USWNT legend Mia Hamm: Football connects, inspires & grows people (2024)

FIFA Legend Mia Hamm wants to “make the game more accessible, to connect more people” and help football unite the world as the United States Women’s National Team (USWNT) icon prepares to join fans across the globe in watching her country contest the Olympic gold medal at Paris 2024.On the back of a stellar career that ended on 276 international appearances, 158 goals and a treasure trove of medals, Hamm is one of women’s football’s most recognisable figures. Now 52, she hopes the opportunities that were the starting point on her path to the top of the game can be provided to all.“I think, in the end, it simplifies what we get to do every single day,” said Hamm when asked to sum up what FIFA’s slogan ‘Football Unites the World’ means to her. “You know, soccer is the same for everyone – it's a ball on a pitch. But it reminds me that there's still so much growth to be had.

“A quote by Martin Luther King Jr is: 'You can't ask a bootless man to pull himself up by the bootstraps.' The people who don't have the opportunities – it is our responsibility to ensure they get them, to make the game more accessible, to connect more people, and bring them into our game because it's not just about the trophies. The trophies are great, but what soccer has taught me is about my value as a human being, making a difference, and education, and being able to support and grow the game the best way I can.”Hamm was a key member of a famed USWNT side that claimed two FIFA Women’s World Cups including the inaugural competition in 1991. She acknowledged that the fervour that greeted the 1999 tournament that was won on home soil was significantly fuelled by Hamm and her teammates claiming gold at a historic first Women’s Olympic Football Tournament – also on home soil in Atlanta – three years earlier.“It changed all of our lives, because I know in the US we were still trying to get people into the World Cup – the Women's World Cup,” Hamm explained at an event at FIFA House in the French capital. “The Olympics connected us to outside of the football community, and really helped build our game in the United States, which catapulted us and enabled us to make the 1999 Women's World Cup the success that it was. You know, people knew who we were, knew our first and last names, and were excited to get on board and support our team, and to support the beautiful game.”

Success for Brazil in Saturday’s final – the first time the Women’s Gold Medal Match has been played after the Men’s, which takes place on Friday – could have a similar effect on the South American country, which is set to become the first from the region to host a FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2027.Leaving Paris with a gold medal would cap the international career of another legend of the game, Marta, who has announced 2024 will be her last year as part of the Brazil squad. The 38-year-old forward was in the Seleçao side pipped to gold by a US team featuring Hamm in Athens 2004 and was also left with silver four years later in Beijing having once again been defeated by the USWNT.Hamm, who ended her playing career following her second Olympic gold medal, has nothing but admiration for her fellow legend, but that will not stop her putting patriotism first when Brazil face the US for gold at the Parc des Princes.

“I'm really excited about this game, because I feel that Brazil are playing with so much confidence, they have their inspirational leader in Marta – one of the best players that has ever played our game. We are so lucky to have her. I look at the US team, and how much they have grown in the last month, both as individuals and as a team. And I don't think you could have asked for a better final,” she said.“It's two teams who are going to play with enthusiasm and joy, and play the full 90 or 120 minutes – however long it takes. Of course, I'll be rooting for the USA, as I've worn that jersey, but I'm excited; I think we're very fortunate to have this final.”