Continental events show growth of women's game

Women, it is said in China, hold up half the sky.

Well, this summer, they will be carrying the second half of the soccer schedule, too. As the Club World Cup draws to a close in the United States, two major continental competitions in the women's game are set to kick off — the final round of the East Asian Football Federation E-1 Championship and the 2025 European Championship.

In recent years it has been China's women that have been propping up the nation's aspirations on the soccer field, providing succor to its long-suffering fans by qualifying for — and occasionally winning — international tournaments, an area where the men continue to disappoint.