Copa 71: how the largest crowd in women’s sport vanished
Fifty years ago, female football players converged on Mexico City for an unofficial World Cup tournament that played out before record-breaking crowds.
Yet their incredible story is only now coming to light, thanks in part to a critically acclaimed new documentary, Copa 71.
In 1971, 20 years before the first FIFA Women’s World Cup, a six-team international women’s football tournament was held in Mexico, organized by the Federation of Independent European Female Football. Sides from Argentina, Denmark, England, France, Italy and Mexico took part. The players flying in had no idea of the reception that awaited them.
In England, a 50-year ban on women’s football had only just been lifted by the Football Association. The players were amateurs, many of them schoolgirls. But from the moment they stepped off the plane, they were treated like rock stars – besieged by photographers and autograph-hunters, their team bus mobbed by fans.
Matches were played out before packed crowds in Guadalajara and in Mexico City’s Azteca Stadium, which had staged the final of the men’s FIFA World Cup only the year before.
Telling the story of these remarkable female sporting pioneers has been an incredibly emotional journey. We hope it excites audiences as much as it did us to make it. – Copa 71 co-director Rachel Ramsay
The final of Copa 71 took place on 5 September and was contested by Mexico and Denmark. Boosted by the home nation’s presence, the Azteca Stadium was filled almost to capacity.
Contemporary reports estimated the audience at around 110,000 – making it the largest attendance at a women’s sporting event in history. It was Denmark who went on to lift the trophy, winning 3–0 courtesy of a hat‑trick by 15-year‑old Susanne Augustesen.
Despite Copa 71’s undoubted success, many of the players returned home to a very different reception. Domestic football federations frowned upon the participants of this unofficial World Cup. The England players were banned from football for three months – their 19-year-old captain Carol Wilson, for six.
The victorious Danish team was disbanded and the Mexican Football Federation withdrew support for its side. Those who did continue to play on spoke of receiving taunts and catcalls from crowds.
Stories like this only come around once or twice in a career. That it has been hidden for 50 years is a complete travesty. – Copa 71 producer Victoria Gregory
In the decades that followed, the amazing story of Copa 71 has gone largely unacknowledged.
Now, a new documentary film seeks to put that right. Co-directed by Rachel Ramsay and James Erskine, Copa 71 charts the story of the tournament and the experiences of the women who took part. It has received the backing of tennis legends Venus and Serena Williams and two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup winner Alex Morgan – holders of more than 20 GWR titles between them – who acted as executive producers.
In 2024, thanks to the growth of professionalism and media coverage, the women’s game is unrecognizable from that of 1971 – a staggering 53.9 million viewers tuned in to watch China’s Group D clash with England at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
It makes it all the more important to acknowledge the sport’s unheralded pioneers. With this documentary, and a GWR title, the players of Copa 71 are finally receiving the recognition they deserve.
Copa 71 was released in the UK on 8 March. A list of showtimes are available at www.copa71.film.
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