The game of football continues to gain momentum and attention in the world. It has grown to become the most popular and most played sport around the globe. Many years back, many would have seen it as that which was done only at leisure, but today, Its benefits are no longer circumscribed within the ambits of entertainment and fun, but have grown to become an economic space for most countries, Companies and even investors.
However, these evolution of the game seem to have been lopsided in terms of attention, investments, audience and even rewards gotten by both the organizers and players. The male category of the game is far ahead of the female category, in this have made me wonder why the gap keeps widening at the break of each dawn. In a world where we clamour for a level playing ground for all, I would have thought that the ever increasing rift between men's soccer and women's soccer would be breached to a certain extent. However, the realities of the time proves otherwise.
As a passionate football fan, player and analyst, I have decided to go on a voyage of discovery to see if I could uncover the possible cause behind the dwindling state of women's football in the world. Maybe we all have a role to play which we haven't been playing, or maybe we just don't feel like it's worth our attention. The purpose of this article is analyse the possible problems clogging the wheels of women's football, and I will look forward to your contributions if any and how this could be enhanced or combated.
Below are some of the mitigating factors truncating the growth of women's football in the world. However, these are just my observations, and these factors are not restricted to only my views, I will really appreciate if you add what you think is working against women's football, who knows it may get to the ears of FIFA officials, hahaha...
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The Prize Pool Money.
The issue of rewards or prize pool when it comes to women football have been quite worrisome, as the difference in the amount as compared to that of men is just so massive. I have been wondering why it's like that, and to the best of my knowledge and I stand to be corrected, FIFA and other football bodies generate more revenue in men's football tournaments unlike that of the women. A lot reactions have been directed towards this situation, but it seems these football bodies appear a bit helpless at the moment, as the prize pool of these competitions depends on the envisaged or possible revenue to be generated in the long run.
For a example, the USA women team had won the 2015 FIFA Women World Cup, after painstakingly defeating Japan in a thrilling final. They only pocketed $2 million in the prize money, while Japan that finished as the runners up went home with the some of $1.4 million. Now in 2014, Brazil hosted the men's category of the FIFA world cup, and guess how much the winner of the tournament went home with, $35 million. The total prize pool for the world cup generally was about $576 million.
Since FIFA seems to generate more revenue from men's competitions, they seem to increase their prize pool. And it still beats my imagination why women football has been crawling all this while, or is FIFA not bringing up the appropriate policies to drive that category of the game? Is it really all about the money? Lots of unanswered questions keep popping up in my head. The 2015 men's competition in Brazil had generated around $4 billion revenue for FIFA, so I wasn't surprised to see the prize pool at $576 million, which is just 1/8th of the total money generated by the football governing body. Source
To tell you this is not only about FIFA, even in Africa, the prize pool difference between men's and women's football is just as wide as river Niger. For example, the country that won the African Cup Of Nations that was hosted in Gabon 2017 went home with the sum of $4 million, and the runners up were rewarded with $2 million. But guess how much the winner of the African Women's Nations cup 2016 were given from the prize pool, just $80,000. Maybe this is one of the factors the football governing bodies need to look into, if we really wanna enhance the growth of women's football in the world.
The Media Have Been Underreporting?
You and I will at least not disagree with the fact that the media plays a fundamental role in the promotion of sports or football in particular. In a situation where the media fails to keep people abreast with the unfolding events in the sports world, the games will see a reduction in audience, discussions and views. Sports journalists from my observation have been showing the cold shoulder to women football around the globe. If you've noticed, not so many news outlets parades the best female players in the world, even at the peak of their career.
Don't be shocked if I you hear a sports/football analyst asking you who is Mata of Brazil or Oshoala of Nigeria, this is because, the media rarely make publications about these players. They too deserve some recognition for their feats. Women soccer leagues are not even seen in the news, most of us don't even know whether they exist. I think if the media and journalists could get fans closer to what is happening in the world of women's soccer, the interest to watch and even to bet on these games will deal increase drastically.
Bloggers Are Not Helping?
Am really happy about a platform like this which provides sports analysts, passionate fans and football enthusiasts the opportunity to blog about the sports they admire. Scorum is just awesome, as it plays host to intellectual sports lovers from around the globe.
Now, from my personal observation so far on the platform, I have noticed that 98% of football related bloggers don't blog about women's football. What if I tell you that not so many is aware of the African Women's Nations Cup currently taking place in Ghana. I think if we blog about women's football every now and then, it will spark up conversations and keep the sports lovers conscious of these competitions. We too have a role to play if we must enhance women's football.
Feel Free to add your contributions, did I omit any other factor, do well to add yours in the comment section. Thanks for Reading.
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