Women’s Sports Merchandise Flying Off Shelves

The women’s European Championship that ended on July 31 set attendance and viewership records for women’s soccer — but those aren’t the only historic figures the game produced.

Fanatics, which sold official merchandise for the tournament and operates the official online England Store, reported that weekly sales of women’s soccer gear tripled since the start of the women’s Euros, and online sales of women’s merchandise spiked 640% in the four hours after England’s victory in last week’s final.

“More women’s merchandise was sold in just four hours following the final whistle than in the seven days leading up to the final,” Jack Boyle, Fanatics’ global co-head of direct-to-consumer sales, told Reuters. 

Global sales of Fanatics’ women’s sports merchandise was up 28% last year. In 2018, the women’s sports apparel market was valued at $26.8 billion, per Euromonitor International, and the total sports apparel market was $80.1 billion.

Tuning In

Merchandise sales weren’t the game’s only indicator of growing interest in women’s sports.

• England’s 2-1 final victory drew more than 17.4 million viewers on the BBC and was the most-watched women’s soccer match ever in the U.K.
• The final had the highest attendance ever for any men’s or women’s European national team tournament game with 87,192 fans.

UEFA expects to raise $60.9 million in sponsorship money from the women’s Euro tournament, with even more projected in the future.