Women’s Champions League Report shows that 46% who watched Women’s Euros expect to watch more women’s Champions League matches
- UEFA Women’s Champions League placed above domestic competition in four out of five European countries.
- 57 per cent of women’s football fans identify as ‘casual’
As the group stages of the 2022/23 UEFA Women’s Champions League get underway, new research from Footballco, the world’s largest football content and media business, and global sport and entertainment agency, Fuse highlight the impact this summer’s UEFA Women’s Euro will have on the future of the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The research, which is available in the recently published UEFA Champions League: Entertainment Factor report was carried out with more than 2,000 fans across eleven countries*, 25 per cent of whom were female and 75 per cent male.
The report shows that 46 per cent of fans who watched the UEFA Women’s Euro said they’d watch more UEFA Women’s Champions League football this season, with only six per cent saying they would watch less.
Morgan Brennan, head of Footballco’s women’s football media brand, Indivisa said: “It is evident from this research that the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 presented women’s football on a scale we haven’t seen previously and introduced new fans to the personalities of women’s football, many of who will be playing in this year’s UEFA Women’s Champions League.
“That momentum will sustain itself through this season’s tournament, with players who made their mark this Summer being given another platform.”
James English, Managing Partner-Sport at Fuse said “This summers Women’s Euro in England has the potential to be a transformational moment in women’s football.
The key now will be to build on the record audiences and interest in the recent Women’s Euro to grow the game in the long-term in terms of participation, attendance at matches and commercial revenue.
This research is encouraging with all indications that many fans who engaged in the Euro will continue to watch and participate in the women’s game going forward”
Superfans and Casuals
Those who consider themselves fans of women’s football are more likely to identify as a ‘casual fan’, with 57 per cent feeling this way and 33 per cent identifying as ‘Superfans’. Compared with the men’s competition, where 68 per cent of fans of football in general see themselves as ‘Superfans’ and only 31 per cent as ‘casual’.
Ranking the Women’s Champions League
Across the European fans surveyed, those in England, Italy, Germany, and France place the UEFA Women’s Champions League third in terms of popularity, sitting behind both the FIFA Women’s World Cup and UEFA Women’s Euro.
Fans in Spain were the only group in Europe to prefer their own domestic competition, the Spanish Primera Division, to the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
Highlighting the synergy between the support of both clubs’ men’s and women’s teams, the report shows that eight of the most popular teams with those surveyed in the UEFA Women’s Champions League also appear in the list for the men’s competition.
Those teams, in order of popularity being: Barcelona, Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Manchester United.
The two teams to appear in the UEFA Women’s Champions League list, but not the UEFA Champions League are Arsenal and Olympique Lyonnais.
On the opposite side, Liverpool and Atletico Madrid appear on the top ten list for the UEFA Champions League but don’t appear on the UEFA Women’s Champions League list.
Brennan said: “While it is unsurprising to see many European heavyweights have both their men’s and women’s teams in these lists, the presence of teams like Olympique Lyonnais, who have dominated the UEFA Women’s Champions League in recent years, highlights how women’s teams can utilise these big tournaments to stand out and grow outside of what’s happening with the men’s teams.”
The UEFA Champions League: Entertainment Factor report can be downloaded for free by visiting: https://footballco.com/ucl-report
The report can be downloaded in full here: https://www.footballco.com/ucl-report
*Countries surveyed in the report are: UK, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Korea, and Japan.
