Ivan Radford | On 25, Jun 2024

Director: James Erskine, Rachel Ramsay
Cast: Carol Wilson, Elvira Aracen, Brandi Chastain, Birte Kjems, Alex Morgan
Certificate: PG

When was the first women’s world cup? While you might get a range of answers submitted in a pub quiz, it’s unlikely anyone would say 1971. That was when women hailing from countries around the globe headed to Mexico for a global tournament. More than 100,000 fans gathered to watch the competition – and 50 years on, the world has completely forgotten it. How is that possible? The answer may not surprise you, but Copa 71 is a riveting, remarkable watch nonetheless.

The documentary takes us back to August 1971, when the ban on women’s football was lifted in many places. After an unofficial tournament in 1970 in Italy, teams from England, Mexico, France, Italy, Denmark and Argentina participated in a landmark competition that would see the female players make history with an unprecedented international showdown of massive scale. In a move that won’t shock fans of women’s sports, FIFA at the time refused to recognise the tournament formally, with a ban on local clubs hosting the matches – leading to the tournament ironically going one step bigger to be based in huge, national venues, including the Azteca and Jalisco stadiums.

How something so big could be so dismissed and ignored is mind-boggling – well, almost. The sexist views of decades past is alarming compared to the prominence and celebration of women’s football today, with media reports belittling them and making them the butt of jokes. Players from the tournament such as England’s Carol Wilson are both honest about the difficulties and frustrations and entertaining in their own forthright confidence.

The tournament itself is a humdinger, with disputes over wages, literal fights and streets crowded with fans reaching through car windows to welcome the athletes. Directors James Erskine and Rachel Ramsay use brilliantly edited archive footage and vox pops to take us through the cup’s twists and turns with all the drama of a classic sporting event, complete with major sponsorship deals. The lack of fanfare and recognition of their talents and achievements feels like something out of an alt-history drama made by a streamer, but there’s no doubting by the time the credits roll that this actually happened, and that these women are genuine stars in their own right. What a treat to see that status given back to them in feature-film form.

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