Women’s Soccer Is Growing and Drawing More Investors

As women’s soccer gains more fans, increased investment follows.

Setting The Pace — FIFA’s benchmarking report covering women’s soccer — found that the number of women’s leagues with title sponsors has risen 11% from 2021 to 77%, while the number of leagues securing broadcasting revenue grew from nine to 10.

FIFA’s second edition of the report, which analyzes 30 leagues and 294 clubs, also revealed that 7% of clubs generate more than $1 million from matchday, broadcast, commercial, and prize money sources.

Clubs’ commercial revenue increased 33% year-over-year, and leagues’ commercial revenue jumped 24% year-over-year.

• Clubs that sell merchandise on matchday generated $311,000 in commercial revenue, while clubs that don’t generated $116,000.
• Teams spending more than $100,000 on marketing and activation generated higher average commercial revenues of $1.1 million.

“The data in this year’s report underscores that organizations that are prepared to invest in women’s football are receiving return, and we expect this will only increase,” said Sarai Bareman, FIFA’s chief women’s football officer.

Numbers Back It Up

The Women’s Euro 2022 was the most watched ever — with projected cumulative live viewership of 365 million — as well as the best attended, averaging 18,544 fans.

The NWSL’s 2022 regular season drew 1,042,063 fans — a record — and enjoyed its highest-attended regular-season match in September with 32,000 spectators.