EUROPEAN WOMEN'S FOOTBALL
The unstoppable growth of women's football in Europe
Sport Women Leisure Women's football
The UEFA report 'Women's football across the national associations 2016/17' reveals that there are already 1,270,481 women footballers across Europe. Six European countries have over 100,000 registered players, with close to 44,000 in Spain alone.
The growth in the popularity of women's football is unstoppable: after the great success of the 2015 World Cup (Canada), the 2016 Olympic Games (Rio de Janeiro) and the 2017 European Cup (Netherlands), more and more women and girls are playing football throughout Europe.
According to the report Women's football across the national associations 2016/17 [PDF] External link, opens in new window. prepared by the UEFA, there are 1,270,481 women footballers registered in the 55 national football federations ascribed to the highest body of European football, and six countries (England, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden) have over 100,000 registered players. According to this report, there are nearly 44,000 players registered in Spain for the 2017/2018 season. This boost is due to three main factors:
- The fantastic work of the Spanish Football Federation, its territorial federations and clubs, which have opened the doors to international successes in the lower categories and good results for the national teams in the World Cup and the European Cup.
- The increased visibility of women's football: the number of spectators and television viewers has skyrocketed since the World Cup in Canada.
- The role of big sponsors such as Iberdrola, which has given a great boost to the Spanish Women's League, as acknowledged by Jorge Vilda, the coach of the Spanish women's football team.
