Women’s football prepares for record-breaking Champions League final

Nearly a year after England’s triumph at Euro 2022, women’s soccer is preparing for its next big showcase event: the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final. On Saturday, FC Barcelona Femeni and VfL Wolfsburg will square off in Eindhoven in front of a sellout crowd of around 35,000 fans.

The match between the Catalan club and the two-time European champions from Lower Saxony is already a record-breaking fixture. The two sides faced each other in the semi-finals of the same competition last year, attracting 91,600 people to Barcelona’s Camp Nou and the highest ever attendance for a women’s football match.

The Champions League has become an important driver of both interest and income for the women’s game in Europe, and has helped attract newly attracted viewers in between big international tournaments such as next month’s World Cup.

While the sport is making great strides in attracting new fans, the challenges of making it commercially sustainable remain daunting. Revenue is still low, while costs are rising rapidly.

A smoldering row ahead of the World Cup has highlighted the pressures facing women’s football. With the start of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand just weeks away, television deals have yet to be agreed in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. This week a group of sports ministers urged broadcasters and FIFA, world football’s governing body, to reach an agreement. FIFA last month threatened a media blackout in some countries over what it called a “very disappointing” bid.

Since the Lionesses’ victory at Wembley last summer, there has been an increase in the number of people watching the Women’s Super League, the domestic English league, or watching them on TV. There has been an increase in commercial interest for both teams and individual players – while clubs are spending more on their women’s teams. The hope is to create a virtuous cycle where more investment leads to a more enjoyable sport, which then generates more interest from sponsors and broadcasters.

Barcelona is the richest women’s team in European football, according to Deloitte, but the gap between it and the men’s game is huge. Blaugrana The consultancy is at the top of the 2023 wealth table with a revenue of 7.7 million euros. In the same period, Barcelona’s men’s team recorded an income of €638 million.

Direct comparisons obscure the fact that the women’s sport is still nascent in most countries. Although the Barcelona team turned professional in 2015, Spain’s domestic league, Liga F, has just finished its first season as a fully professional competition. Barcelona won the title after losing just one match, conceding 10 goals but scoring 118 runs in their 30 matches. The expectation is that the league will become more competitive as rivals spend more.

Although the value of broadcast deals remains low, women’s teams and players are building large online fans, including many new to soccer. Barcelona’s Alexia Puteles, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, while her team has nearly 5 million – more than all but three Spanish men’s clubs. Speaking of potential expansion, the team’s 6,000-seat stadium is typically sold out.

“The type of fans that are coming are completely different. It is young people, who are really proud of what we are doing,” said Marcel Zubizarreta, general manager of Barcelona Feminese.

Analysts say women’s teams may find it easier to negotiate sponsorship deals of their own and once more data is available they may be able to attract and engage those audiences.

“The women’s professional game is still near the beginning of its journey,” Deloitte wrote in a report on football finance earlier this year. “The revenue being earned at this early stage . . . indicates a growth opportunity for the women’s game in the years to come.”

For the big clubs across Europe, the Champions League has become an important source of revenue. Barcelona’s semi-final against Chelsea, played in front of over 72,000 fans, brought in €1.2 million for the Catalan club. The reverse fixture at London’s Stamford Bridge was watched by over 27,000 spectators. European football’s governing body, UEFA, will distribute €17.5mn to participating clubs this year, up from €10.9mn last year and more than double the amount generated by Liga F’s domestic TV deal.

“For us, the Champions League was always the big thing,” said Marcel Schaefer, sporting director of both the men’s and women’s teams at Wolfsburg. “Reaching the final is something special because it confirms the work of the team and it confirms our philosophy – we’ve been really focused on women’s football for many years.”

Competition is expected to increase. According to UEFA, the average attendance at this year’s Women’s Champions League is close to 11,000, up from around 9,000 a year ago and more than double the 2018-19 figure. Next year’s final will be held at Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000.

Sports streaming service DAZN, which has global broadcast rights to the competition until 2025, said viewership through its Women’s Champions League YouTube channel was up 17 percent on the previous year, clocking in at more than 50 million views .

The company plans to move several Champions League matches behind paywalls from next season. Mark Watson, DAZN’s chief commercial officer, said “this was a necessary step to maintain exposure while helping to create and maintain a virtuous cycle of investment”, adding: “We believe visibility is the key to value and must be driven to feasibility.

Nearly a year after England’s triumph at Euro 2022, women’s soccer is preparing for its next big showcase event: the UEFA Women’s Champions League Final. On Saturday, FC Barcelona Femeni and VfL Wolfsburg will square off in Eindhoven in front of a sellout crowd of around 35,000 fans.

The match between the Catalan club and the two-time European champions from Lower Saxony is already a record-breaking fixture. The two sides faced each other in the semi-finals of the same competition last year, attracting 91,600 people to Barcelona’s Camp Nou and the highest ever attendance for a women’s football match.

The Champions League has become an important driver of both interest and income for the women’s game in Europe, and has helped attract newly attracted viewers in between big international tournaments such as next month’s World Cup.

While the sport is making great strides in attracting new fans, the challenges of making it commercially sustainable remain daunting. Revenue is still low, while costs are rising rapidly.

A smoldering row ahead of the World Cup has highlighted the pressures facing women’s football. With the start of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand just weeks away, television deals have yet to be agreed in the UK, Germany, France, Spain and Italy. This week a group of sports ministers urged broadcasters and FIFA, world football’s governing body, to reach an agreement. FIFA last month threatened a media blackout in some countries over what it called a “very disappointing” bid.

Since the Lionesses’ victory at Wembley last summer, there has been an increase in the number of people watching the Women’s Super League, the domestic English league, or watching them on TV. There has been an increase in commercial interest for both teams and individual players – while clubs are spending more on their women’s teams. The hope is to create a virtuous cycle where more investment leads to a more enjoyable sport, which then generates more interest from sponsors and broadcasters.

Barcelona is the richest women’s team in European football, according to Deloitte, but the gap between it and the men’s game is huge. Blaugrana The consultancy is at the top of the 2023 wealth table with a revenue of 7.7 million euros. In the same period, Barcelona’s men’s team recorded an income of €638 million.

Direct comparisons obscure the fact that the women’s sport is still nascent in most countries. Although the Barcelona team turned professional in 2015, Spain’s domestic league, Liga F, has just finished its first season as a fully professional competition. Barcelona won the title after losing just one match, conceding 10 goals but scoring 118 runs in their 30 matches. The expectation is that the league will become more competitive as rivals spend more.

Although the value of broadcast deals remains low, women’s teams and players are building large online fans, including many new to soccer. Barcelona’s Alexia Puteles, a two-time Ballon d’Or winner, has 2.8 million followers on Instagram, while her team has nearly 5 million – more than all but three Spanish men’s clubs. Speaking of potential expansion, the team’s 6,000-seat stadium is typically sold out.

“The type of fans that are coming are completely different. It is young people, who are really proud of what we are doing,” said Marcel Zubizarreta, general manager of Barcelona Feminese.

Analysts say women’s teams may find it easier to negotiate sponsorship deals of their own and once more data is available they may be able to attract and engage those audiences.

“The women’s professional game is still near the beginning of its journey,” Deloitte wrote in a report on football finance earlier this year. “The revenue being earned at this early stage . . . indicates a growth opportunity for the women’s game in the years to come.”

For the big clubs across Europe, the Champions League has become an important source of revenue. Barcelona’s semi-final against Chelsea, played in front of over 72,000 fans, brought in €1.2 million for the Catalan club. The reverse fixture at London’s Stamford Bridge was watched by over 27,000 spectators. European football’s governing body, UEFA, will distribute €17.5mn to participating clubs this year, up from €10.9mn last year and more than double the amount generated by Liga F’s domestic TV deal.

“For us, the Champions League was always the big thing,” said Marcel Schaefer, sporting director of both the men’s and women’s teams at Wolfsburg. “Reaching the final is something special because it confirms the work of the team and it confirms our philosophy – we’ve been really focused on women’s football for many years.”

Competition is expected to increase. According to UEFA, the average attendance at this year’s Women’s Champions League is close to 11,000, up from around 9,000 a year ago and more than double the 2018-19 figure. Next year’s final will be held at Bilbao’s San Mames Stadium, which has a capacity of 55,000.

Sports streaming service DAZN, which has global broadcast rights to the competition until 2025, said viewership through its Women’s Champions League YouTube channel was up 17 percent on the previous year, clocking in at more than 50 million views .

The company plans to move several Champions League matches behind paywalls from next season. Mark Watson, DAZN’s chief commercial officer, said “this was a necessary step to maintain exposure while helping to create and maintain a virtuous cycle of investment”, adding: “We believe visibility is the key to value and must be driven to feasibility.