Women’s sport on ‘huge growth trajectory’ after World Cup

SINGAPORE – Records were sent tumbling at the recent Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand – in attendance, tickets sold and broadcast, among others – and its success proves that women’s sport is on a “huge growth trajectory”, said the event’s chief operating officer Jane Fernandez.

“Women’s sport is on a huge growth trajectory, we saw this a couple of years ago when we hosted the Cricket World Cup,” she said. “The momentum behind women’s sport just continued to grow, culminating now in the Fifa Women’s World Cup that we’ve just hosted, and it’s inspiring young girls to play sport.”

Key statistics from football’s world governing body Fifa show that over 1.7 million tickets were sold at the tournament and millions more watched it at home.

For the final, the BBC reported a peak audience of 12 million viewers – higher than the 11.3 million who watched the men’s Wimbledon final in July – and ITV had a combined peak of 14.4 million.

In Spain, the 1-0 win over England drew the highest-ever TV audience for a women’s football game with a peak of 7.4 million viewers. In hosts Australia, it attracted a high of 5.54 million viewers.

Fernandez, who was in town last week for the All That Matters conference, added that the tournament has also been a huge boost to participation in the sport.

She said: “One of the targets within (Fifa’s) strategy is growing participation and to have 16 million women and girls playing football by 2026. We already know that by hosting major events like this. It’s an absolute turbocharger of participation rates.”

The World Cup also turbocharged traffic on Fifa’s digital platforms, as the first 15 days saw traffic surpassing that of the entire duration of the 2019 edition, with over 22 million unique users signing up and an average of 2.4 million users visiting their Women’s World Cup channels daily.

Brands and corporate firms have noted these trends and are aiming to get on board.

Kaveri Khullar, vice-president of consumer marketing at MasterCard, said that brands are looking to support women’s sport in different ways.

She said: “Break the stereotype, and be bold enough to do that. Don’t wait in the wings for everything to go mainstream. Our job is to make these women, who are ambitious and resilient, to support them, to put them out there, to endorse them.”

However, she believes that the companies should look beyond the dollars and cents, adding: “You have got to look at how you’re nurturing grassroots talent.

“Brands should not just look at sponsorship deals, saying, ‘oh I’m putting $10 million or $15 million behind the sponsorship’. What are you doing to really support aspiring talent?”

“It’s not a surprise to me that brands like to be associated with women’s sport, it is a natural engagement. It’s authentic. It’s a smart business decision to invest in women’s football and women’s sport.”

Some countries like Australia have since pledged more investments in women’s sports, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese promising to

plough in A$200 million (S$173.8 million)

after the Matildas’ semi-final run at the World Cup.

While noting that there are challenges sponsors may face, such as “creating a business case” for their support, Kaveri urged brands to consider the positives as the partnerships will impact the athletes, and a wider audience.

She added: “The moment a brand comes in and genuinely, authentically and enduringly supports a sport, consumers automatically feel that affinity.

“Because if they love that sport, they will see that the brand genuinely wants to nurture a future for female talent, a future for female sport.”