The Biggest Finals Yet

Growing interest and rising standards will be confirmed this summer in France.

At the first Women’s World Cup, held in China in 1991, matches lasted just 80 minutes and the old canard that football was too tough for tender ladies took a long time to dispel. While attendances in China were very good, large parts of the football world did not notice that the tournament was on or simply ignored it.

Twenty-eight years on the event is big news. More than five million people tuned in to watch Corinne Diacre reveal the France squad on live television, the BBC in Britain are broadcasting every match with several on their main channel, while Fox Sports are doing the same in the USA and adding a tie-in with social network Twitter. Actual stadium attendance is also expected to grow. At Canada in 2015, the 50 games were watched by 1,353,506 people (at an average of 27,070); with six weeks to go, advance sales for France were ahead of those in Canada.

We are not yet at the stage when FIFA will rename their flagship competition “the Mens’ World Cup” but the female version is now firmly established as a marquee tournament, even if there is annoyance that the Final date clashes with those of the men’s Copa America and CONCACAF Gold Cup. That nine nations have applied to stage the 2023 finals, all from outside the sport’s European and North American heartlands, is telling.