Portugal's Euro 2004 Success Sparks Football Fever

[Asim Ali 0]

Portuguese women have been swept up in the football fever which is sweeping the nation before Sunday's Euro 2004 final, inspired by a national squad which has made it to the last two of a major tournament for the first time in history.

At stadiums and in bars and public squares where giant outdoor television screens have been set up to to show matches, thousands of women, many wearing the red and green colours of the national flag, have screamed, cried and prayed like any ardent football fan.

"Replace this lame guy!," yelled young student Ines after Portuguese striker Pauleta failed to score with a clear chance during the semi-final victory on Wednesday against the Netherlands.

Sitting before a television screen at a community centre where she watched the match with a group of friends, Ines smoked cigarette after cigarette until the final whistle sounded to confirm Portugal's passage to the final, in which they will face Greece.

The number of women watching Euro 2004 matches on television in Portugal is up 42 percent from the last European championships held in the Netherlands and Belgium in 2000, according to marketing firm Initiative.

Women made up nearly half, or 45 percent, of fans who watched the three first phase matches in which Portugal participated, Initiative said.

Rosa Costa is one new fan who admits she knew nothing about football before the start of Euro 2004. But today she says she is able to name all 23 players on coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's squad.

"Miguel and Ricardo Carvalho are the best defenders we have, I think," she said.

"I was swept up by the euphoria surrounding the team. My husband and my kids got me into football."

But according to sociologist Joao Nuno Coelho, who has written extensively about football fans, most of these female supporters are not really into the tactics and rules of football.

"At this moment their behaviour and their support for the team is more a support for the country," he told AFP.

Others are swept up in the football fever because of the festive atmosphere which the tournament has generated in Portugal and their interest in the sport will not last once the tournament is over, he added.

"Perhaps some women will discover a real passion for football which will go on after Euro 2004. But for many by next week their interest in the game will be gone," he said.

For psychologist Pilar Del Rio however, sex and not patriotism, is behind the rise in female football fans, especially among the younger ones.

She told men's magazine "Maxima" that women between the ages of 15 and 25 watch matches as part of their "search for the ideal man".

"It is not the technique of football which attracts them, even if they appreciate the game," she said.

"What really excites them is the sexual contact symbolically represented by the muscular and energetic bodies, stained by sweat," she added.

Whatever the reason for the rise in female fans, European football governing body UEFA has taken steps to cater for them.

Among the roughly 3,000 different "officially licensed products" related to the three-week finals which went on sale earlier this year were items that specifically targetted women, such as china sets and women's watches.