WHAT EFFECT WILL THE WORLD CUP HAVE ON FEMALE SOCCER PARTICIPATION?

BY NICK RIGITANO NSGA DIRECTOR OF INSIGHTS AND ANALYSIS

The upcoming FIFA Women’s World Cup and the success of the US Women’s National Team during the 2019 event will likely provide a surplus of media headlines placing women’s soccer at the forefront of summer news coverage. Although the buzz and excitement of the World Cup is terrific exposure for the sport and has the potential to lead to short-term participation growth, more work needs to be done to overcome the obstacles preventing the longer-term, more sustainable growth that would benefit all stakeholders in the sport.

When looking at female soccer participation numbers from previous years, during and after World Cup years since the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 (figure 1), it is difficult to find trends that support an increase in participation due to the success/media coverage of the US women’s national team during World Cup years. In most cases, female participation during World Cup years decreased compared to the prior year and 2011 marked the only year in which participation increased substantially during a World Cup year.

The data indicates in some instances, participation increased during the year following the World Cup. It is interesting to note that the subsequent years have been Summer Olympic years, which also provide added exposure to the sport, leading to the thought that perhaps the spotlight from both events could be responsible for temporary gains in participation. However, this theory did not hold true in the most recent World Cup and Olympic years of 2015–2016 and 2019–2021, indicating there are likely numerous additional forces at play in addition to these events.

In the end, there are simply too many variables which affect participation, including individuals’ level of interest in the sport, amount of free time available, affordability of participation and increased dedication to other sports to determine causality.