Copa América Femenina faces backlash over poor conditions and low attendance

The Copa América Femenina has gotten off to a rough start.

Players complained about the training conditions for group-stage matches in the tournament in Ecuador and the lack of VAR, as well as near-empty stadiums for many games.

Soccer great Marta, a six-time world player of the year who came out of retirement to play for Brazil in the premier women’s tournament for South America, was not happy to be forced to warm up at Gonzalo Pozo Ripalda Stadium in a small indoor area before a match against Bolivia.

“There wasn’t enough space. I don’t understand why we can’t warm up on the pitch. We hope that CONMEBOL will address some of these issues and take steps to improve. Is this professional football?” Marta said. “I haven’t played in a tournament in South America for many years, and these situations deeply sadden me.”

The tournament organizers did not allow players to warm up on the field to protect it because in the group stage there are back-to-back matches in that stadium.

CONMEBOL, South America soccer’s governing body, has not commented on the complaints.

“Even amateur tournaments are better organized than this,” Brazil’s Ary Borges said. “Ask Alejandro (Domínguez, CONMEBOL president) if he’s ever had to warm up in a 5- or 10-meter space that smells of paint. Why do things like this happen in women’s football? Honestly, I think we deserve much better.”

The tournament is being played across three stadiums in the capital of Quito. The final is set for Aug. 2 at the Rodrigo Paz Delgado stadium, the third largest one in Ecuador, with a capacity of 44,000 fans.

Players have also complained about the lack of VAR, with video review only being used for the semifinals and final.

“It’s disrespectful that there’s no VAR. The (Women’s) European Championship is being played in parallel (in Switzerland) and for us, as players, it’s a disgrace to watch the European Championship and the Copa América,” said Chile striker Yanara Aedo.

The Copa América is among three big continental women’s tournaments this summer, along with the European Championship and the Africa Cup of Nations.

For some teams, problems arose before the start of the tournament. Uruguay arrived with their players upset with their federation over training conditions and they agreed to participate just 72 hours before their match after their demands were met.

The players asked to use the training facility in Uruguay known as “Complejo Celeste” with the same conditions as their male counterparts, to have better equipment and an increase in their daily money allowance for national and international competitions.

Low attendance has also been an issue. Although no official numbers have been released, television images show most of the stadiums with empty seats even for the host nation. In Ecuador’s first match against Uruguay only 6,000 fans were announced at the IDV stadium, which seats 12,000.

Tickets for the event went on sale to the general public on July 4, just eight days before the opening game. At an international forum on labor conditions in women’s sport earlier this month in Geneva, delegates were told that a lack of promotion in Ecuador allegedly saw just 30 tickets sold for one game in a near-empty stadium.

FIFPRO, the global soccer players’ union, surveys players following big events and works with confederations to make necessary changes.

“It’s just not isolated in CONMEBOL, it’s a global issue. I think what’s happened is obviously that the players with the biggest platforms, Marta, Kerolin, they’re able to speak out, but there’s a lot of players who are unable to use their voice,” said Alex Culvin, FIFPRO’s director of global policy for women’s football.

“That’s where FIFPRO obviously has a responsibility to shield the players so they don’t have to advocate for themselves, and we do that through anonymous surveying, and when players do speak out, we offer support.”