UEFA is not mistaken. It has understood that the future of European football will not only be played out on the men's pitches. The women's players will also make their contribution. It promises to be massive.
The unveiling last week of the candidate cities to host the Champions League final in 2027 provided recent proof of this. Only two applications were submitted for the men's competition, by Baku and Madrid, compared to four for the women's match, supported by Barcelona, Warsaw, Cardiff and Basel. A sign.
Second illustration: the decision announced on Wednesday 30 October by UEFA to devote a record budget of one billion euros to women's football over the next six years. One billion, a sum that was still difficult to imagine a few years ago, when professionalism remained marginal in women's football.
The objective of the continental body: to make the “football is the most popular team sport among women and girls in all European countries." No less. This would double the number of fully professional national leagues to six. The number of professional female players, for their part, would increase from 3.000 to 5.000 across the continent.
« We promise to continue investing and collectively advancing football, with all European national associations, leagues, clubs, players, fans and partners on board in this journey”, summarizes in a press release Nadine Kessler, the director of women's football at UEFA.
Behind its billion, a highly publicized sum, UEFA has set up a plan. A six-year strategy. Its name: "Unstoppable". Quite a program.
Its broad outlines are detailed in a document of about thirty pages. It explains in particular that development goes through all levels of the pyramid. It concerns the young and the less young, the coaches and the referees.
The UEFA report also that part of the €55 billion plan concerns grants already announced to the 66 member national associations, under the Hat Trick programme. They will share a €2024 million envelope for the 2024-XNUMX cycle, to be spent exclusively on women's football.
Ambitious? Certainly. Realistic? The future will answer. But Nadine Kessler makes no secret of it: the road is still long. And there is no shortage of obstacles. "Many so-called professional players still have difficulty making a full living from their sport", she admits.
This is not UEFA's first development plan dedicated solely to female players. The previous one, launched in 2019, aimed to reach the overall total of 2,5 million female players across Europe. In its latest report, the body announced 1,6 million at the end of last season.
Not a foregone conclusion, then. But the signals are rather positive. In 2022, the final of the Women's Euro in London, won by England against Germany (photo above), was watched by 50 million viewers. A record.
The following year, the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand generated more than $570 million in economic impact. Also in 2023, the Women's Champions League final, won by FC Barcelona, was watched by 5,1 million people.
Over the next six years, until 2030, UEFA will stage two more editions of the Women's Euro. It has spent more than €57m on the 2022 edition in England, including around €20m in bonuses for teams and compensation for the selected players' clubs.
For the next two Euros, the body will aim even higher. There is no question of backing down. Aleksander Ceferin, the UEFA president, sums it up: " Our mission is simple: to help women's football occupy a prominent place in the European sporting community. ».
