Former women s football player Wang Shuang makes a living on live broadcast: the helplessness of ideals and reality

"Actually, I don't think it's appropriate, but there's really nothing I can do." When the current female football player Wang Shuang said this in the live broadcast room, there were understanding, heartache, and sighs about the current living conditions of women's football athletes in the scrolling barrage on the screen. This player who once ran for his dream on the green field now has to go to the live broadcast room to earn living expenses due to lack of stable income after retirement. Behind her "inappropriate" is the difficult journey between ideals and reality of the women's football athletes.

Wang Shuang's experience is not an isolated case, but it reflects the difficulties faced by women's football athletes. In the live broadcast, she admitted that her monthly salary when playing football was only more than 3,000 yuan - this number may be relatively low in the ordinary workplace, let alone professional athletes who need to undergo high-intensity training day after day and are at risk of injury at all times. The income of women's football players has long been significantly different from that of men's football players: in the men's football league, it has become the norm for the annual salary of main players to be hundreds of millions or even tens of millions, while even for women's football players, the club salary is often only enough to maintain a basic life, and the income of grassroots players is even more difficult. Sweat during training is not proportional to efforts, which is a reality that many women's football players must face.

's way out after retirement is another mountain that weighs on them. The golden career of professional athletes is already short. Due to the low attention to the project and limited commercial value of women's football players, the transformation support they can get after retirement is far less than that of men's football players. Most of them do not have a "star aura", which is difficult to enter a sports management position like a top athlete, and because they are long-term focused on training and lack other professional skills, it is not easy to integrate into the ordinary workplace. Wang Shuang's choice to live broadcast may be a "shortcut" in helplessness - she no longer has to compete for speed and strength in front of the camera, she only needs to share her past experiences and interact with fans, but in this "easiness" there is reluctance to leave the past arena and compromise with reality.

Some people may ask, the women's football girls once won glory for their country on the court, so why do they still have to worry about their livelihood after retirement? Behind this is the deep-seated problem of the insufficient commercialization of women's football programs. Although the Chinese women's football team has achieved great results in international competitions many times and the spirit of "Singular Rose" has also been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, problems such as low broadcasting rate of the event, few sponsors' attention, and weak mass base have always existed. Without sufficient commercial investment, clubs will find it difficult to afford higher salary expenses, and the athletes' security system will naturally be difficult to improve. In Wang Shuang's live broadcast room, some fans left messages saying "I used to see you looking so handsome when you played football." This sentiment can bring temporary heat, but it is difficult to provide long-term support for her life.

It is gratifying that after Wang Shuang's experience was paid attention to, many people began to call for strengthening the protection of women's football athletes. Some people suggest establishing a more complete retirement and resettlement mechanism to provide athletes with vocational skills training; some people hope that companies can pay more attention to women's football projects and increase their income through commercial cooperation; some people suggest converting the attention of women's football competitions into actual support, so that the honor of "winning glory for the country" can be truly implemented as the confidence in life. Behind these appeals is the public's recognition of women's football players - they should not be praised only when they win the championship, and should also be guaranteed for a decent life after taking off their battle robe.

Now, Wang Shuang is still insisting on her in the live broadcast room. In the camera, she occasionally mentions interesting things about playing football, but there is still light in her eyes. She said, "I will definitely want to keep playing when I can play football," but reality forced her to turn around. Her story is like a mirror, reflecting the shortcomings of the development of the women's football program and the fragility and tenacity of the athletes. I hope this discussion on "Women's football team members make a living by live broadcast" will allow more people to see their dilemma - not for sympathy, but for the "sonorous rose" to bloom on the field without worries, and after leaving the field, they can also move towards the next life calmly.