Nine-year-old Juliette Dress watched the United States take on Belgium at a World Cup watch party at Thalia Hall in Pilsen on Monday night, July 6.
Between cheers for the action on the screen, the youth soccer player was already thinking about next year’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
“Most of the girls on my team are pretty excited to play,” she said.
Michelle Dress, who lives in the Little Italy neighborhood of Chicago, said soccer has become the family’s passion. “We took Juliette to a game in Kansas City, Netherlands versus Tunisia,” said Michelle Dress, who also brought 7-year-old Alli Dress to the USA watch party.
Their excitement reflects what families and organizers across Chicago say they’re seeing: growing enthusiasm for girls’ soccer and new efforts to expand opportunities for women and girls to play.
Oak Park resident Jill Gottfred Sohani said this summer’s World Cup has reignited her love for soccer, while her 10-year-old daughter, Naya, is already seeing the sport spread among her friends, and more girls are joining neighborhood and recess games, a sign that interest is growing.
Jill Gottfred Sohani said she hopes the women’s game continues to build that momentum “more advertisement, more visibility, so they can get the attention they deserve.”
Even though this summer’s spotlight has been on the men’s FIFA World Cup, families at the watch party said they hope the tournament inspires more girls to step onto the field and builds momentum for the women’s game.
Nationally, that enthusiasm is showing up in participation numbers. Girls’ high school sports reached a record high during the 2024-25 school year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, with girls’ soccer remaining one of the nation’s most popular sports.
The Women’s World Cup has grown dramatically over the past decade. FIFA reported that a record 1,978,274 fans attended the 2023 tournament in Australia and New Zealand, with more than 1.8 million tickets sold, making it the highest-attended Women’s World Cup in history.
River North residents Andy and Lizzie Hendren said the success of the U.S. Women’s National Team is proof the women’s game deserves greater attention. “Women are better,” Andy Hendren said.
The U.S. women captured World Cup titles in 1991, 1999, 2015 and 2019, the most of any nation. The U.S. men’s national team has never won the FIFA World Cup, with its best finish coming in 1930, when it reached the semifinals.
This year, the men’s team won their group stage before losing 4-1 to Belgium in the Round of 16.
Ashley Haywood of Pilsen said she hopes that same interest carries into the next year for the Women’s World Cup. But it may be hard.
“I haven’t noticed the kind of general excitement or people even kinda know that it’s going on,” she said of the Women’s World Cup in Brazil.
While fans watched the world’s biggest soccer tournament from Thalia Hall, organizers across Chicago are working to make sure more girls have a chance to play long after the final whistle.
At Kelly Park in the Brighton Park neighborhood last week, Juvenal Gomez Jr., the founder of Chicago’s Best Soccer League, or CBSL for short, was on the sidelines, observing his team, breaking up small arguments and making sure everyone had time to play.
The park was filled with players of all ages warming up while laughter, whistles, and the sound of paleta venders echoed through the neighborhood. Despite the heat, the fields remain busy throughout the evening.
As the World Cup captures the attention of soccer fans across the world, organizers at the HER League hope that the excitement encourages more girls to play closer to home. The league offers free soccer opportunities for girls and women who might not otherwise have a place to play.
Juvenal said he started HER League because there were few opportunities for young girls to play in Chicago.
“There were hardly any girls’ leagues in Chicago,” Juvenal said. “I wanted to do one for all those left-out girls to join the league”
The response has been quick. Just a few weeks after launching the program this summer, HER League had already welcomed about 60 girls into the program.
“We’ve got 60 girls in the program,” Juvenal said. “It‘s been great so far”
Gavi Ordonez of the Brighton Park community area has been playing since childhood. She said opportunities for women have grown significantly over the years.
”It’s become more open, as well as more noticed,” said Ordonez, who plays in the CBSL league. “Before when you were younger, you were mainly playing with boys”
Ordonez said soccer has also given a sense of community.
“I’ve always thought of soccer as being a big connection maker,” she said. “The amount of people that I’ve been able to reintroduce back into soccer, that have become really close friends”
She hopes young girls in the HER League feel they belong in the sport.
“Theres always going to people around that are going to uplift you,” Ordonez said. Women can play just as good as men. They should be seen and heard as well.”
As a captain of a Women’s Sports Chicago soccer team “Miss Indypendent,” Maddie Topliff from the Andersonville neighborhood, said the league has become a space where women can compete while building friendships.
“They want to win and do their best, but it’s about having a community as a woman through a medium, such as soccer, that we all really enjoy”
Topliff said women-only leagues give players a space where they can feel represented while removing barriers to participation. Recreational divisions, she said, make the sports more accessible regardless of experience.
“There’s no shortage of qualified women to lead in these spaces.”
Copy edited by Antonio Chaves
