During the interview, we ask, among other things:

• What could help the Czech women’s national team qualify for the World Cup?
• What is the level of women’s football in the world?
• What is (not) the difference between women’s and men’s football?
• How is football played in villages and schools?

How has the course of this year’s championship affected you so far?

Superbly. In women’s football, we see that every big event is better than the last. Last year’s European Championship in England was a landmark event for Europe, there were a lot of spectators and it had a great media impact. Performance was also excellent.

The current championship in Australia and New Zealand surpasses it in the number of television viewers, it has a greater audience. And the performances of teams that you don’t usually meet here in the European environment interest me. I appreciate.

Can we then say that the situation of women’s football is improving on a global scale?

Yes of course. When we read the analyzes and reports on how each team’s journey to the World Cup has been, for all of them, it is mainly due to the greatest interest and support of the national football federation of the country in question.

The winning moments. 📸#Beyond Greatness | #FIFAWWC pic.twitter.com/7z21DD1euo

– FIFA Women’s World Cup (@FIFAWWC) August 13, 2023

Teams like Haiti, Vietnam and the Philippines also participated in the World Cup this year. Their men’s national team has never participated in the main part of the tournament before. How many times can we be faced with a situation where women’s football overtakes men’s football somewhere?

It didn’t really cross my mind, but when you put it that way, I don’t see a lot of sports where that’s the case. However, the key to accessing the World Cup is easier for these teams than, for example, for European teams: those who did not come out of the group directly had to go through the playoffs. There were still many of these matches before arriving at the championship itself.

Non-European teams have the task a little easier: just focus on one qualification. And when it all comes together, it works. But at the same time, driving people from countries like Haiti or the Philippines crazy thinking they’re there and can compete even with big favorites was great.

The Czech team finished third out of five in the qualifying group and accumulated the same number of points as Bosnia and Herzegovina, who managed to qualify. Is this a sign that the Czechs could advance to the main part of the tournament next time?

I am not sure. In the group, of course, it always depends a bit on luck, who you meet as an opponent. As for the Czech team, I think qualification for the European Championship is closer for us than for the World Championship. Here it is a little more complicated. For me, the journey must be gradual, arriving first at the European Championship and the world must follow.

So what would need to change so that in the future we have the opportunity to see the Czech national team in it?

It’s a complicated question, we’ve been talking about it for a long time. As I have already indicated, the teams which today participate in the championship began to receive great support from their national associations at some point. She invested a lot of money there, funds to support the media. It was such a start, a rebirth of national competitions to professionalize, for players to train even more.

At the same time, it is