Abstract
This chapter positions the 2019 World Cup as an entry point to examine the social-historical and media landscapes that structure gender norms around women’s football in (some) Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) countries. The 2019 FIFA World Cup had wide-reaching implications on women’s sport and brought unprecedented visibility to issues and stories surrounding the teams in the tournament. In order to fully understand “what we learned,” we must also examine contexts where national teams play, but did not qualify for the tournament, including Central and Eastern Europe. In this chapter, the author analyzes media coverage with a focus on European public service media and situates the analysis within the multidisciplinary study of sport media to illustrate the ways in which perspectives from the CEE region advance scholarship on women’s sport.