Vivianne Miedema Hopes Her Statue Will Lead To More Recognition For Female Athletes

Last night, Arsenal Women defeated their North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur 3-0 at the club’s Emirates Stadium but ahead of the game, many fans were drawn to the first statue of a current women’s soccer player in the country, highlighting the lack of recognition for legends of the women’s game.

In what may turn out to be her last home of the club, Vivianne Miedema, the all-time leading goalscorer in the Barclays FA Women’s Super League was honored with a temporary statue of her, commissioned by her sponsors Adidas, displayed for the first time outside the stadium for 24 hours.

Miedema, also the Netherlands’ leading goalscorer of all time with 92 international goals in only 108 appearances, has been the outstanding player in the recent years of the English Women’s Super League, an icon of the LGBTQ+ community and an off-field supporter of charitable movements such as Common Goal, to whom she commits 1% of her salary to finance community organisations working with young people.

Speaking to me after the match, she revealed she had no idea her statue would be on display outside the stadium. “I didn’t know actually. I obviously seen pictures earlier today but I think it’s really cool. I think it will be here temporarily, I don’t know where it’s going be after. I think it’s not just fun for me but also fun for the fans who follows women’s football.”

The 60,260 stadium, home of Arsenal FC since 2006, is adorned with many images of their famous male players and is ringed by fize bronze statues of club legends, Tony Adams, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry, former manager Herbert Chapman and Life President Ken Friar. This is typical of the demographics of statues throughout the capital. According to Art UK, 21% of statues in London are of men, 8% are on animals and only 4% of women.

Earlier this year, Adidas created statues of eight female athletes and activists to promote its new sports bra collection, which was launched following research showing that over 90% of women could be wearing the wrong size. They hope the statues will help push for greater representation of women in London, and “inspire the next generation of changemakers.”

The eight statues cast in vibrant colors are crafted from a 3D scan of each person, and made from sustainably-recycled marine farmed waste plastics. They were first displayed for two weeks on London’s South Bank in February. Miedema was one of two soccer players displayed alongside current Angel City FC Sporting Director, Eniola Aluko.

In 2019, the first-ever statue of a female soccer player was created in England when a bronze cast of Dick, Kerr Ladies forward Lily Parr has unveiled at the National Football Museum in Manchester.

In 2020, Miedema’s former national team coach, Sarina Wiegman, who lead the Netherlands to the UEFA
EFA
Women’s Euro title in 2017, became the first woman to have her statue cast at Zeist, the national training center for the Dutch National Team.

Miedema told me she thinks many more in the women’s game deserve to be honored. “It’s not just me but I think a lot of players in the past probably deserve one, It’s somthing that shows great quality from the club. I definitely think that will happen in the future.”

This week, it was confirmed that one of the Netherlands’ group-stage opponents at this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro, Russia had been formally excluded from the tournament and replaced by Portugal. Miedema told me finally knowing who they would face makes little difference to her team’s preparations but feels for the players denied the opportunity to play in a major tournament.

“For us, as professionals it doesn’t really change if we play against Russia or Portugal. I think from a war perspective, and a UEFA perspective they’ve made the right choice. Obviously, yeah, you do have sympathies for the players. It’s not always fair to directly punish the players for the situation that is going on, but I think it is the right decision for right now.”

For Arsenal fans, the question remains whether or not Miedema will sign a new contract at the club she joined from Bayern Munich in 2017. In the Dutch press, she has spoken of her desire to win the UEFA Women’s Champions League, a competition in which she has never been beyond the quarter-finals. Going into the final week of the season, Arsenal have once more qualified to play in the Champions League but incessent media speculation over recent years has suggested her ambitions would better served by joining one of this year’s two finalists, Olympique Lyonnais and FC Barcelona.

In recent weeks Miedema has moved away from her traditional number 9 position to play in a deeper role to accommodate new striker, Stina Blackstenius, who many believe is her long-term replacement in the team. Miedema told me she is revelling in her new role. “I get on the ball more. I think I’ve been involved in two of the three goals today. Yeah, I like it. I can play deeper. Obviously, I think me and Stina need a bit of time to get used to each other. It’s only one more game, then we’ll see what happens.”

Without committing to play for the club next season, Miedema did reveal to me that she intends to make a decision on her future before she helps the Netherlands defend their UEFA Women’s Euro title in England this July. “Obviously for myself, I want to have clarity soon as possible, before the Euros but I’m not anywhere yet so, yeah, I just need to have a bit more time.”