This week, we do an extensive review of the recent report issued by FIFPRO, the international players' union, on the state of women's football. We particularly focus on the report's professional leagues attendance figures and sponsorship/social media marketing efforts in the women's game, and we provide additional information on these issues from our perspective to support the data and findings from an important report. First, we have some quick important announcements that Brazil is no longer in the running for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup that will be awarded later this month and that the UWS 1 summer league in North America has finally cancelled its 2020 season, while one conference in the new UWS 2 development league will stage matches this summer.
And Then There Were Three…Brazil withdraws their bid to host the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
On June 8, 2020 the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) withdrew their bid to host the FIFA Women's World Cup 2023. FIFA, in all of their global tournament bids, requires guarantees from the local federal government and appropriate state entities as well as from third parties—both public and private (such as municipality security and transportation officials, hotels, convention centers, etc.). The Federal Government of Brazil as well as other third parties did not include these guarantees with their bid. Even though no new stadiums needed to be constructed or radically altered for the Women's World Cup and, though there were no planned government investments in the tournament, FIFA did not have what they required of all bidders; these guarantees are still necessary to FIFA to mitigate its own risk in staging these events.
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The 8 stadiums/cities that the Brazil Bid Book put forward were:
Belo Horizonte Estádio Mineirão (63,876)
Brasília Estádio Mané Garrincha (72,231)
Manaus Arena da Amazônia (44,000)
Porto Alegre Estádio Beira-Rio (48,727)
Recife Arena de Pernambuco (44,300)
Rio de Janeiro Estádio do Maracanã (78,838)
Salvador Arena Fonte Nova (47,911)
São Paulo Arena Corinthians (49,688)
The CBF explained, "The Federal Government, for its part, has prepared for FIFA a letter of institutional support in which it has ensured that the country is absolutely able to receive the event from a structural point of view, as it has done in previous situations. However…due to the scenario of economic and fiscal austerity, fueled by the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, it would not be recommended, at this time, the signing of the guarantees requested by FIFA. Given the exceptional moment experienced by the country and the world, the CBF understands the position of caution of the Brazilian Government, and other public and private partners, which prevented them from formalizing the commitments on time or in the required form."
The CBF also cited the perception of the plethora of recent large scale sporting events that the country has hosted, including the Confederations Cup 2013, FIFA World Cup 2014, Olympic and Paralympic Games Rio 2016, CONMEBOL Copa América 2019 and FIFA World Cup U-17 2019, which they felt "could not favor the candidacy." It almost seemed as if the CBF was writing the reasons for denying the bid for FIFA ahead of the final decision later this month. This issue of multiple major events was a point this author had in an analysis of the 4 bidding groups' Bid Books earlier this year, which could be viewed as a positive from all of their hosting experience but also as a negative with the glut of events and wanting to 'spread the wealth' so to say (see: https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-breaking-down-the-2023-women-s-world-cup-bids-4312051).
The Brazilian Federation are backing fellow CONMEBOL member Colombia, which is bidding against Japan and Australia/New Zealand, the latter a joint bid between AFC and Oceania members. In our analysis (see above) earlier this year, we found that Colombia's bid at best was projected to realize a small profit—which may be a non-starter for FIFA given the current global economic crisis as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Brazil did state that they hope to host the event in the future. The finalist will be determined in a remote vote of the FIFA Federation members on June 25.
United Women's Soccer Cancels the 2020 Season
United Women's Soccer, the semi-professional amateur league in North America, announced on June 9 that it is canceling its 2020 season because of the COVIC-19 pandemic. League Commissioner Joseph Ferrara Jr said, "I would like to thank all of our clubs for what was truly a team effort. The feedback, communication and willingness to adapt during a difficult time speaks volumes to what we have all created here with UWS. Furthermore, the economic impact to each club's business model created by this pandemic is something that each of us at the league office took to heart. As such, we felt that a remedy for our member teams was of paramount importance." This decision is also based on the safety and well-being of UWSL players, staff and fans. United Women's Soccer is bucking the trend by crediting their member teams the vast majority of the 2020 fees to ensure the continuation of their unwavering support for women's soccer, while maintaining the financial viability of the league. In lieu of this, all teams will receive approximately 80% credit towards next season's fees. UWS Executive Director Stephanie Cleaves explained, "Historically, women's sports teams have always been undervalued and inequality existed before COVID-19. That is all the more reason to do our part in helping clubs bounce back after the impact of the epidemic. Giving our member teams a chance to not only survive, but thrive has been our goal since day one. Crediting teams their league fees and exploring alternative options to keep our 2020 season alive are just a few ways UWS is responding to the obstacles we are all facing. We are excited to share some of these initiatives with the public soon." This is a classy move by the UWS, which has always shown foresight and planning in its approach since launching in 2016 after the demise of the long-running W-League after their 2015 season. We also found the launch of their League 2, to help teams develop their rosters and infrastructure to eventually move into the top tier, was innovative and intriguing—we just have to wait another year to see the full implementation of that new concept in American women's semi-professional soccer. However, we will get to see four teams from UWS League Two play this season as the four Florida-based teams in the Southeast Conference—Unity F.C., Orlando FC Royals, SportsParadize Soccer Academy, and Deltona Stars—announced on June 11 that they will play their divisional schedule this summer, following all local and state public health guidelines. The first match will be held on June 20 when Unity FC of Orlando hosts Orlando FC Royals. Games will be live-streamed on MyCujoo.
Due to the impact of the pandemic, the Southeast will be the only UWS League Two conference playing a full season in 2020. A mixture of UWS & UWS League Two teams in the Midwest & Southwest Conferences are looking to compete in friendlies and tournaments this summer.
Review of FIFPRO Report on Women's Soccer
FIFPRO, the world soccer players' union, recently released a 112-page report on the Women's Game entitled "Raising Our Game." The 2019 study, following the original "Women's Global Employment Report" completed in 2017, includes the results of a survey of players involved in the 2019 Women's World Cup as well as input from other key stakeholders in the global game, and compiles some very interesting details and conclusions, focusing on the, "Most recent growth patterns and trends, best practices, policies and regulations relevant to the sustainability of the professional football industry."
In total, 186 female players completed the survey from 18 different countries at the 2019 WWC. The report emphasizes that their responses, "represent the top female players in the world, these players provided their perspectives on the working conditions and the ongoing professionalization of their game." The report authors also requested information from all the 24 national football federations in the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, and in some cases, information was also requested from the first division of the women's league or a set of domestic clubs in a given country, as well as the six FIFA Confederations (UEFA, AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, OFC).
The stated objectives of the report are to, "Help unions, players, clubs, leagues, national federations, regional Confederations, FIFA, sponsors and media stakeholders to navigate football's evolving landscape from a female player-centric perspective. And then to enable the formulation of key policies to protect the rights and interests of players, allowing them to benefit from future opportunities, and thus promote a sustainable industry."
The report examined the growing commercial interest in the game, including broadcaster deals/viewership sponsorships as well as other key metrics such as attendance (see below).
Another focus was to concentrate in the future on increasing player labor conditions, "To establish, implement and enforce global industry standards for working conditions in women's football—in both labour contracts and international competitions—to protect the players and enable the just, decent and stable growth of the industry."
Some recommendations based on the current state of women's football included:
- Recommendation 1—Establish a set of basic standards for the working conditions of professional women's football players—for both club and national team levels—recognising their fundamental rights as workers and investing in areas that improve the game.
- Recommendation 2—Pave a joint path forward through collective bargaining. Develop more opportunities for players to move into expert and leadership roles within the industry.
- Recommendation 3—Financial investment is not enough; the women's game requires a common vision that unites national strategies and implements regulatory interventions to achieve sustainable growth and employment [for ultimate professionalization].
- Recommendation 4—Implement new, innovative and attractive competition designs with a balance between club and national teams so that players are not left patching together leagues, clubs and tournaments to fill their year [this will counteract short leagues and leagues with large gaps between the top few championship contenders and the chasing other teams, which limit player development and commercial investment].
- Recommendation 5—Identify solutions to measure the value of women's football and develop a long-term roadmap for success. Drive growth and opportunity through innovation and long-term investments [for sponsorships].
League Attendance Figures
There were some interesting statistics presented, including the average attendance figures from 5 European Women's Leagues, the NWSL in the States and the Westfield W League in Australia. This tracking data, shown below, is very important as there have certainly been some astounding record crowds for club games over the past two years in Europe (see below), but league per game averages across years have always been the ultimate benchmark of the health, status, impact and growth of a women's league in any particular country, and is important data to support sponsorship and broadcasting sales efforts.
Following the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, there has been a marked rise in attendance at club football matches in countries like England and France. The FA WSL in England currently has the highest average gate of any league in Europe (see below) and has the opportunity to continue to build on that growth—with international stars like Sam Kerr, Caitlyn Foord and Hayley Raso of Australia leaving the NWSL for the Super League for this season. The FIFPRO report states, "In England, the cumulative crowd across six WSL games on the first day of the 2019/20 season in September was 74,247. For context, the figure across the entirety of the 2018/19 season was 107,141." In the 2019-20 season interrupted by the global COVID-19 pandemic and recently cancelled, the WSL attendance average was 3,401—three times the average of the year before, with Tottenham posting an outstanding average of 10,236, with Chelsea second on 6, 571. Looking across the channel, "In France, a total of 30,661 fans were in attendance for Olympique Lyonnais Féminine vs. Paris Saint-Germain Féminine in November 2019, besting a previous record of 25,907 set by the same two teams in April 2019."
Germany and Sweden, (the latter which drew 1,127 per game in 2004 and 1,110 in 2005 before settling in between 800 and 900 just before the 2007 WWC in China and then after the 2011 WWC in Germany); for years hovered in the 750-1,000 range for average per game attendance, with Germany leaping past Sweden as the continental leader around their 2011 global tournament, but again slipped behind the Nordic power for the past two seasons.
France has seen exceptional growth over the past few years, including a threefold increase in average league game attendance from 2017/18 (608) to 2018/19 (920) just prior to the Women's World Cup that they hosted, and should continue to see gains as long as Ligue 1/Feminine Division 1 clubs (male and female) can survive the COVID-19 pandemic economic fallout. France increased to 1,088 on average though 2019-20, when the season was cancelled due to the global pandemic. Norway's Toppserien (an attractive league for internationals, particularly from North America and Australia) has seen their average attendance plateau around a few hundred spectators for decades.
The report makes a good point on the importance of promoting Cup finals within Europe, with England in particular showing vast improvement in recent years, "Marquee cup finals are an opportunity to promote and draw significant crowds. In England, the Women's FA Cup Final's attendance at London's Wembley Stadium has been showing strong improvements in recent years: over 40,000 people saw the game live in both 2018 and 2019. The latter final between Manchester City Women's Football Club and West Ham United FC Women may have had an even higher figure had it not been held at the same time as [when the] West Ham men's team played a Premier League home match."
Spain's Primera Division Femenina has had some outstanding attendance figures at the league level over the past two seasons. "Sporting de Gijon, RCD Espanyol of Barcelona and Real Betis have held women's games in their main stadium and Atlético de Madrid Femenino hosted FC BarcelonaFemeníno at the club's new Wanda Metropolitano Stadium (venue for the men's 2019 Champions League Final) in front of 60,739 spectators in March 2019, close to full capacity. The match set a new attendance record for European women's club football, overtaking the game between Athletic Club Bilbao Femenino's cup match against Atlético Madrid, which took place at the San Mamés Stadium and attracted 48,000 spectators in January of 2019. In March of that same year, Juventus Women played at the Allianz Stadium for the first time in front of 39,027 against Fiorentina in a top of the table clash, surpassing the previous record for a women's club match in Italy of 14,000." Attendance was free at the latter event, which is the case in many situations in Mexico where the Liga MX Femenil has had some outstanding crowds, which we discussed earlier this year, (see https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-i...).
The FIFPRO report lists the following league average game attendances over the past five seasons, in order of highest average league attendance for the most recent of the seasons shown for the following leagues:
USA – NWSL
Australia Westfield W-League
England FA WSL
France Division 1 Féminine
Sweden Damallsvenskan
Germany FrauenBundesliga
Norway Toppserien
NWSL in America (since the inaugural season)
2013 4,271
2014 4,137
2015 5,046
2016 5,558
2017 5,083
2018 6,024
2019 7,399
Australia Westfield W-League
20141,017
2015/16 1,074
2016/17 1,427
2017/18 2,139
2018/19 1,784
England's FA WSL
2014/15 1,076
2015/16 1,128
2016/17 1,071
2017/18 953
2018/19 1,010
France Division 1 Feminine
2014/15 640
2015/16 715
2016/17 718
2017/18 608
2018/19 920
Sweden's Damallsvenskan
2014/15 908
2015/16815
2016/17809
2017/18895
2018/19870
German Frauen-Bundeliga
2014/15 1,019
2015/16 1,076
2016/17 946
2017/18 848
2018/19 833
Norway Toppserien
2014/15 226
2015/16 190
2016/17 239
2017/18 257
2018/19 269
Note: the NWSL figures were from the author's records and league guides/records, adding a few years and were for regular season matches only. The same applies for the attendance records for the Westfield W-League in Australia. The W-League's previous seasons ranged from an attendance high of 780 in Year 1 (2008/09) to a low of 506 in 2011/12. Last season's W-League gates were approximately 1,550 for regular season games, which ended as the Coronavirus pandemic was beginning to affect people's behavior (the Grand Final was limited to family and close friends of the players and staff) in avoiding sporting events and other larger entertainment venues. Attendances were also negatively impacted by the devastating bushfires the country suffered (particularly for clubs in Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales). Also, the FIFPRO report did not include data for Mexico's Liga MX Femenil 2019/20 which has had quite outstanding gates on average and is a good benchmark for the European figures, though men's teams season ticket holders typically gain free admission and some clubs do not charge gate fees for women's games The 2019/20 Clausura (Closing) Championship (that was just cancelled due to the virus) average crowd was 2,417—with UANL Tigres averaging 11,068 and Atletico San Luis 7,316—which was an increase from the league's 2,229 average in the 2019/20 Apertura (Opening) Championship late last year.
The FIFPRO report also presented some interesting average attendances for the knockout stages of the UEFA Women's Champions League and then for the Championship Final match across years, with both figures fluctuating over the past five seasons but still not showing strong incremental growth:
Knockout Championship
Stages Final
2014/15 2,411 18,300
2015/16 3,204 15,117
2016/17 3,710 22,433
2017/18 2,494 14,237
2018/19 3,262 19,487
Keep in mind that the above figures do not includes the 10 qualification rounds of 4 teams in each group held by one of the participants, which can be low-drawing affairs in some countries. For the Final games, "Attendance at the UEFA Women's Champions League Finals has been increasing for some time, but the 2018 event in Kiev, Ukraine attracted only 14,000 fans, just days before the men's final was played in the same city in front of over 60,000 fans. While this comparison might seem harsh, it highlights an opportunity to decouple women's matches from the men's competitions in order to allow more attention and space for growth. Developing a distinctive identity of women's competitions may help establish a unique position for the women's game. From 2018/19 onwards, UEFA hosted the Men's and Women's UEFA Champions League Finals in different cities and with more time between them. The women's 2019 final was played in Budapest, Hungary (18 May) in front of a sold-out stadium of close to 20,000 spectators.
While giving the event its own dedicated space certainly helped, the high attendance was also a result of low ticket prizes of around € 3."
Changes have recently been announced to the format of the Women's Champions League tournament by UEFA for the starting in 2021/22, "This change introduces a 16-team group stage with centralised media rights from the group stage onwards, with UEFA producing every game for television or online streaming purposes. Sponsorship rights will be partially centralised. By replacing the current knockout round of 16 with a group stage, UEFA have increased the number of matches by 20%. This gives those who qualify for the tournament access to more competitive games and increased visibility [and ultimately should drive higher attendance figures]."
Sponsorship Revenues/Player Social Media Presence
Regarding sponsorships and revenue generation, this report labeled women's football as, "clearly in the early stages of professionalisation, with annual sponsorship deals generally valued below the EUR 1 million mark. Given this, it is still possible at this stage to sponsor a club or competition for a relatively low fee when compared to men's football. The same trend is apparent in the case of national team partners and competition sponsors. Consequently, for many companies, association to men's football brands is often financially out of reach but entry into the market is still relatively inexpensive through the women's game.For first movers and pioneers there are high rewards in a professionalising sector." The report's review of a Women's Football Sponsorship Deals for Domestic Leagues' naming rights ranged from Euros 3,900,000 in Western Europe, sliding to Euros 2,000,000 in Southern Europe, and ending with a low of Euros 750,000 in Scandinavia. When looking at individual clubs and national team sponsorships, they found some representative highlights:
Major European national team sponsor Euros 550,000
NWSL Club Front-of-shirt sponsor Euros 530,000
Major European Front-of-shirt sponsor Euros 400,000
France first division club total commercial revenue Euros 280,000
Major European team average value per sponsor Euros 175,000
Sweden first division club total commercial revenue Euros140,000
"Several women's football clubs reported short-term sponsorship deals that run for only a handful of seasons, while leagues and federations generally operate with longer agreements spanning four to five years. The length to which a company commits to sponsoring a football club or competition says a lot about how they see the prospect of the partnership and their commercial investment."
The discussion of social media penetration towards the end of the document was quite enlightening and shows that, of the top 20 players in terms of the number of their social media followers, 15 of the top 20 are Americans, with Marta of Brazil number 5 (she is currently based in the States with the NWSL's Orlando Pride) as well as one single player from Netherlands, France, Chile (National Team Goalkeeper Christiane Endler—who went to school in the States at the University of South Florida and is now at Paris St. Germain in France) and English international Toni Duggan (who now plays her club ball in Spain with Barcelona). The next edition of this tracking report should see the number of French internationals rise on the list as a result of their hosting WWC 2019, as well as the inclusion of Venezuelan international Deyna Castellanos, who we talked to exclusively last year (see: https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-exclusive-interview-with-world-class-venezuela-international-deyna-castellanos-4297000) and who has gargantuan numbers of almost 2 Million social media followers (with 1.4 Million on Instagram alone) after building these figures on her own as her college scholarship prevented her from using an outside service for that purpose—she would currently fall within the top 10 according to this data. She has just finished college at Florida State University and signed with Atletico Madrid over the winter, so as she builds her club career and plays more internationals with Venezuela, those numbers should explode. We expect to see growth from other players in the Netherlands (WWC 2019 Runners-up and 2017 EUROS Champions), Australia (particularly with Sam Kerr, Caitlin Foord and Hayley Raso moving to England's FA WSL from the NWSL) and English players ahead of EUROS 2021 which they will host (but which the Coronavirus pandemic forced into summer of 2022).
Alex Morgan has almost 5 times the number of the next highest player on the list and is in movie star types of numbers. What this says to this author though is that for those on the list and others with solid, growing numbers over 500,000 followers, they should be looking at leveraging their presence with individual sponsorships. Typically this effort is best handled by a marketing and branding agency rather than their sports agency as many player agencies say that they do this work but, unless a player is working with a top notch agency like Team Wasserman—who handle both quite well and represent many of the U.S. women's national team players—results for the player can be disappointing as many agents don't always understand the long-term benefits of these sponsorships and instead focus on the money aspect, finding that their percentage of the deal is different than for a player's contact and many times they view the effort as far less lucrative and not worth their bother. Going with a marketing/branding agency specifically for these efforts can also allow these agencies to create innovative campaigns for the company and athlete beyond simply doing 'another Instagram post.'
Players associations at the national team level or for women's leagues in theory could help with these individual player marketing efforts, but again it is not typically an area of strength or focus for them; this is definitely an area that the players themselves should leverage and manage with a professional agency, though certainly within the parameters set by their leagues/national team player associations (in terms of industry sectors that they can't compete against, length of agreements, etc.). The above data and other measures of social media influence are crucial to show companies that they can utilize women's footballers on creative campaigns to meet their own marketing objectives, while also building the athlete's brand positively. This to me was one of the most critical elements of the FIFPRO report.
TOP 20 ACTIVE FEMALE PLAYERS BY NUMBER OF FOLLOWERS ON SOCIAL MEDIA (AUGUST 2019)
Facebook, Twitter and Instagram combined, followers in millions
PLAYER POSITION/CLUB COUNTRY FOLLOWERS IN MILLIONS6-MONTH CHANGE IN %
Alex Morgan Forward Orlando Pride USA 16.8 34%
Megan Rapinoe Midfielder Seattle Reign USA 3.6 180%
Sydney Leroux Forward Orlando Pride USA 3.6 3%
Carli Lloyd Midfielder Sky Blue FC USA 2.8 17%
Marta Forward Orlando Pride Brazil 2.8 92%
Ali Krieger Defender Orlando Pride USA 2.0 22%
Kelley O'Hara Forward Utah Royals USA 1.5 42%
Christen Press Forward Utah Royals USA 1.4 31%
Julie Ertz Defender Chicago Red Stars USA 1.4 48%
Lieke Martens Forward Barcelona Netherlands 1.4 53%
Ashlyn Harris Goalkeeper Orlando Pride USA 1.3 37%
Tobin Heath Midfielder Portland Thorns USA 1.3 31%
Heather O'Reilly Midfielder N.C. Courage USA 1.1 7%
Morgan Brian Midfielder Chicago Red Stars USA0.9 10%
Becky Sauerbrunn Defender Utah Royals USA 0.9 13%
Toni Duggan Forward FC Barcelona England 0.8 21%
Eugenie Le Sommer Forward Lyon France 0.8 39%
Christiane Endler Goalkeeper Paris SG Chile 0.8 84%
Meghan Klingenberg Defender Portland Thorns USA 0.7 2%
Mallory Pugh Forward Washington Spirit USA 0.7 85%
Player Compensation
The FIFPRO Report determined that "Financial compensation for female players is often lacking and varies greatly between countries. Generally, it is not enough to make a decent living. The 2017 FIFPRO Global Employment report found that written and detailed contracts are rare, and most of the players are generally paid less than USD 600 per month (after tax). Our survey asked national team players how their annual salaries have changed over the last three years. One of the major findings is that the average club salaries are rising. Even after removing top and bottom outliers [top 5% and bottom 5% of the responses] from the sample, a large increase in monthly club salary is apparent between 2016 and 2018. There are sizeable gains in the median figure, too."
Average salaries
Total Average Total Median Average after removing
top/bottom 5%
2016 EUROS 2,734 EUROS 1,331 EUROS 2,169
2018EUROS 4,123 EUROS 2,425 EUROS 3,662
"In 2019, research by France Football compiled a list of the estimated annual club salaries of the 20 highest-paid female players. This group is largely dominated by United States and France-based players, who took up 11 spots. This is not surprising, given that these two countries are home to several high-profile and successful professional clubs.
There are large differences within this top group: the highest earner receives around EUR 400,000 in gross salary per year, which is more than 150% higher than the salary of the 20th ranked player. These values are in the range of what an average male professional player can expect in a mid-sized European top division (outside the "big five" leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France). In contrast, leading male footballers (usual participants of UEFA Champions League) usually earn the same, or more in a single month, than what the best paid female players earn in a year. 3.6% of players taking part in our 2019 FIFPRO Female Player Survey reported not receiving any money to play; this is unacceptable. These are women competing in FIFA Women's World Cups and playing at the top of the game."
"Non-financial benefits provided by clubs are a significant feature of the women's elite game. Respondents in the 2019 FIFPRO Female Player Survey were also asked about the benefits they receive from their club. Housing [51%], health insurance [44%] and food [37%], along with gym membership [36%] were the primary benefits that players reported receiving. 17% of respondents reported not receiving any benefits from their club. It is also worth mentioning that 'Other transportation' (14%) often means that the club refunds the public transportation costs of a player, generally a relatively small figure." Education [5%] and Relocation [3%] were very low rated benefits—though Lugano in Switzerland used education to attract many recent American college graduates (16) to study in Switzerland and play in their Champions League Round campaign this season (2019-20); the Swiss side lost in the Round of 32 on an 11-1 aggregate scoreline to Manchester City.
The report also presents an interesting timeline of key events over the past few years in Latin America.
Other Findings
Other FIFPRO report findings included:
"Recent data from the FIFA Member Associations Women's Football Survey (2019), shows that 76% of national federations have a women's football strategy; and 49.5% of national federations have a women's football department."
"We know that women's football cannot follow in the footsteps of the men's game nor be positioned as its little sister." This is a tough goal to accomplish as more and more men's organizations start or merge women's football clubs into their organizations. We talked about the always looming danger of this approach a few weeks back when discussing what women's football will look like in a 'new normal' of a post COVID-19 pandemic world (see: https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-what-does-the-future-look-like-in-a-post-coronavirus-world-4326432).
The document also emphasizes that players, "do not want short-term progress to come at the expense of long-lasting solutions for the game. It is important to further develop the distinctive DNA of the women's game. That means protecting the valuable and distinct assets the women's game has cultivated thus far—including proximity to fans, accessible role models, and opportunities for education."
"For many players the biggest challenge for their generation is still the daily struggle for recognition and staying in the game. This dominates their global outlook in the women's game and their views on industry responsibilities are seen through this prism. Their status as professionals is still undefined in many regions of the world. Contracts are often precarious and prevent players from being able to focus on their job responsibilities."
The report concludes with two lists of standards that should be implemented across the board. The first list has 12 Minimum Labor Standards for Professional Women's football, addressing:
Contracts
Health and Safety
Training and Match Environments
Wages and Compensation (including regular payment and a guaranteed minimum
wage)
Workload (midseason and offseason breaks treated as paid leave)
Employment Promotion
Social Protections
Player Data Protection (players' rights to their image and personal and
performance data)
Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining
Non Discrimination
Access to Remedy (empowerment to alert authorities about gaps and defects of
these global player conditions and advocate for their rights)
Education
A second list includes 12 Standards for international tournaments:
Facilities and Equipment
Accommodation
Transportation
Health and Safety
Technology
Team Staff (Experienced and capable, including coaching, team coordinator,
media, equipment and medical staff, with at least 30% of any one gender
represented in the staff)
Player Payments (Sharing equally in pay and remuneration and prize money)
Match Schedule (Competitive tournaments and major competitions must have a
suitable number of games with appropriate spacing between
matches….National federations must be mandated to use the International
Match Calendar windows allocated to them and participate in
Competition)
Tournament Preparation (same resources and support for both genders)
Parental Policy (Family leave, childcare)
Non Discrimination
Player Data Protection (see above)
The FIFPRO report clearly emphasizes the importance of data gathering and research on the women's game, which this author wholeheartedly endorses and has long advocated for. As we discussed above, particularly for social media and other sponsorships, players and clubs won't bring potential sponsors or broadcasters into the game (particularly in the economically challenged COVID-19 pandemic environment) without key effectiveness data—including Return on Investment (ROI) measures—that are crucial to successful sales pitches. More aggregated data on player salaries, other compensation, tenure of contracts, etc. will help advocacy efforts for the women's game, even within their own federation/CONFEDERATION, particularly for those countries that focus on their women's national teams programs on a four year cycle ahead of Women's World Cup or Olympic Games Qualifiers. Unfortunately, as FIFPRO states, "Crucial financial and operational data simply lack availability and accuracy." Future studies should include a larger sample than just Women's World Cup participants, including players and coaches (both domestic-based and imports) from all regions of the world and in a variety of top level leagues in their countries.
Note: Last week we examined an independent report by a global business and tax consultancy that recommends continued investment and focus on women's football (as well as eSports and a few other initiatives) as a priority to focus on in the years to come (see: https://www.tribalfootball.com/articles/the-week-in-women-s-football-nwsl-return-in-utah-momiki-joins-ol-reign-liga-mx-femenil-terminated-4329035).
The Players Association Report also says that collecting and analyzing data is important, "FIFA and member associations are recognizing that the regulations in the game are not sufficient and need to be updated: female players must be counted and appropriately included in the game's official regulation and monitoring systems of the game. For example, the integration of female players into FIFA's Transfer Matching System (TMS) occurred in 2018, with data starting to accumulate. Likewise, it is becoming recognized that regulations concerning the employment and playing schedule of players, including the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players (RSTP), must be revised and made applicable to the women's game. It is also increasingly clear that regulations from the men's game, many of which also require revision as well, should not be blindly applied to the women's game. This could lead to negative developments, such as the application of training compensation rules which could significantly hinder the flow of young talent and the development of girl players."
"VISIBILITY: BUILD THE PROFILE OF WOMEN'S FOOTBALL. Professional sports are a popular form of entertainment, capable of reaching huge audiences and generating emotion from the fans. In recent years more and more media outlets have featured coverage of women's football, especially in the wake of successful national team tournaments that have captured the imagination of the general public. Moreover, inclusion, equality, fair play and close player-fan relationships are all values that are often associated with women's sport. This puts women's football in a prime position to have an educational role and shape the perception of the public and challenge stereotypes. Embracing this 'ambassadorial' role, and showcasing these values, is an opportunity for women's football to be positively influential for society."
We recommend that readers who are interested review the full report and other important FIFPRO reports on www.fifpro.org.
Tim Grainey is a contributor to Tribal Football. His latest book Beyond Bend it Like Beckham on the global game of women's football. Get your copy today.
Follow Tim on Twitter: @TimGrainey