The U.S. women's soccer team contended with a disappointing showing at this year's World Cup. It was also the target of massive online abuse during the tournament, much of which was due to factors other than its performance on the field, according to a new report by FIFA and FIFPRO, an international union for soccer players.
Released Monday, the report found that one in five players at the 2023 Women's World Cup were targeted with some form of discriminatory or abusive content online. Homophobic and sexualized content about the players was “prolific,” the report said, and the homophobic abuse directed at women athletes was almost twice the percentage of what the male players endured during the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
American players also received the most abusive comments, most of which were “politically-motivated.” A majority of these comments were identified were on X, formerly known as Twitter, the report said.
Of all the teams, the USWNT received the most amount of abuse on social media, in part because of its high profile as champions of two previous World Cups. But it was also "heightened by the perception of players not singing the National Anthem being called out as unpatriotic and anti-American," the report said.
Several of the USWNT members remained silent on the field when the National Anthem played ahead of their World Cup matches, and many viewers interpreted the players' silence as part of a protest against racial injustice that first kicked off in 2016 in solidarity with U.S. football player Colin Kaepernick. The players' silence during the tournament predictably led to a barrage of criticism from conservatives.
Much of the abuse occurred after politicians from different countries offered support to their teams, the report said. The same appeared to be true for the U.S. team. According to a chart included in the report, the largest spike in abusive comments came after the team lost a penalty shootout against Sweden, resulting in the elimination of the U.S. from the World Cup. The loss resulted in a "pile-on of abuse including replies to commiserations" by figures like President Joe Biden, the report said.
The report does not include any single example of the online abuse, but memorably, one of the most prominent figures who mocked the players after their defeat was former President Donald Trump, who has made his disdain for the team — and star Megan Rapinoe in particular — clear. (Rapinoe retired from the USWNT in September, roughly a month after the team was defeated in the Women's World Cup.)
In a post on Truth Social, Trump somehow managed to connect the USWNT’s defeat to Sweden with "wokeness" and Biden’s presidency. The loss "is fully emblematic of what is happening to the our once great Nation under Crooked Joe Biden," he wrote.
"Many of our players were openly hostile to America — No other country behaved in such a manner, or even close. WOKE EQUALS FAILURE," he continued. "Nice shot Megan, the USA is going to Hell!!!"