With about four games left in the season, it was mathematically clear to the players and coaches of Queens Park Ladies, an under-12 girls soccer team in Bournemouth, England, that they would win the tournament. your fight.
But instead of resting on their laurels and enjoying a certain victory, they decided to go one step further: What if they not only won the championship, but did it without losing a single match?
If that wasn't enough, they will be the only women's team in the men's tournament.
Dear readers, they did it. Queens Park Ladies have not lost any of their 22 matches, earning them the elusive nickname “The Invincibles”, a nickname that evokes memories of the 2003-04 Premier League season Arsenal's unbeaten run under Arsène Wenger.
“I just think it's unbelievable that we came this far to beat some boys who were more athletic than us,” said Millie Ray, 11, a midfielder. “We actually went back and destroyed them.”
In interviews, the players praised each other and emphasized that they are also close friends, which has helped their game.
Olivia Green, 12, captain of the team, said: “I feel really proud of my team and happy for us. “I don't expect that, but I think we can do it.”
“I knew we were a good team,” said 11-year-old Skylar Henshall-Dicks. But looking back on the season, she said, she is even more amazed. “Now that we've done it, it seems even crazier,” she said.
Queens Park Ladies have conceded just 11 goals in 22 games – “a fantastic stat”, according to Toby Green, the team's manager and Olivia's father.
Much of that is thanks to 12-year-old goalkeeper Mariah Silva.
“When they needed me, I did my job,” Mariah said. “Sometimes there is a lot of pressure,” she said, especially during penalty kicks.
Mariah joined the team three years ago, when she moved to England from Brazil, where she was used to playing against boys. She has big ambitions for the future: “My dream is to become a professional soccer player,” Mariah said.
Girls vs Boys
As their memorable 2023-24 season began, it took a little while for Queens Park Ladies to be taken seriously by the boys on the opposing team.
“Sometimes, especially at the beginning of the season when we haven't played a full game, they giggle,” said Edith Wragg, 12, a defender. “They definitely underestimated us. But then we showed them that we were just as good as them.”
Skylar, also a defender, said in the first match, their opponents seemed to think beating the women's team would be easy. But after their 6-0 win over Queens Park Ladies, their opponents were “quite stunned”, she said.
Other players also remember similar moments. “Sometimes they get a little angry,” Olivia, the team captain, said of the opposition players. “I think they're a little silly.”
If anything, that attitude serves as a motivating factor, said Chris Wragg, the team's coach and Edith's father.
“It's a wonderfully egalitarian environment, the football field,” Mr Wragg said. “The only real barriers are the ones off the field.”
'These girls are serious'
Women's soccer is a subject Sports develop rapidly. In England, much of the excitement surrounding the sport can be attributed to the women's national team, the Lionesses. Surname won the European championship in 2022 – a feat that has yet to surpass its male counterparts – and reached the final of the FIFA Women's World Cup the following year.
While the Lionesses serve as role models for the 11- and 12-year-old Queens Park ladies, the girls said they hope to become an inspirational force themselves.
“We were all thinking about how great it would be to hopefully other girls see it and inspire them to play football,” Edith said.
In Bournemouth, on the south coast of England, interest in women's football has increased in recent years, Mr. Green said. When the club of mixed-age teams was founded about six years ago, he said, not many girls wanted to join the team. At the time there was no women's league, so Queens Park Ladies then also competed in the men's league, but with very different results.
“In the first few seasons, they won one game in two years and drew one game,” Mr. Green said. “It's very difficult.”
The players spent the following years training and competing against both men and women. After his team reached the under-12 tournament, Mr Green said he contacted the county's football association, the Hampshire Football Association, and managed to persuade the girls to be admitted. men's tournament – after overcoming some hesitation.
Mr Green said: “The Hampshire Football Association said: 'Let's give it a try. By finishing first this year, Queens Park Ladies have secured promotion to Division 2 for next season, where they will play 11 v 11 (instead of the current nine) and for the first time on a big pitch. than.
“These girls are serious,” Mr. Green said. “They want to play at the highest level possible.”
Mr Green said he planned to form a women's team – starting at 16 – with the club and continue to progress through the ranks until entering the major tournaments. “That's the master plan,” he said.
Mr. Wragg, the coach, first gained coaching experience more than 20 years ago during a summer on Long Island, NY, which turned out to be a formative experience. He said that back then women's football was not popular or widespread in England.
“It was considered unusual,” said Mr. Wragg, who has a Ph.D. in exercise physiology, said. “But when I went to the States back then, it was more of a girls' sport than a boys' sport.”
Mr Green said he hoped that the growing popularity of the women's game would also mean better conditions for the women's game. “We know there is a gap between the men's game and the women's game,” he said. “That gap is just because the men's match lasts longer.”
However, he said, “the standard of the women's game is getting better every year”.
