On Sunday, Premièr Ligue side Paris St. Germain (PSG) were crowned winners of the inaugural Perth International Football Cup after defeating Manchester City 1-0 in the final at HBF Park.
The tournament represented a celebration of women’s football on the international stage as European teams demonstrated their marketability worldwide during this pre-season.
Three Women’s Super League (WSL) teams, Leicester City, West Ham United and Manchester City, travelled to Australia’s west coast, but it was the French side who clinched the title with an 88th minute penalty – taken by 23-year-old midfielder Jennifer Echegini after Kerstin Casparij tripped Tara Elimibi-Gilbert in the box.
Manchester City, however, can take heart from their performance against last season’s Champions League semi-finalists and were perhaps unlucky not to get more from the game after Bunny Shaw was denied a strong penalty shout in the first-half.
The Citizens came up against 33-year-old goalkeeper Katarzyna Kiedrzynek whose heroic performance was everything you might expect from a No.1 defending their starting shirt from Mary Earps. No mean feat given Earps’ recent credentials – 2023 World Cup runner up, 2022 European Championship winner and FIFA Best Goalkeeper 2022 & 2023 to name a few.
Though PSG were victorious, they failed to over-awe in either of their games, only beating West Ham 1-0 through 23-year-old striker Romee Leuchter’s goal in the 23rd minute.
The oft-repeated line that pre-season is about little more than fitness must be a caveat in all cases but, for West Ham fans, the tournament will certainly have caused some concern.
The East London club fell to a 5-2 defeat to WSL rivals Leicester City in the third/fourth play-off match and, as a result, finished bottom of the pack. It could have looked far worse had 30-year-old striker Viviane Asseyi’s late brace not salvaged what was a 5-0 scoreline until the 90th minute.
For Leicester, and new manager Amandine Miquel, the tournament gave plenty to be hopeful about. The Foxes held Man City to a 0-0 draw, only losing on penalties, before triumphing over West Ham.
It was an opportunity for all clubs to show off new faces with the tournament rife with debutants. City’s new keeper Japan international Ayaka Yamashita impressed in their penalty shootout victory over Leicester, while marquee signing Vivianne Miedema scored the winning spot-kick.
Among a number of other summer signings, Earps made her debut for PSG, and midfielder Chantelle Swaby and goalkeeper Kinga Szemik made their first starts for Leicester and West Ham, respectively.
In many ways, the pre-season tour was not just an exercise in football preparation but in showcasing European football on a different continent – and it succeeded.
The added draw of Matildas in each of the WSL sides (midfielder Katrina Gorry, striker Mary Fowler, defenders Alanna Kennedy and Courtney Nevin) attracted sizeable crowds for pre-season friendlies with over 15,000 in attendance for Sunday’s final between City and PSG.
As Australia continues to see domestic women’s football grow after the success of last summer’s World Cup, undoubtedly it will become a familiar trip for European teams looking for a more global pre-season in future.
Astutely, amid mandatory zoo trips to hug koalas, the clubs also took the opportunity to spread the buzz around the Perth Cup with local sides. Most prominently, Man City visited A-League side Perth Glory while Kristie Mewis fittingly visited her fiancee’s eponymous sports centre, the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
Leicester City took part in a bracelet exchange with local Sorrento FC U12’s and U13’s, while there was also a fan event on Friday arranged for the tournament itself.
In taking advantage of the growing international interest, the European sides can grow their global brand image as a women’s club and attract fans willing to invest around the globe.
It is another sign of the steps being taken in the women’s game with Arsenal and Chelsea also having successful trips stateside to face NWSL teams in the USA.
While ending a perennial debate over whether the NWSL or WSL is the better league might have been a useful byproduct of Arsenal and Chelsea’s respective victories over Washington Spirit and Gotham FC, more importantly, it is indicative of the increasing global attraction of the WSL.
Owing to the success of this summer’s international forays, we can expect to see the international pre-season tour become a firm fixture of the women’s calendar as the WSL realises its true global market value. And maybe even see the Australian and NWSL teams venture over here…