The Rise of Women’s Football

By Clare Tweed

2023 has been the year of women’s football, with events such as the Women’s World Cup (WWC) and the Women’s Super League (WSL) breaking multiple records. This rise can be attributed to various factors including environment, increased publicity, and emerging talents becoming more mainstream.

The WWC 2023 boosted viewership rates of around two billion, almost double that of the 2019 World Cup. With the addition of eight teams to the WWC this year, the tournament consisted of 32 teams, the same as the men’s World Cup. Naturally, taking into account an expansion of teams, there would be an expectation for a spike in viewership. However, the WWC still exceeded FIFA’s target of 1.5 million tickets, with nearly 2 million people attending over all matches. This dramatic rise proves that women’s football is gaining an increasing amount of traction. This can also be credited to the growth in interest throughout the global women’s football leagues, for instance in the USA, England, and Germany.

The WSL, the women’s league for England, has been experiencing a large improvement in viewership and attendance over the last few years since it recommenced after the Covid pandemic. Clubs such as Chelsea and Arsenal opened their WSL season by having their first matches in their largest stadiums rather than the grounds they are usually held in. The Women’s FA Cup Final 2023 also saw record breaking attendances as over 77,000 showed up to the final in Wembley Stadium, compared to around 49,000 who attended the previous year. Along with record viewership ratings and attendance, the assistance of record-breaking broadcasting deals from Sky Sports and the BBC has helped rocket Women’s football to the mainstream. The £8 million annual contract has caused an increase in views, which is essential for the league to continue to grow.

As mentioned previously, the rise of women’s football and the move towards mainstream media can be boiled down to a number of factors. The environment of many women’s football matches has been described as family friendly and appealing to a wider audience of viewers that would not typically attend men’s matches due to the known anti-social behaviour. In the 22/23 football season in England and Wales there were 2,264 arrests at matches – none of these can be applied to either the WSL or the Women’s Championship. Although the attendance of men’s football is higher, this statistic still does not equate proportionally to women’s football. Women’s matches have become more appealing to those who have young kids and families as it is viewed as a nicer environment and experience for the whole family without the fear of being caught up in or witnessing violence.

Emerging talent Sam Kerr, an Australian footballer who is considered to be one of the leading current players, as well as other notable Australian players have led to significant investment in Football Australia from the Australian government of $3.1 million over two years. With the aim to assist girls and women involved in programmes associated with Football Australia. The increasing notoriety of female football players inspires more girls, thus increasing the uptake of the sport at a younger age. Increasing involvement from the beginning, which is just as important as maintaining it at the top. Due to the success for England at the most recent Women’s Euro tournament, the number of young girls wanting to play football has soared dramatically, with roughly 100,000 more compared to five years ago. This will undoubtedly promote positive outcomes in terms of investment from not only the highest levels but the development stages also.

As the interest in women’s football is escalating, there is at the same time pressure to ensure the standards keep rising alongside. There has been growing concern that female footballers have not been receiving the appropriate funding within the earlier stages of their careers; for example, implementing academies in major clubs similar to men’s football academies in major clubs. The Barclays WSL and Championship has set a requirement for the 24 clubs involved in these leagues to provide an academy for women’s football players by the 2025/26 season. This is a major step in the right direction, since there are many female players that have been picking up injuries at a concerning rate, which is suspected to somewhat be due to the lack of training and conditioning from a younger age. It is believed that almost 200 players missed the WWC due to tearing their ACL. This is an alarming figure, especially as it included many of the top level players.

Further promising improvements to women’s football will be the pay, considering the salary can range from £20,000 to £250,000. The lowest paid players often have to work secondary jobs to support their professional career. Which is insane when considering that a male premier league player averages £3 million a year. There is a hope that as the game grows, this will no longer be a problem for players and the salary will continue to go up too.

Overall, women’s football has seen a huge amount of growth in recent times and remains in exceeding expectations. While the viewership and attendance to matches inevitably surges, in turn the investments from broadcast companies, football clubs, and sponsors will inflate. The positive outcomes thus far should help to improve the game in order to reduce injuries and increase the number of young girls who want to play football.

Edited by Tiffany Murnaghan