Warrior Women of Football: How to watch & full details of Pele’s daughter’s documentary

It is to be executive-produced by two-time World Cup winner Julie Foudy, who also won the 1996 Olympic gold medal with the U.S. women’s national team.

The documentary is set to focus on the theme of gender disparity in sport, most crucially the wage gap between men and women’s national teams – particularly amid the conversation around the USWNT members suing U.S. Soccer for gender discrimination. The USWNT clinched their fourth World Cup title in July 2019, yet are still paid significantly less than their male counterparts.

Warrior Women of Football will also shine a light towards the broader issues of the marginalisation female footballers go through, from grassroots level to professional. 

The filmmakers visited clubs in England, Brazil, France, Italy, Tanzania and the United States to speak to female footballers on the challenges they have experienced in the male-dominated industry, while it will also work to raise funds for non-profit organisations who have been crucial in the battle towards achieving gender equality.

“The whole thing has been very whirlwind, but it’s been very fun,” said Petruccelli. “Everywhere we went, what we found was not at all what we expected.”

Its central story narrative follows the journey of young Brazilian professional footballer Lais Arjaujo as she works to fulfill her dreams of playing at the top level. The documentary will tell the story about the barriers she faced as a female footballer, from being allowed to even pick up a ball to finally getting noticed by a scout who noticed her talents – leading her to play in America.

“The argument that women don’t bring in the same revenue as men is a complicated issue, but in simple terms, it theoretically shouldn’t apply to non-for-profit organizations like U.S. Soccer and FIFA, which are mandated by their own by laws to grow the game for everyone equally,” Petruccelli added. 

“I argue that the revenue argument is also unethical to hold against women in clubs teams even though they are for-profit organization because, for example, in 1920 when a professional women’s game in England got more attendance than the men’s games at the time, the FA banned women’s football — the ban stayed in place for 50 years — thwarting the growth of the women’s game unfairly.”