Fan Studies on Women's Football

10/10/2023

Once again, Würzburg sports professor and fan researcher Harald Lange, together with the voting app Fan-Q, asked football fans for their opinion. The topic this time: women's football in general and women in professional football.

Women are increasingly finding their place in the world of professional football. However, the fans still see a lot of catching up to do. (Image: skynesher / iStockphoto.com)

90,000 fans in the sold-out Camp Nou - FC Barcelona's football temple - at a home match of the women's team, record TV ratings at the last World Cup, growing fan interest and increased involvement of the major football clubs in the German women's Bundesliga. Professional women's football is constantly evolving.

Despite these positive trends, however, the sport continues to be the subject of controversy and, in addition to positive headlines, also generates unpleasant reports - most recently, the scandal surrounding the now former Spanish association president Luis Rubiales overshadowed the Spanish women's national team's World Cup title win.

The latest surveys by Fan-Q - Women's Sport in Transition - Status Quo and Prospects in Women's Football and Structures in Transition - Women in Professional Football - also reveal a diverse range of opinions. Professor Harald Lange from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) and Professor Axel Faix (Dortmund University of Applied Sciences and Arts) were involved in the conception of the studies. "Such studies are important for the differentiation of our focus in the field of football research, because it is clear at the level of fan culture that the established male circles in the top echelons of German football need to be broken up," says Harald Lange.

Women's Football Stands for Moral Values

In the first study, the participants were almost equally divided between men and women, whereas almost 75 per cent of the participants in the second survey were men.

An initial, quite surprising result: a good 56 per cent of those surveyed prefer to follow the ladies on the artificial leather than the men. Moral arguments such as fairness, authenticity, tolerance and honesty were particularly convincing. For Lange, this fits the picture: "The results fit in seamlessly with the findings we have drawn from other studies focussing on football. The special value of the game is seen on an idealistic, value-orientated level by both spectators and players at grassroots level."

The national team arouses the greatest interest. 68.5 per cent gave it the highest rating of five stars. By comparison, the figure for the women's Bundesliga was 42.9 per cent. This result is also confirmed when looking at the TV broadcasts and streaming category: almost 90 per cent stated that they watched the DFB women's match at least "several times". Club football attracts a good 21 per cent fewer fans to their screens.

One of the main reasons for this is likely to be availability. Almost 77 per cent would like to see public broadcasters more willing to invest in the purchase of broadcasting rights.

A More Critical View of Women?

The second study showed, among other things, that around 70 per cent of respondents tend to believe that women in management positions are an asset to professional football; around 41 per cent were even very convinced of this.

However, almost two thirds of the participants are also certain that women in these positions are scrutinised more critically than their male counterparts. The situation is similar for female commentators, for example; almost 57 per cent believe that they are criticised more harshly than their male counterparts.

But how could clubs and associations ensure more diverse management teams? The fans have a simple and obvious answer: around 62 per cent of them consider equal pay for equal jobs to be a decisive criterion.

Meanwhile, the DFB's goal of achieving a 30 per cent share of women on its boards by 2027 is viewed with scepticism. While the level of this quota is viewed controversially - 23.4 per cent see it as far too high, around 20 per cent as far too low - there is more consensus when it comes to feasibility: just 8.7 per cent believe that the German Football Association will achieve its goal.

Harald Lange has been observing this scepticism for many years: "The grassroots are used to taking a critical view of the DFB's sporting and socio-political performance. Sport, like society, is in the midst of a gigantic transformation. The issue of diversity has an important role to play here. Women do not need leadership programmes imposed by men. Trust and the transfer of responsibility would suffice."