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Women's football is on the rise and yet a strange shadow involving the game's finest player will be cast over the World Cup when it begins next week.
Goal scoring ace Ada Hegerberg is boycotting her national team, and won't feature in the tournament.
But is Norway's 23-year-old superstar making the best stand for women in sport, and women in general, or has she backed herself into a weird corner which is letting her cause down?
Hegerberg is the star striker for the overwhelmingly powerful French team Lyon. She was also the first winner of international Ballon d'Or awarded to the game's best player.
Hegerberg, justifiably, tried to leave that stage but was persuaded to stay.
Ada Hegerberg won the 2018 Ballon D'Or at Le Grand Palais. Photo / Getty
Yet when it comes to a much bigger and more important arena, the actual World Cup, she is refusing to take part.
Professional sport is a business which relies on its stars to attract an audience, and Hegerberg is hardly helping that by refusing to line up with Norway, the world's 12th ranked team whose group opponents include the hosts.
Hegerberg is the game's brightest light, further evidence coming when she scored a hat trick as Lyon beat Barcelona in the Champions League final.
This gave her 44 goals in 46 games in that prestigious competition and she had also scored 38 goals in 66 games for Norway.
There are many remarkable threads to the story, one being that Hegerberg was only 21 when she launched this boycott.
Hegerberg pointed to a "lack of respect" for female footballers, and pay equality was one of her key areas of concern.
She certainly has some direct support, while other female players are also taking action.
UEFA's director of women's football is a supporter of her stance, Nadine Kessler saying: "I think Ada's decision needs to be respected. It's a brave decision to consciously miss a World Cup."
American players have launched a discrimination lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation alleging "institutionalised gender discrimination including unequal pay".
The Irish team has also threatened a strike and Denmark quit a World Cup qualifier against Sweden over a pay dispute, leading to a collective deal.
But Hegerberg's protest is not a universally acclaimed one, and Norwegian team mates were even said to be unhappy with her behaviour during the 2017 European Championships where she played poorly.
Ada Hegerberg scores a goal. Photo / Getty
There is also friction between Hegerberg and Norway's coach Martin Sjogren, who has said: "You need to focus on the players who want to be part of a team."
There have been many meetings between coach and player, yet Norway football's sporting director Lise Klaveness - an employment lawyer - says she remains in the dark over what might persuade Hegerberg back into the national team.
The Telegraph's chief sports feature writer Oliver Brown put it thus: "To take a step as dramatic as renouncing her national jersey in perpetuity, she must surely have a compelling case for change.
"The trouble is that whenever she is called upon to make it, Hegerberg reaches for oblique universalities that merely heighten the sense of intrigue.
"…this is one impasse doing far more harm to the game than good."
Hegerberg's awards include being named the BBC's women footballer of the year this month, and she told that news organisation: "It would be easy for me to perform, do my thing, and stay quiet. But it's so much bigger than that.
"Winning all these trophies and having all this success gives you a voice. It's never been about me. It's about getting the change for our sport. It should motivate a lot of others too. We're all in this together.
"The more people give attention to equal pay, the easier it gets. I think we should look at ourselves and what we can do to develop the sport to increase the level and obviously that's to perform. That's our biggest job.
"But it's not always about money, either. It's about attitude and respect. We're talking about young girls getting the same opportunity as boys - giving them the same opportunity to dream.
"If you can change attitudes in the beginning, things will change.
"The men in the suits can't ignore that. They are going to understand one day...this is about society and it's about modern football."
Hegerberg's upbringing encouraged determination.
Her parents insisted their children either walk or cycle to football training. Her father told the New York Times that they were encouraged to learn from their mistakes, and remain humble.
"You can always criticise upward, but never kick downward," Stein Erik Hegerberg said.
Hegerberg says that her mother Gerg Stolsmo is the one who gave her the confidence to voice her beliefs.
'Kick upwards' she is doing, and with some force while steadfastly resisting any claims the protest is temporary.
"I gave them the reasons. I wish my national team all the best. I love my country. I wish I could play for them. In this case, I had to move on," she told the NYT.
Ada Hegerberg...pointing the way. Photo / Getty Images
She also told CNN: "It's not always about the money. It's about preparing, taking action, professionality, really clear points I've put quite directly to them when I made the decision.
"I wanted it to be a clear case, but it got quite messy in the media unfortunately. That was not my intention at all."
But whatever the nobility of her stand, there has to be a feeling of sadness, that the so-called female Lionel Messi will not be part of the greatest tournament, especially when women's football is making tremendous progress.
This is especially so, since her national federation has struck an equal pay deal between men and women, a landmark moment in which both teams receive $1.15m a year. The men gave up about $100,00 in order for this to happen.
And Norway football also has a female at the top in Klaveness, a long time international player.
"We need to try to have a confidential relationship and just talk directly to each other so we can have common ground and maybe have her back after the World Cup," Klaveness told AP.
"We are happy for this debate to raise attention and respect for women's soccer in the world and I do view it as a big change-maker. But I just wish she was in our team."
