Fifa’s ambassadors say Christchurch is in for a footballing feast with one of the stronger of the under-17 girls world championship groups to be based there.
Former New Zealand international Michele Cox, former Italian star striker and national coach Carolina Morace and New Zealand’s Oceania player of the century Wynton Rufer have been in the South Island spruiking the tournament from October 28 to November 16.
They are official ambassadors appointed by Fifa, world football’s governing body.
Cox said Christchurch had drawn one of the most competitive groups.
"You’ve got Germany and DPR Korea, who are two of the strongest teams in the tournament and you’ll also get Brazil against Nigeria, which will be a top match, and then you have two semi-finals.
"You’ve pretty much got a good mix there." Cox expects the tournament will inspire more girls to take up the game though she notes women’s football is already one of New Zealand’s fastest growing sports.
"We’ve got 100,000-plus junior players in New Zealand and one-third of them are girls."
Internationally, girls represented 10 per cent of junior numbers.
Cox, whose mother and sister were also New Zealand internationals, said there were now unprecedented opportunities for young Kiwi female footballers.
"If you want to push through to the elite level, you can go to the Olympic Games and all the World Cups.
"We’ve got girls on scholarships in the states, including one on a full scholarship at Stanford (university) and girls playing professionally in Europe."
Cox said there were also new professional leagues under development in Australia, the United States and Japan.
She expects the New Zealand team to be "very competitive" at the under-17 world championships.
She also believed the Kiwi sports public would be "pleasantly surprised" at the standard of the tournament, which will be televised in 150 countries.
Morace scored 105 goals in 150 games for the Italian national team and became the first woman in Europe to coach a professional men’s football team when she took charge of Italian Serie C1 league club AS Viterbese in 1999.
She stepped down a year later because "it was more important to train the national women’s team because we had the opportunity to play at the World Cup, European Cup and Olympic Games."
Morace and Rufer underwent role reversals at Hornby High School yesterday, with the Italian women’s legend coaching the boys and the Kiwi former Bundesliga star training the girls.
Morace said coaching men and women was "technically and tactically the same", but women asked more questions.
She believed New Zealand’s female footballers have good athletic ability.
The emergence of stars such as Brazil’s Marta and Germany’s Birgit Prinz has given international women’s football increased cachet.
Story by Tony Smith courtesy of The Press