Description
This new Forever stamp celebrates women’s soccer in the United States. From youthleagues to the elite world champion U.S. national team, millions of girls and womenthroughout the country participate in the fast-paced, competitive sport of soccer.
The stamp artwork depicts a female soccer player in action, walloping a ball with a sidevolley. The somewhat grainy rendering lends a timeless quality to the design, evoking notjust a single all-star athlete or era but the entire legacy of women’s soccer.
For decades, women’s athletic programs were all but invisible on college and universitycampuses, receiving very little of the funding and none of the recognition of their malecounterparts. In 1972, Congress amended federal education law by adding Title IX,prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex from any educational program or activityreceiving federal financial assistance.
By 1985, female soccer players were finally able to compete on an international level. Thatyear the U.S. women’s national team played its first official matches in Italy. In 1991, theU.S. women’s national soccer team competed in the first official FIFA Women’s World Cup,held in China, and won the championship.
Despite these successes, women’s soccer remained relatively unknown. It didn’t trulyenter the international arena and gain a following until the 1996 Summer Olympics whenwomen’s soccer was included as a sport for the first time. The U.S. beat out China for thegold medal.
Since then, dozens of elite female athletes have donned the U.S. women’s national soccerteam jersey and dominated around the world. In 2019, the U.S. made history as the onlyteam to win four FIFA Women’s World Cup titles.
5 sheets of 20 First-Class Forever© USPS postage stamps.*The slash over ""Forever"" in the image is to protect it from being used to produce counterfeit postage. Actual stamps will not have this.
