Copa 71

It is August 1971. Football teams from around the world are gathering at Mexico City’s sun-drenched Azteca Stadium. The scale of the tournament is monumental: extensive TV coverage, merchandise on every corner and crowds of over 100,000 turn this historic stadium into ‘a cauldron of noise and heat’ match after match. But this is a tournament unlike anything that’s happened before. The players on the pitch are all women. This is Copa 71, the unofficial Women’s World Cup. Dismissed by FIFA and domestic football associations, this event has been entirely written out of history. Until now.