Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird Reflect on Soccer Stars’ Unrecognized Efforts Compared to Basketball: “Never Gets Rewarded”

“We do a lot of work back there that goes unnoticed,” remarked Naomi Girma while reacting to her second-place finish in the 2024 ESPN FC Top 50 Women’s Soccer Players ranking. Beyond being a subtle dig at her omission from the 2024 Ballon d’Or nominations, her words highlight the lack of recognition defenders receive—unsung poets of the beautiful game, crafting victories through tackles rather than goals. While others may disagree on this point, at least Megan Rapinoe and Sue Bird couldn’t agree more, with both even drawing comparisons between soccer and other sports like basketball to prove it.

It all comes down to an interesting topic that the power couple debated on the latest episode of Ted Audio Collective’s ReThinking with Adam Grant podcast. Host Grant asked both iconic athletes whether culture matters, and if it does, where it has more weightage, soccer or basketball. Interestingly, without giving it any second thought, Pinoe kept the very sport she excelled at on the pedestal and said, “Soccer is less prescribed.”

“There’s a lot of work for the team that needs to be done that just is mostly just running and doing all this s***y stuff that never gets rewarded ever,” continued the 2x World Cup winner. Megan further emphasized that players often make countless sacrifices on the field, like making sacrificial runs. However, despite going the extra mile, they rarely receive their deserving recognition, mainly “over the explicit purpose of somebody else.”

The former OL Reign star (now Seattle Reign) insisted such isn’t the case in basketball, where even the smallest of contributions gets players into the spotlight. “You can get some baskets or shoot a little bit. Everybody gets a little bit of the fun stuff sometimes. In soccer, there are some players who just don’t get the fun stuff and it’s less prescribed,” concluded the 39-year-old.

via Getty

Surprisingly, even Sue Bird supported her wife’s POV, saying, “I agree,” even though it came at the cost of the very sport the WNBA icon excelled at. In fact, the former Seattle Storm star specifically mentioned how many positions in soccer, especially defenders don’t get the recognition they deserve. This definitely echoes Naomi Girma’s viewpoint, who was quite vocal about a similar problem.

Despite being a top performer last year, she wasn’t included in the prestigious Ballon d’Or nominations. That almost had the entire soccer community in a rage. Like Seattle Reign boss taking a sly dig at France Football saying, “How Naomi Girma isn’t nominated makes the whole thing hilarious,” questioning the parameters on which players were selected. Further making the case for her were even USMNT icon Alexi Lalas and even fellow teammates like Lynn Biyendolo.

If not Girma, take Trinity Rodman as another example. On an earlier episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, host Alex Cooper asked the USWNT star about the hardest part of being a female athlete. Interestingly, Rodman replied by deeply contemplating the harsh reality of women’s soccer: recognition.

“The recognition for one, I think, even just in conversation it’s like, ‘Oh, who do you play for?’ – Spirit – and they’re like ‘What’s that?’ I’m like ‘Ugh’. I don’t know, I would say recognition [is the hardest part of being a female athlete],” she revealed.

So we hope you get the gist of how much lack of recognition soccer has, unlike basketball, where at least the majority of the people in America enjoy it. Then again, it’s not like only soccer is always under the shadow of the latter.

Sue Bird highlights a unique point about Megan Rapinoe-played sport!

In a similar segment, the former WNBA star expressed her astonishment over NWSL not halting its season, especially during an ongoing international tournament like the Olympics. Surprise takes a double fold after seeing the majority of the teams being able to retain their form, even in the absence of a star player. Meanwhile, back when she used to play in the WNBA, the basketball league used to pause all of its operations.

via Reuters

That made Sue wonder about the consequences if the same were to happen with the basketball league. But never mind, it’s something that Bird already knows. “We would never survive that…You could never take just one great player off a basketball team for a month, come back to a season, and that team function or survive it. That’s why the WNBA takes a break for the Olympics… We have to,” said the 44-year-old.

Intriguing, isn’t it? Well, that’s the beauty of sports—while the positives make it uplifting, the negatives often leave us questioning. Either way, share your views in the comments below!