Globalising Women??Football ― Europe, Migration and Professionalization

Williams (International Centre for Sports History and Culture, De Monfort U., England) explores issues of migration and professionalization for women athletes involved in European football (called soccer in the United States) from the early 1970s to the present. She uses micro and macro examples to examine the push and pull factors influencing individual women players and the football labor markets open to them. She further addresses the meso-level from the mid-1980s in order to assess the improved European opportunities arising from various changes to the game, including the requirement of all-seater stadia in England and the negotiations for the first Premier League season in August 1992. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jean Williams has written extensively on the history of women’s football since publishing A Game For Rough Girls in 2003. She is a Senior Research Fellow in the International Centre for Sports History and Culture at De Monfort University Leicester. She is currently completing a history of British women Olympians.