Women’s World Cup: How does women’s football capitalise on landmark World Cup?

Some 98% of boys in England have tried football by the age of 11, but for girls that figure is just 12%. The FA is trying to address this gender gap via a network of 1,200 ‘Wildcat centres’ across the country designed to offer girls aged 5-11 a chance to try the sport for the first time.

But much of this challenge goes beyond the FA and extends to the way sport is provided in schools and the funding of facilities by local authorities at a time of stretched budgets. Recent research by the Sport & Recreation Alliance found 82.5% of UK children do not meet the guidance provided by the chief medical officer to be active for at least one hour per day.

This weekend the Ofsted chief inspector told the Observer that the government must do more to increase school PE., external Research by the Youth Sport Trust has found that 38% of English secondary schools had cut PE for 14- to 16-year-olds since 2012.

According to the FA’s head of women’s football Baroness Campbell, the dominance of the US team in France “comes from the fact they have great sport in schools. Fantastic opportunities from early on to do sport every day. Our kids aren’t getting that. And until we understand this doesn’t just happen from top, it’s about the whole system, then we’ll always come second best.

“Our job now at the FA is to make sure all that inspiration turns into participation which is lots harder than it sounds.

“We need real opportunities to participate in schools and clubs. We’ve got a massive job to do.”

When it comes to strengthening the game commercially, the WSL’s recent £10m sponsorship deal with Barclays has been an encouraging development.

Some believe it could just be the start.

Brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance says it has calculated the total potential worth of sponsorship in women’s football globally is undervalued by over $1bn.

“Football now has the opportunity to become the world’s leading professional women’s sport,” says Izzy Wray of Deloitte.

“Now the time has come for rights holders and brands to shape the future of women’s football by building the competition structure, governance, media rights and sponsorship strategy to allow the sport to flourish at both amateur and professional levels.”

Only 60% of top-flight women’s football clubs globally have shirt sponsors that are different to the men’s equivalent. That, Wray believes, will rise dramatically by the next World Cup.

“To maximise this opportunity, there needs to be a clear vision of how the game should develop,” she says.