostility reveal broader differences in women’s social history.