More than 1 billion TV viewers from 206 countries through more than 200 broadcasters, a global fan attendance of more than 1.1m, USWNT jersey becoming the best-selling football jersey ever on Nike.com, 57,900 spectators in Lyon at the final and many more milestones.
But, what happens next?
As Budweiser, USWNT official sponsor, claimed: “when the tournament ends, we stop watching. Our heroes return, but we ignore them. We tell a generation of women we only care about 23 players every 4 years.” A self-critical reflection to what most of us can relate. Directly aimed to how we perceive women’s football and, consequently, lead our decisions.
Mindset is our main challenge, not money. Changing the culture is what takes more time and effort but brings real progress, and this World Cup has had a lot to do with that through social leaders as Megan Rapinoe. If we work on spreading conscious and empathic messages towards women’s football stakeholders through facts, content, attendances or audiences; we are asking everyone for respect and commitment.
If we were so inspired and moved from this tournament, life after FIFA Women’s World Cup should lead to:
- More clubs, especially the top ones, investing more in facilities, players’ conditions and fan experience
- More institutions respecting and including women’s football as a pillar strategy, based on a real market demand
- More federations allocating the time, resources and energy needed to create and strengthen women’s football grassroots
- More TV and media outlets being consistent on covering domestic leagues, that are starred by some of the top athletes we admired at the World Cup
- More brands investing accordingly to the commitment and purposeful campaigns they have launched in the recent weeks
- More fans showing up on matchdays during the weekends and consuming day-to-day content about their teams
Manchester City and Chelsea have announced they will open Etihad and Stamford Brigde to welcome Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, respectively.
As Budweiser states, this time we #WontStopWatching
By the way, here you have a couple of recent FIFA resources:
FWWC2019 TV Facts and Figures
FIFA Women’s Football Member Associations Survey Report 2019