Women's World Cup Helps Interest in Women's Football Rise

The FIFA Women's World Cup in Canada, which kicked off recently, will be enjoying its biggest ever global audience. According to a report by Repucom, global interest in women’s football has risen from 16 per cent in 2011, when the last FIFA Women’s World Cup was played, to 21 per cent in 2014 

Repucom research shows that the FIFA Women’s World Cup itself has a global fan base of over 200 million.

Germany, the host nation in 2011, has 15.5 million fans looking forward to the Women’s World Cup, while Canada has a fan base of three million.

France, which has been selected as host of the 2019 tournament, has 6.6 million Women’s World Cup fans.

In the United States, where English-language coverage of the tournament is being broadcast by Fox for the first time this year, there are 35.5 million potential Cup fans, the second-largest single market behind China. Given the advantageous time zone – Fox plans to broadcast five games in prime-time – and a competitive US team – they are the reigning Olympic champions and were beaten finalists in the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup – the tournament is likely to yield large audiences in the USA.

Michael O’Hara Lynch, Repucom’s US Head of Consulting, said: “Based on what we saw at the 2014 Brazil FIFA World Cup, the London 2012 Olympic Games, and the 2011 FIFA Women’s World Cup, expect record North American interest in the 2015 FIFA World Cup.

“Football continues to grow in the United States and Canada through the ongoing success and expansion of Major League Soccer, United Soccer League, a rejuvenated National Women’s Soccer League, the men’s and women’s US national teams’ competitive performance, and grassroots programmes. Favourable broadcast time zones, and exploding digital and social media engagement, will provide a compelling North American platform for the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup.