4 Teams And 1 Spot - Who will go to Brazil?

When we talk about Football, how many of us think of it being a game played by women? Not many? Unfortunately, most of us have little knowledge about women’s football and about how popular it was at one point in history. Surprised? Read on to surprise yourself more…

Women’s football was a popular sport long ago, before and during World War 1. In fact, at times, they drew larger crowds than men’s football matches. Before the 1920’s, the sport flourished, with more than 150 women’s teams in England itself. When men were away at war, women took not only their jobs, but also their place on the football field. However, the Football Association banned women’s football officially in 1921, citing it “as a game not suitable for women to play”. It was not until 1971, that this ban was lifted. However, these 50 years of inaction in women’s football, has led to an immense set back to the game. Read The History Of Women's Football to get to know more about their past. Even though there has been a recent boom in women’s football, it is not given as much importance as men’s football. Slowly but steadily the women are getting there. Some of the facts below are heartening to the spirit of the game.

- North London Side that played in the first ever recorded Women's Football Match

Did you know that there was a women’s world cup last year? Or that they are playing in the Olympics this year? In case you’re wondering about having missed out on the action, don’t worry. You can still catch up by watching the Qualifiers which will end on the 9^th of March. 1 European side and 2 Asian sides are yet to qualify for the prestigious tournament.

To summarize what you missed so far:

• Colombia won the 2014 Copa America to qualify whereas France and Germany met the European criteria by reaching the farthest in the 2015 Women’s World Cup.
• South Africa and Zimbabwe via the 2015 CAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
• Canada and United States qualified through the CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying Tournament.
• Brazil – the host nation, Qualify for the next round directly and New Zealand have qualified as well.

There is a mini-tournament being held in Netherlands to determine the third qualifying team from Europe. France, Germany and England were knocked out of the world cup in the same round. However, England is ineligible to play in Rio - as it is not an Olympic nation. To tackle this issue, the teams that were knocked out in the previous rounds will play be playing in the 2016 UEFA Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland were knocked out in the round of 16, before the other two qualifying teams.

The Women’s Football teams of Sweden, Norway and Netherlands are ranked 8^th, 10^th and 12^th by FIFA whereas Switzerland’s women’s team is ranked 20^th. The trio that are ranked higher than Switzerland have not lost a fixture since September 2015 and have won all of their 3 matches each whereas Switzerland, who have played 2 more matches have also maintained a 100% win record. Despite just featuring 4 teams, this will be a tournament that will guarantee its viewers some top class football. What is left is to see is which team qualifies for the Olympics.

The Matches will take place on the 3^rd, 5^th and the 9^th of March 2016 and the team with the maximum points will qualify. Shall there be a tie, goal difference will be looked at post which head-to-head result would be considered.

So here’s to more women power in the game!