Which women’s football team will be world champion on Sunday, August 20? The victory of this 9th edition will be played between Spain and England. The first edition dates back to 1991, or rather, the first edition organized by FIFA, the International Football Federation. In reality, other World Cups were organized before 1991, but were never officially recognized by FIFA.
France actually played in its very first World Cup in 1971, in Mexico, a World Cup that was ‘forgotten’ in official documents and almost erased from the history of women’s football.
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In 1970, Italian businessmen decided to organize the first ever Women’s World Cup in history. The competition takes place in Italy, largely sponsored by the alcohol brand Martini Rossi. Faced with the financial success of this event, they decided to repeat the experience a year later, in 1971, still with the same sponsor. This time everything takes place in Mexico. Six teams are participating: Denmark, which won the 1970 edition, Mexico, the host country, Argentina, Italy, England and France.
The French team is then almost exclusively represented by the football players from Stade de Reims. The club established a women’s section in 1968. The players, mainly high school and college students, are coached by Pierre Geoffroy, who takes them on “tours” around the world, on weekends and during school holidays. It is he who therefore goes to Mexico with this “French team”. In the ranks in 1971 were in particular Ghislaine Souef, 18 years old, midfielder, nicknamed “Gigi” by her teammates, and Nicole Mangas, defender then 21 years old.
The month prior to this first World Cup, the players went to a training camp near Reims, in “La Sablière”. “Normally we had two training sessions a week, so with four hours of training we were not top athletes”, Ghislaine recognizes. Nicole mainly remembers how much she has “smeared in the sand” during this preparation course that Pierre Geoffroy describes as“artisan” in an interview at the time.
In August 1971, the French women took a plane to Mexico. The tickets are all covered by Italian sponsor Martini Rossi, who also finances the accommodation. “We were in very luxurious hotels, with a swimming pool, there were a lot of resources”, says Gigi. On the other hand, the players’ equipment is not provided, she points out, “Pierre Geoffroy went to Adidas, Le Coq sportif, so we were dressed from head to toe. The clothing factories in Reims also made a safari jacket and a hat for the presentation photo”. This was not the case with all teams: Nicole remembers the Argentinians arriving “no shoes, no shirt, nothing”.
The matches will be partly played in the Azteca stadium in Mexico and, for our French women, in Guadalajara. ‘We went by bus, specifies Ghislaine. We drove for an hour on asphalt, and two hours on sand and stones.”. The Danes’ bus broke down in the middle of the desert, they were stranded for several hours and it was the Italian selection bus that finally picked them up, as explained Thibault Rabeuxin his book Women’s football: the unofficial World Cups.
The latter also explains that on the field the goalposts are painted pink and white for the occasion and that the interpreters are dressed in pink. Thibaut Rabeux quotes the president of the organizing committee for this World Cup, Jaime De Haro, who explained New York Times want “emphasizing femininity, because football and women are the combination of the two passions of the majority of men around the world”.
In his work he also indicates that the day before the Mexico-Italy semi-final, a match that the latter lost, Mexican supporters came to make noise all night under the windows of the Italians’ hotel. To prevent the same scenario from happening the day before the match during the Mexico-Denmark final, Denmark asked its embassy to find nationals to accommodate the players elsewhere than the hotel.
For Nicole, “Everything was done for Mexico to reach the final”presumably to fill the stadiums. “Just at the start, the six teams were divided into two groups. We, France, were with Italy and the reigning champions, the Danes. Mexico was with Argentina, who arrived with nothing, and England, not a very good team at the start. time.”says the defender.
Even though France finished 5th and penultimate in this World Cup, Nicole and Ghislaine have very fond memories of this first Women’s World Cup for the French. “You don’t play it every day, I only played one. It gave me chills. When you go on the field you have no legs anymore, and then you miss the first ball, the second, maybe the third and you say to yourself ‘now we have to play football'”, Gigi explains. The word that comes to Nicole’s mouth when she talks about this World Cup is “extraordinary”. “Just thinking about it makes me very emotional, it’s difficult”she says.
“The Marseillaise is France, and when we enter the field and hear the Marseillaise, I still cry about it.”
Nicole Mangas, defender of the French teamat Franceinfo
“When I was on the field I couldn’t sing because I had a lump in my throat. And then it went beyond me, because we represented France.”she continues.
The two players also remember the crowds in the stands, the excited atmosphere in the stadiums. “There were more than 110,000 spectators for the final in the Azteca stadium. We often talk about the Catalans’ record, but this was huge.”assures Ghislaine who refers to the official attendance record for a women’s football match, with slightly more than 91,600 peopleit was during the Champions League semi-final, in April 2022, between FC Barcelona and Wolfsburg.
The event was well attended in Mexico and the media attention was very high. “We were followed everywhere by journalists, we signed autographs, we were stars, describes Nicole. And when we returned to France, our mothers said to us: ‘Hop, unpack your bags, wash your things’ and we returned to everyday life.”. This return to anonymity was a lesser evil according to Nicole, who remembers that in England, after this World Cup, the federation banned women to play football and represent their country.
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Today, 52 years later, Ghislaine and Nicole proudly claim their nickname “pioneers”. “I like to say that we form the basis and that every generation has contributed to get where we are now”, Gigi assures. Nicole also thinks it is a shame that this 1971 World Cup has no official recognition: “It’s as if we didn’t play with the French team. The beginning of the new era of women’s football was us. And I think this should be part of French women’s football. I am a pioneer”.
