Women’s football has been booming since the European Championship. At least the public perception has changed, as the DFB is pleased to note in an interim report.
According to the DFB, the reach of the national team and the Bundesliga in women’s football has increased massively on television and in social networks. Across all platforms, the increase on social media is 186 per cent. Accordingly, the number of views grew from 117 million in the first half of 2021/22 to 335 million (first half of 2022/23). This was announced by the DFB at the interim review of its “Women in Football Strategy FF27” on Wednesday.
“The European Championship has absolutely played into our cards and brought in momentum,” said DFB President Bernd Neuendorf at the press conference in Frankfurt/Main, referring to the greater visibility since the successful 2022 tournament in England. He added that the World Cup in Australia and New Zealand this summer will help “us to make further progress with our strategy”. However, there is still no agreement for the tournament in the rights poker between the world governing body FIFA and German TV broadcasters such as ARD and ZDF.
The cumulative TV coverage of the national team, the Bundesliga and the DFB Cup has also increased massively – from 150 million from the first round in 2021/22 to 239 million a year later, according to the DFB. This corresponds to an increase of 59 per cent. The average number of spectators in the Bundesliga grew from 806 from the previous season to 2671 at present.
“Women’s football has arrived in the minds of the decision-makers and decision-bearers and also in the hearts of the people,” said DFB Secretary General Heike Ullrich. Four goals were set last year for the promotion project, which is headed by ex-national player Doris Fitschen: By 2027, when Germany wants to host the World Cup together with Belgium and the Netherlands, the national teams and Bundesliga clubs should have won international titles.
In addition, the number of female players, coaches and referees is to increase by 25 per cent, the media coverage of women’s football is to double and the proportion of women in committees and full-time management levels at the DFB is to be at least 30 per cent. The number of active female players has indeed increased by 26.2 per cent in the most recent period. However, for the time being, this only means that it has returned to pre-Corona levels. “The pandemic has of course had its strong impact. Only in the summer can we actually say where the journey is going,” explained Fitschen.
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