BBC News Online: World: Americas

Soccer fever hits US

In a country where soccer is still a minority sport, the cup has sparked unexpectedly strong emotions.

Girls scream the names of their heroes - especially Mia Hamm, the goal-scoring star of the US team.

"Girls rule ! Boys drool ! Soccer's cool !" chanted a group of young girls during the World Cup, their smiles nearly obscured by the Stars and Stripes painted on their faces.

Great role models

Many parents see the players as positive role models for their daughters.

Some have even named their children after members of the winning team.

And Saturday's victory could provide a welcome boost to the game, which is played by more than eight million Americans - a third of them female.

The game's image has progressed remarkably in the past decade.

During the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, the US team beat China to take the soccer gold - but network television showed only 10 minutes of highlights from the match.

In 1991 - when the World Cup was held in China - the American victory met widespread indifference back home.

Soccer sells out

Ticket sales during the 1999 Women's World Cup have far outstripped expectations.

Cup final seats - priced at $40 - were changing hands for as much as $1,000.

All 85,000 seats were sold in record time, and the game was carried live on the national ABC network and the cable sport station ESPN.

"Women's soccer has never been this hot, "said the Los Angeles Times' football reporter, Mike Penner.

Winter Pavone, a 15-year-old from San Diego, thinks that number will increase in the months after the World Cup.

"It's having an effect that more girls want to try out to be on soccer teams and other sports, and show that they can really accomplish something," she said.

An aggressive marketing campaign has built upon this youthful enthusiasm, spreading news of the World Cup further than the schoolyard.

Poster girl

It has focused on the personalities of the more high-profile players, including the sport's highest international goal scorer (of either sex) Mia Hamm.

She has appeared in a popular soft drinks advert with basketball icon Michael Jordan, where the two compete in a number of different sports, while singing 'Anything You Can Do, I Can Do Better'.

In the closing frames she throws Jordan onto the judo mat.

"We see it in every stadium where we go, and the letters we receive," she says; "I think they'll be hooked for life."

And as for the man at the top of the world football authority, FIFA, Sepp Blatter - he is convinced.

"I have seen the future of football," he said, "and the future is feminine."

Relevant Stories

US lifts World Cup (10 Jul 99 | Football)
China goes football mad (10 Jul 99 | Asia-Pacific)
One goal left for US footballer (01 Jul 99 | Americas)
US team boosts women's soccer (30 Jun 99 | Americas)

Internet Links

Women's World Cup
US Soccer Federation

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.

In this section

Microsoft trial mediator appointed (From Business)
Safety chief deplores crash speculation
Taxman scoops a million (From Entertainment)
Violence greets Clinton visit
Bush outlines foreign policy
Boy held after US school shooting
Memorial for bonfire dead
Senate passes US budget
New constitution for Venezuela
North Korea expels US 'spy'
Hurricane Lenny abates
UN welcomes US paying dues
Chavez praises 'advanced' constitution
In pictures: Castro strikes out Chavez
WTO: arbitration in EU-Ecuador banana dispute
Colombian army chief says rebels defeated
Colombian president lambasts rebels