For decades, the history of football has been written as a chronicle of solitary giants—men whose identities were subsumed by the numbers on their backs. In his profound exploration of the sport, Mexican intellectual and writer Juan Villoro has spent years dissecting these myths, analyzing how players like Franz Beckenbauer or Ferenc Puskas became more than athletes, transforming into symbols of national identity and tactical evolution.
However, Villoro argues that the most vital narrative in the sport today is not found in the nostalgic archives of the men’s game, but in its expanding horizons. To Villoro, the most important thing in contemporary football is women’s football, a movement he views not merely as a trend in inclusivity, but as the only remaining space where the game is evolving with genuine purity and social urgency.
This perspective arrives as a necessary counterweight to a men’s professional circuit that Villoro suggests has turn into overly corporate, where the “numbered heroes” are often managed brands rather than spontaneous artists. By shifting the lens toward the women’s game, Villoro identifies a critical juncture in sports sociology: the moment where the sport’s soul is being reclaimed from the machinery of hyper-commercialization.
The Myth of the Numbered Hero
In his work The Numbered Heroes (Los Héroes Numerados), Villoro examines the archetypes of the pitch. He profiles legends who defined their positions, from the daring eccentricity of Colombia’s René Higuita to the cerebral mastery of Luka Modric and the clinical precision of Antoine Griezmann. For Villoro, these players represent a lineage of “numbered heroes”—individuals who inherited a role and, through sheer brilliance, expanded the boundaries of what that number meant to the world.
Yet, there is a tension in this legacy. While the men’s game has reached an apex of technical proficiency and financial scale, it has also entered an era of extreme predictability. The “heroes” are now produced by academies and polished by agents. The spontaneity that defined the eras of Puskas or Beckenbauer has, in many ways, been replaced by a systemic efficiency.
This is why the rise of the women’s game is so significant. It is not just about equality; it is about the restoration of the sport’s organic growth. Women’s football is currently experiencing a period of rapid professionalization and tactical discovery that mirrors the early, romantic eras of the men’s game, but with the added weight of a necessary social revolution.
Why Women’s Football Defines the Contemporary Era
Villoro’s assertion that women’s football is the most important element of the contemporary game rests on the idea that it is the only sector of the sport still capable of surprising us—not just with results, but with its cultural impact. While the men’s Champions League is a well-oiled machine, the growth of women’s leagues across Europe and North America represents a fundamental shift in who is allowed to claim the pitch.
The impact is visible in the staggering growth of global viewership and participation. According to FIFA, the Women’s World Cup has seen exponential growth in attendance and broadcast reach, signaling a shift in the global appetite for the game. This growth is not merely additive; it is transformative, forcing governing bodies to rethink infrastructure, coaching, and investment.
For Villoro, the importance lies in the stakes. For the men’s game, the stakes are primarily financial and prestige-based. For women, the stakes are existential. Every match played in a sold-out stadium is a victory over a century of institutional exclusion. This adds a layer of emotional and narrative depth to the women’s game that the men’s game, in its current state of saturation, often lacks.
The Convergence of Sport and Sociology
The evolution of the women’s game also highlights the broader struggle for equity within sports governance. The fight for equal pay and equal conditions—most notably led by the U.S. Women’s National Team—has turned the football pitch into a courtroom for human rights. This intersection of athletic excellence and social justice is, in Villoro’s view, the most compelling story in modern athletics.
The following table outlines the primary drivers that Villoro and other sports sociologists identify as the catalysts for this shift:
| Factor | Men’s Game Status | Women’s Game Status |
|---|---|---|
| Growth Curve | Saturation/Incremental | Exponential/Emergent |
| Narrative Focus | Commercial Brand/Legacy | Identity/Social Justice |
| Tactical State | Highly Systematized | Rapidly Evolving |
| Institutional Role | Established Power | Challenging Hegemony |
Beyond the Scoreline
To understand Villoro’s fascination with the women’s game is to understand his view of football as a mirror of society. If the men’s game reflects the triumphs and failures of capitalism and nationalism, the women’s game reflects the struggle for visibility and the breaking of glass ceilings.
When he speaks of the “numbered heroes,” he is not dismissing the brilliance of Modric or Griezmann. Rather, he is suggesting that the most inspiring “heroes” of the current moment are those who are creating a path where none previously existed. The modern woman footballer is not just inheriting a number; she is defining what that number means for a new generation of girls worldwide.
This shift also challenges the traditional journalism of the sport. For too long, sportswriting focused on the “great man” theory of history. By centering the conversation on women’s football, Villoro pushes the narrative toward a more collective, inclusive understanding of excellence.
The trajectory of the sport is now inextricably linked to this progress. The success of future tournaments and the health of the global football ecosystem depend on whether the momentum of the women’s game is sustained by genuine investment or merely treated as a marketing exercise by federations.
The next major checkpoint for this evolution will be the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup, which official reports confirm will be hosted by Brazil. This event is expected to be a watershed moment, testing the sport’s ability to integrate professional standards with the passion of one of football’s most fervent nations.
We invite you to share your thoughts on the evolution of the game in the comments below. Do you agree that the women’s game is the most vital part of football today?
