As women's football grows in Europe, Japan aims to follow suit
TOKYO (Kyodo) -- In a sign of its growing global status, women's football at the next Summer Olympics will feature more participating teams than the men's competition.
The number of teams will expand from 12 to 16 in Los Angeles, marking the first time in Olympic history that women will have a bigger representation in the global sport.
In Europe, some clubs draw more spectators to women's games than to men's, bringing in huge amounts of money, in contrast to Japan's still-struggling WE League that kicked off in 2021.
Pronounced "we," the first two letters are an acronym for "women's empowerment."
The burgeoning popularity of the women's game in Europe was spectacularly illustrated during the UEFA Women's Champions League in March 2022.
A total of 91,553 spectators watched a game when Barcelona hosted Real Madrid in an all-Spanish clash at Camp Nou, the home of their world-famous men's team.
The world record for women's football was rewritten the following month, to 91,648 as Camp Nou saw Barcelona and Germany's Wolfsburg.
The Barcelona women's team turned professional in 2015 and built their own natural turf training base.
The team has attracted some 13 million followers across all platforms through their fan-oriented social networking strategy, which features female players in equal proportions in ads with male Barcelona players.
The women's team is expected to earn about 23 million euros this season, a level close to a first-division club in the men's J-League in Japan.
Women's football was once regarded as a corporate social responsibility project for men's clubs, but Barcelona's bold investments in women's players, facilities and staff have led to brisk revenue from sponsorships, tickets and jersey sales.
"Women's football goes far beyond the framework of CSR and has great potential in business," said Judit Farre, head of Barcelona women's business operations. "There are still a lot of things we should be doing."
"We are always open to finding new markets," Farre said, while noting she was interested in doing business in Japan.
Last September in Japan, J-League Chairman Yoshikazu Nonomura began double duties as head of the WE League.
The WE League remained in the black in the fiscal year to March 2024, but the women's league is heavily dependent on a 425-million-yen subsidy from the Japan Football Association.
Nonomura is trying to acquire sponsors in cooperation with the J-League, with the aim of stabilizing the financial base.
In its third season of 2023-24, the WE League had an average attendance of 1,723 per game, far less than its founding goal of 5,000.
But the WE League has begun collaborating with the J-League and the JFA in terms of attendance.
Last December, the final of the WE League Cup drew a record crowd of 21,524 as a result of coordinated promotional efforts.
The WE League plans to continue sharing fan data with all 12 clubs to boost attendance.
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